In William Shakespeare’s, ‘As You Like It,’ the tension between appearance versus reality is the result of the deceptive nature of the circumstances the characters of the play find themselves in. When Rosalind dresses as a male figure, she disguises her true identity and challenges the conventions of the preconceived ideas of gender roles. Thus, in several aspects, the subversion of the role she adopted through disguise eventually becomes more honest than deceitful. Rosalind was able to fully contain her new character engaging in the deceit in the short and long term of the play. The idiosyncratic nature of the play essentially advocates social struggles of gender roles and the truth behind manifestation. Shakespeare’s play investigates, the prejudiced assumptions humans have on one another suggesting that the roles that they play are a mere part of the theatricality of everyday life leading to the exploration of the truth behind love, and disguise versus deception.
The theatricality of everyday life is explored throughout the play. The world, as it may seem, is indeed one giant theater. Each individual goes through stages of their lives, conforming to a certain part of society in distinctive ways. Everyone is a victim of his or her own disguise, suggesting that subversion to a certain appearance can eventually become the reality. This is shown through one of the most dominant characters in the play, Rosalind. When she becomes banished from the court in which she resided, she leaves not with dismay but with strong idiosyncratic opinion of the male dominated court.
‘Now we go in content… To liberty and not to banishment.’ (Act I, Scene III)
When leaving the court, Rosalind dresses as a male figure primarily to escape the haunting...
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... of the importance of the distinction between appearance and reality, Shakespeare concluded the play on a note of Rosalind seeking sanction from the audience, which espouses the melodramatic world that was created in the play. Rosalind was a very powerful character. She was able to experience emotions not confined by the preconceived role her gender assigned her.
The tension that Shakespeare created between appearance versus reality was a reflection of the prejudiced assumptions individuals have on one another. The foundations Shakespeare built of characters and settings deciphered, that circumstances are not always a they seem. In fact everyone is being deceived, emphasising how quickly one can form a judgment based on appearance. Coming to the conclusion that in fact,
‘All the world’s a stage and all the men and women merely players…’(Act II, Scene VII, pg. 43)
In William Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night, the use of mistaken identity and role reversal communicates that gender roles and social class are constructed illusions that trick people into having unrealistic expectations about how they are supposed behave.Viola crossdressing as Cesario in the play challenges traditional views of how a woman of her status should act.The differences between the accepted clothing for an individual emphasizes gender roles and social hierarchy in society. During the Renaissance, “ the idea of two genders, one subordinate to the other, provided a key element in its hierarchical view of the social order and to buttress its gendered division of labor” (Howard 423).
equal (Act II, Scene 6, Line 4) which is a very intelligent thing to say.
I shall endeavour to explore and analyse how women are presented in Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”, Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress” and Duffy’s “Human Interest”.
this is said at the beginning of act 3 scene and is saying that if
Though its primary function is usually plot driven--as a source of humor and a means to effect changes in characters through disguise and deception—cross dressing is also a sociological motif involving gendered play. My earlier essay on the use of the motif in Shakespeare's plays pointed out that cross dressing has been discussed as a symptom of "a radical discontinuity in the meaning of the family" (Belsey 178), as cul-tural anxiety over the destabilization of the social hierarchy (Baker, Howard, Garber), as the means for a woman to be assertive without arousing hostility (Claiborne Park), and as homoerotic arousal (Jardine). This variety of interpretations suggests the multivoiced character of the motif, but before approaching the subject of this essay, three clarifica- tions are necessary at the outset.
In conclusion, Shakespeare has used the concept of honour and fidelity throughout the play. He shows many different aspects of honour and fidelity through his characters, the contrasting differences between men and women. He shows us what how important these traits are to Elizabethan society and if honour was ever lost in the upper classes the consequences were never too pleasant. Shakespeare even shows us the true loyalty between Benedick and Beatrice which gives and insight to his feminist views which were quite modern for the time.
The most obvious concern of As You Like It is love, and particularly the attitudes and the language appropriate to young romantic love. This is obvious from the relationships between Orlando and Rosalind, Silvius and Phoebe, Touchstone and Audrey, and Celia and Oliver. The action of the play moves back and forth among these couples, inviting us to compare the different styles and to recognize from those comparisons some important facts about young love. Here the role of Rosalind is decisive. Rosalind is Shakespeare's greatest and most vibrant comic female role. She is clearly the only character in the play who has throughout an intelligent, erotic, and fully anchored sense of love, and it becomes her task in the play to try to educate others out of their false notions of love, especially those notions which suggest that the real business of love is adopting an inflated Petrarchan language and the appropriate attitude that goes with it.
