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Disguise/mistaken identity in Shakespeare
The theme of Identity in literature
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Shakespeare uses the idea of disguise in many of his plays. It is used as an escape from the characters’ personalities and sometimes for comic effect. In As You Like it, the disguise becomes very comical as in the time it was written only men could act on stage. This could lead to much confusion and comedy in the roles of those in disguise. Disguise can give the freedom to a character to act how they like and a chance for them to show their views. It was in the 16th Century that there became an increased sense of self consciousness and identity. This led to people creating an image for themselves. If one can create a self, they can create many different versions of themselves each showing a different aspect of that person. This links in very well with As You Like It because in the play, Rosalind creates many different disguises of herself. At one point she is disguised as a boy acting as Rosalind. Rosalind and Celia are the main focus for disguise in As You Like It. To ensure safety on their travels in the forest of Ardenne, they disguise themselves – Rosalind as a boy named Ganymede and Celia as a peasant named Aliena. Their names are also important to disguise. Aliena is similar to the Latin ‘Alius’ meaning other. Ganymede was a Trojan mythological hero. Rosalind also uses her disguise to test Orlando’s (the man she loves) feelings for her.
One central point is Rosalind’s disguise as a boy. When Rosalind is not disguised she finds it hard to act how she likes without discrimination. For example before Orlando wrestles with the court wrestler, Touchstone says that it is not a sport for women to watch;
“It is the first time that ever I heard breaking of ribs was sport for ladies.”
As a woman, Rosalind is expected to conform ...
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...ey are in the forest. There is no major reason for them to be disguised other than the fact that they are in the forest. When they sing and dance, they are revealing what they want to be. In the town, the courtiers are restricted to their life of seriousness. The forest enables them to act how they like.
To conclude, I believe that the characters do reveal themselves through disguise but not entirely. The personality of Rosalind was revealed through the way she enjoyed to trick people, the personality of the courtiers was revealed by their playful attitude in the forest and the personality of Orlando was shown by the fact that he did not disguise. To him everything is in the open and he has no secrets. Love is the only disguise. However, by looking at the different aspects of the characters’ personalities in their different roles, their behaviour is fully revealed.
Timothy Findley and Shakespeare use the theme of appearance versus reality in their texts: The Wars and King Lear. Characters in the novel and the play: Robert, Goneril, and Regan, intentionally appear to be something they are not in order to achieve a goal. However, they differ in where it leads them by the end, as in King Lear the characters die, unlike in The Wars where Robert cannot escape his true self and goes back to follow his personal morality.
Blanche and Viola contribute to the development of the theme of hidden identity, although their methods of disguise differ. Viola’s disguise is more obvious to the audience at the start. Viola’s focus is on disguising her physical identity; it is necessary for Viola to hide her identity so she can start to re-build her life. However, the same could be said for the intentions of Blanche’s disguise. Blanche’s disguise covers her past actions and her present emotions. Both women cling to their disguises through the plot but they have very different relationships with their disguises. Viola’s hidden identity is born out of the need to survive and she views her disguise as a “wickedness” (II,ii, 24). Blanche, on the other hand “[doesn’t] want realism” and uses her disguise to shield others and herself from the reality of who she really is (Williams 86).
Both the play and the film use disguise as one of the main comedic elements. In The Taming of the Shrew, Lucentio is disguised as a Latin tutor in order to 'woo' Bianca, as he falls in love with her the moment he sees her. As Lucentio is disguised as a Latin tutor, there will be no Lucentio, but as Lucentio is an important man, people will notice if he's gone and will wander where he is. For this reason, Tranio, Lucentio's servant, disguises himself as Lucentio. Also, Hortensio is disguised as a music tutor, as he also falls in love with Bianca.
Appearance vs. Reality in William Shakespeare's Hamlet. In Hamlet, one of Shakespeare's greatest tragedies, there is a prevailing theme that is concurrent throughout the play. Throughout the play, all the characters appear to be one thing on the outside. yet on the inside, they are completely different. The theme of Appearance versus reality is prominent in Hamlet because of the fact that the characters portray themselves differently from what they really are.
Many characters undergo a change in William Shakespeare’s play, “As You Like It”. Duke Senior goes from being a member of a court to being a member of a forest and Orlando changes from a bitter, younger brother, to a love-struck young man. The most obvious transformation undergone, is undoubtedly that of Rosalind. Her change from a woman to a man, not only alters her mood, candor, and gender, but also allows her to be the master of ceremonies.
