I personally found the role of the clown to be the most interesting of all the characters in Shakespeare's "The Twelfth Night", primarily because he seemed to be the most intelligent and certainly the wittiest character of all. Although the clown's role starts out to be minor, he ends up being a very important part of the production. I think perhaps the flow of the story would be jeopardized in some instances if not for this entertaining and very important character. It's interesting to note the clown's cementation on the other characters and how the comedic wit and timing helps the visualization of the story. Although the clown's wit is foolish in presentation, his intelligence and hidden mockery is clear. The clown's first scene reinforces the fact that he knows of his superiority in his intellect and what he does: "Well, God give them wisdom that have it; and those that are fools, let them use their talents." (Scene V act 1). My personal favorite line of the story also comes from the clown in this scene, "Better a witty fool than a foolish wit.".
Not only does the clown have great comedic and witty lines but he also has the uniqueness of expressing himself in song, which ultimately leads to the foreshadowing of the events to come with the characters matching up at the end, not to mention the seasonal feel of the story. One of my favorite scenes involve the exchange between the clown and Sir Andrew in which the latter is made out to be the fool, thus proving that being a fool can be intentional or unintentional. The truly ironic point of the clown's role in the play is that in his wit and intellect he makes the other characters in the production the true fools of the story, and also his ability, by being the performing fool, to honestly project the other characters as being less than smart, and getting away with the subtle fact. .
I think Viola truly recognizes the clown's intelligence while on the other hand the clown may very well recognize who she truly is.