Gender Roles In Shakespeare's As You Like It

As You Like It, one of Shakespeare’s comedies, follows a strong female lead as she adventures through the Forest of Arden. Rosalind, the play’s heroine, has been falsely charged with treason by her uncle, Duke Frederick. She decides to seek shelter from the court in the forest, where her previously exiled father, Duke Senior, has fled. Rosalind is intelligent and strong, and decides to disguise herself as a man by the name of Ganymede to ensure her safety. Celia, Rosalind’s good friend and the daughter of Duke Frederick, decides to join Rosalind and disguise herself as a shepherdess named Aliena. Meanwhile, Rosalind’s love interest, Orlando, is struggling after his father’s death. Orlando’s brother Oliver refuses to provide him with necessary

In Shakespeare’s time, women were not allowed to perform in the theatre. Female roles were played by young boys who dressed in women’s clothing. This makes the role of Rosalind even more complex: a man acts as a women, who disguises herself as a man, who then pretends to be a woman. There would have only been male actors on the stage in Shakespeare’s time, meaning that even the female homoerotic possibilities, such as Rosalind and Celia and Rosalind and Phoebe, are acted by men who are cross-dressing as women. This adds to the comedic genre of the play. Dr. Stephen Evans explains Shakespeare’s use of boy actors in comedies: “In brief, Shakespeare in his romantic comedies makes use of the convention of the crossed-dressed boy actor to construct clever plots that use it for humorous effect and for the exploration of characters’ identities and erotic

Her disguise as a man gives her power, and she uses it to control others in the play, such as Orlando and Phoebe. She is able to experience freedom to speak to Orlando and other characters in ways she would not have as a woman. Her disguise as a beautiful boy also enables her to deceive the other characters in the forest and control the situations of those around her, as she attracts the attention of male and female characters alike. Rosalind displays many masculine qualities in her ability to put her fate into her own hands. Jean E. Howard describes the expectations for women in Shakespeare’s time: “Preachers enjoined women to be chaste, silent, and obedient, and forbade them to wear the clothes of the opposite sex.” In this way, Rosalind is rebellious of the constricts set for her as a women, and feels liberated in her male disguise. This contrasts her cousin and friend Celia, who chooses to disguise herself as a poor women. She demonstrates the passiveness that women were expected to display in this time period, as she takes the disguise of a female who would require male assistance. She continues to display feminine qualities as she relies on her cousin, and decides to follow her into the forest rather than be on her own. Rosalind still demonstrates some feminine qualities as she