The essentially healthy emotional intelligence of Rosalind and Orlando and their suitability for each other emerge from their separate encounters with Jaques (in some editions Jacques), the melancholy ex-courtier who is part of Duke Senior's troupe in the forest. Both Rosalind and Orlando take an instant dislike to Jaques (which is mutual). And in that dislike we are invited to see something vitally right about the two of them.
As You Like It starts out in the court, where Rosalind in a female dressed as a female, and Orlando is a male dressed as a male. Rosalind is being treated like a woman and she clearly acts like one. She attends the wrestling match, where her uncle, Duke Frederick, asks her and Celia, her cousin, to try on talk Orlando out of participating in the match. This is the point when Rosalind and Orlando meet, coerce, and begin having feelings for each other. Orlando does in fact defeat Charles, the Duke's wrestler. In this situation, Rosalind is portraying a female with typical female characteristics and Orlando is carrying out his male characteristics. In the court, they are in there true societal roles, but once they enter the forest of Ardenne those roles are dramatically changed.
“No plot device is more constantly recurrent in Shakespearian drama than is disguise.” (P.V.Kreider). Throughout many of Shakespeare’s works deception is credited as among the most frequently visited plot devices. Even the actors themselves in the original performances of the plays donned a disguise in order to deceive the audience, being male dominated the actors had to
The Function of Disguise in Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare William Shakespeare's play, Twelfth Night is based around disguise and deception, both mental and physical. The deception leads to a lot of misunderstanding and subsequently, a lot of humour. The tale begins in Illyria with the Duke Orsino, who is suffering due to his unrequited love for the Lady Olivia. The Lady is also suffering from the recent loss of her brother and father, and currently wants nothing to do with the equally mournful Duke. A disguise is used for safety when a young character named Viola becomes shipwrecked in Illyria.
In William Shakespeare’s play, “Hamlet”, It is quite evident that Polonius, King Claudius, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are all two faced. The theme of appearance versus reality is shown multiple times in the play through these characters. Polonius, King Claudius, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern all first appear to be honest and sincere. As the play continues, each character’s true self is discovered and in reality they are all evil and
In Shakespeare's As You Like It loyalty is dominant theme. Each character possesses either a loyalty or disloyalty towards another. These disloyalties and loyalties are most apparent in the relationships of Celia and Rosalind, Celia and Duke Fredrick, Orlando and Rosalind, Adam and Orlando, and Oliver and Orlando. In these relationships, a conflict of loyalties causes characters to change homes, jobs, identities and families.
Hence, the Forest of Ardenne provides for the exiled courtiers an important freedom to experiment with their lives, to discover things about themselves. In the Forest people can talk openly with whoever they might happen to meet on a stroll through the trees, and that might be anyone, given that in the Forest no one owns any particular territory (there are no rooms, palaces, roads-unlike the court where there is a preoccupation with property) and thus one might well meet and have to deal with a person whom one would never get close to in the court (that can have comic results, of course, as Touchstone's conversations with Audrey and William demonstrate).
Viola's male masquerade also calls attention to the more general theme of masking. As Cesario, Viola suggests that things are not always as they seem, that identities are protean, that self-deception rivals self-knowledge and that only Time can untie complicated "knots." Coppelia Kahn points out that the cross-dressing in Twelfth...
...disguise to add comic effect by encouraging humour of an audience via the ‘theories of laughter’. Comic effect is accurately demonstrated by Shakespeare’s incorporation of confusion, disorder and farce. However, it can be concluded that Shakespeare’s use of mistaken identity and disguise was for the purpose of more than just for comic effect, but to highlight the audience more serious topics and challenge social norms and values of the period. Ironically, it can be inferred that Shakespeare has masked his underlying purpose of mistaken identity and disguise with comedy.
Function of Disguise in Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night is a play based around disguise in the form of deception and becoming someone different. In Twelfth Night, disguise takes many different shapes from physical disguise to mental disguise. Disguise is one of the main topics of the play and helps to create the plot. It brings in confusion and comedy as well as the darker and sadder side of the play which is disguised as fun and happiness. Disguise is evident from the very beginning of the play.