Throughout the historical literary periods, many writers underrepresented and undervalued the role of women in society, even more, they did not choose to yield the benefits of the numerous uses of the female character concerning the roles which women could accomplish as plot devices and literary tools. William Shakespeare was one playwright who found several uses for female characters in his works. Despite the fact that in Shakespeare's history play, Richard II, he did not use women in order to implement the facts regarding the historical events. Instead, he focused the use of women roles by making it clear that female characters significantly enriched the literary and theatrical facets of his work. Furthermore in Shakespeare’s history play, King Richard II, many critics have debated the role that women play, especially the queen. One of the arguments is that Shakespeare uses the queen’s role as every women’s role to show domestic life and emotion. Jo McMurtry explains the role of all women in his book, Understanding Shakespeare’s England A Companion for the American Reader, he states, “Women were seen, legally and socially, as wives. Marriage was a permanent state” (5). McMurtry argues that every woman’s role in the Elizabethan society is understood to be a legal permanent state that is socially correct as wives and mothers. Other critics believe that the role of the queen was to soften King Richard II’s personality for the nobles and commoners opinion of him. Shakespeare gives the queen only a few speaking scenes with limited lines in Acts two, four, and five through-out the play. Also, she is mentioned only a few times by several other of the characters of the play and is in multiple scenes wit...
Act 1 Scene 2 Page 279 Line 40: "So foul and fair a day I have not seen"
At first glance, this transformation is a mere change of clothes and the addition of weapons, but it goes much deeper. To Rosalind, the taking on of a man’s appearance requires certain things. She believes that while dressed as a man, she cannot bring shame to the image of men. A good example of this is in Act 2, Scene 4, where she says, "I could find in my heart to disgrace my man’s apparel and to cry like a woman; but I must comfort the weaker vessel, as doublet and hose ought to show itself courageous to petticoat. (ll. 4-7). This is not the only time she mentions a doublet and hose. It seems almost that the doublet and hose are the actual source of strength for a man, as in the next example when Rosalind is begging Celia for an answer, saying, "Good my complexion! Dost thou think, / though I am caparisoned like a man, I have a Doublet and hose in my disposition?
William Shakespeare’s comedy, As You Like It, like many of Shakespeare’s other plays, subverts cultural expectations of Elizabethan society from the beginning of the play. This can be seen with Orlando being the more romantic one during his courtship with Rosalind. But the biggest subversion of cultural norms comes not from Orlando, but from Rosalind, when she decides to dress as a man and flee into the Forest of Arden, after being banished by her uncle. Rosalind’s character is revolutionary, and Rosalind takes entirely unprecedented measures to take charge of her own life, insisting that women will always find a way to make themselves heard. “Make the doors upon a woman’s wit, and it will out at the casement. Shut that, and ‘twill out at
Shakespeare was a very fine play writer, who examined human nature and exposed it through literature. One of his famous plays, Romeo and Juliet, depict many different themes such as, fate vs. freewill, duty vs. self, feuds, appearance vs. reality, parents choose who we marry, love at first sight and confidante. Appearance vs. reality is one of the themes that are portrayed through out the play. It means, things aren’t always what they seem to be. Something or someone might appear to be another thing, but the reality is different. Romeo and Juliet show appearance vs. reality through out the play because of their secret marriage. Examples of appearance vs. reality are when Juliet finds out about Tybalt’s death and Romeo’s banishment. Juliet’s parents think that Juliet is crying about Tybalt’s death, but she is crying about Romeo’s banishment, when the couple (Romeo and Juliet) get married, but everybody thinks they are still single and when the nurse finds Juliet dead and the Capulet’s have an unnecessary funeral for Juliet even though she is not dead and had only swallowed Friar Lawrence’s potion, which put her into a long sleep.
Her words indicate that Rosalind is ready to face the danger of falling in love. She infers that her father would approve of Orlando because her father approved of his father Sir Rowland. Their meeting reveals a vulnerable side of the Rosalind as she gives him a chain, says, "Gentleman, wear this for me" and waits for him to continue the conversation.
...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.
Shakespearian comedies have some common characteristics which are found in The Tempest. The first characteristic of Shakespearian comedy is that there is a struggle of young lovers. They have to go through many adversaries to achieve their love. Miranda is a passive character and Ferdinand is also not the hero of the play. But they are the important couple of the play. Miranda is shown as a meek lady who is very faithful to her love when she says, “I am your wife, if you will marry me; / If not, I’ll die your maid” (III.i.83–84). Along with the struggle of the lovers, the protagonist also is shown going through several adversaries. The exile theme is one of the major themes in Shakespearian comedies. For example in Just like Prospero, in “As You Like It”, Duke Senior was exiled by Fredrick. Rosalind’s adverse journey starts from here. Rosalind is portrayed as a strong lady; hence she becomes the real hero of the play. But in The Tempest, Miranda’s character is portrayed as a weak person. Unlike Rosalind from As You Like It, Miranda is not the influential lady in the play.