How does William Shakespeare use gender confusion and the art of disguise in ‘As You Like It’ and ‘Twelfth Night or What You Will’?

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Many of Shakespeare’s plays involve some form of disguise as a plot device and in my opinion the two which use this to the greatest effect are ‘Twelfth Night’ and ‘As You Like It’. In addition, of all of Shakespeare’s works these two plays are two of most significant with regards to relying on gender confusion for comic effect. In this essay I will explore both the similarities and differences that can be found within these plays and the significance of their uses.
Firstly, it is important to put the play into context. At the time when Shakespeare wrote both plays women were not allowed to perform on stage, thus every character was played by a man. The use of male actors for every part contributes greatly to the confusion of the audience and also for many of the actors on stage. It brings about the idea of uncertainty of gender, also illustrating that gender is something that can be ‘performed’ and impersonated through the means of costumes, voices, mannerisms; in other words, disguises. Gender is something that can be influenced, with regards to how you act, as appose to something that you are, referring to the more physical aspects that are associated with the different genders.
The relationship between performance and gender is even more complex in both ‘Twelfth Night’ and ‘As You Like It’, more so than most of Shakespeare’s other plays. These complications are expressed well by Andrew Normington, the director of a recent production of ‘As You Like It’ by The Lord Chamberlain’s Men, who continue to perform Shakespeare’s works as they were originally presented, with all the characters represented by men. He writes, “A boy plays a girl, who disguises herself as a boy, and pretends to be a girl in order to woo a boy, who doesn’t k...

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... be. Here it is “greatness” that is referred to as the guise that we take on, but it is highlighted that sometimes we must undertake roles that we do not necessarily want and that are forced upon us. This quote has much significance not only with regards to actors on a stage, who are sometimes given roles they do not want, but also to real life, when we find ourselves in situations not to our liking. But, as with many roles, we must step up to face the challenge in order to meet with our desired goals.
The plots of both plays represent confusion on the highest level, which is not helped by the fact that, especially in Shakespeare’s day, many actors played more than one character. This reflects both the lack of money that was in the theatre at the time and also, despite theatre being such a large source of entertainment, it was not a popular tradition to enter in to.

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