Examples Of Disguise In As You Like It

The masking of an identity is a common solution that many people of today’s society turn towards. Whether it is to hide something from someone or to use it as a form of protection. William Shakespeare’s popular play Much Ado About Nothing is an excellent example of masking that is achieved by some of the characters. The story reflects events of people masking themselves intentionally, unintentionally or having the ability to see through other’s masks. It demonstrates that masking can end in deception, although not constantly.

In the play, The Taming of the Shrew, by William Shakespeare, there is a recurring theme of people hiding their real identity. First, there are cases of deception, such as Tranio pretending to be Lucentio, Lucentio pretending to be a Latin tutor, Hortensio pretending to be a music tutor. More complex than these obvious examples of deception are Shakespeare’s clever uses of psychological masks. Several characters in the play take on roles that do not agree with their personalities. The psychological masks that they wear are not immediately apparent to the audience, or even to the characters themselves, until they are unmasked through the course of the play. Shakespeare mostly uses this device with the characters of Katherina, Bianca,

In “Twelfth Night”, disguise is a key theme in order for the play to take shape. Within the first three scenes, we have several examples of characters deliberately deceiving others in order to achieve a selfish goal. An example of this is seen through Viola’s decision to disguise herself as a eunuch in order to find favour with the duke.

In studying William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, or What You Will, it becomes clear that the theme of “Inside/Outside” is visible at many different levels. One of the comedic methods applied is the mistaken identity of Viola and Sebastian. Another case is Malvolio’s sudden change of character and clothes. Furthermore, Feste, who acts as a professional fool in the play, turns out to be a bright and wise character, against the expectations of the readers. Without these important elements where the characters show to be entirely different on the outside than on the inside, the play would be less intriguing, and moreover, they are essential to develop major scenes.

Throughout history there has been a general understanding that appearances can be deceiving. A person may go through life without anyone understanding the true reality of their character. William Shakespeare, one of the greatest writers of all time, understood the relationship between appearance and reality and often gave characters two sides to their personality.

William Shakespeare is known for being a marvelous playwright. This is because he used advanced techniques, such as character foil. A well known example of this is in his play, Much Ado About Nothing. The play is of one unlikely love story and another that has an unlikely ending. One main character foil shown in the play would be Claudio and Benedick. This character foil illuminates the story because even though they both change their view on love, they never see eye to eye. Benedick brings out Claudio’s at first lovingness to someone who gives up on love and Benedick from a shallow man that doesn’t care about woman to a caring person who cares about others.

One of the most overt examples of disguise is through the character of Viola. This is the origin of much of the deception in the play. Stranded in Illyria after a shipwreck, she dresses as a male in order to work as a Eunuch for the Duke Orsino.

A recurring event in the play was the women disguising themselves as men. This is symbolic of the suppression of the women by their male counterparts. They had to mask their true abilities under the guise of men. There was no way in Elizabethan society for a woman to be successful in any field other than wifehood or motherhood. In Act II, Jessica was finally rebelling against the strict rules of Shylock. She was taking extreme measures in order to elope with Lorenzo.

In these lines Orsino implies that he can only be with his true love when she looks like a woman. She looks like a woman when she is in woman's clothing. In these play the characters are able to change from female to male by putting on different clothes. The women are treated differently when they are dressed as men. This brings about the conclusion that clothes define gender. Gender is not about who you are, it is what you look like and how other perceive you. To prove her gender Viola must change into women's clothing. She also must go back to her correct female role and abandon the new male attitude she took on. When Rosalind removes her disguise she also gives up the strength it symbolizes (Erikson 23). Her soon to be husband Orsino will not accept her in her male attire. He says to her "Give me thy hand/ And let me see thee in thy woman's weeds" (5.1.265-266). He can only know for sure that Viola is female if she is correctly dressed. In As You Like It Orlando recognizes his true love only after she changes into her womanly clothes. "If there be truth in sight, you are my Rosalind" (5.4.108). In both plays the women trick people who are very close to them into believing not only that they are men, but not even recognizing. Orlando speaks to Ganymede, Rosalind male persona, without noticing the resemblance to his love. How can people claim to be so in love and then mistake them with different clothes on? This is an obvious

In Act 1 of the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare, appearances do not match their reality, as seen by the two main characters, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.The play openly displays the theme that our appearances often do not match our reality. For example, in the play Macbeth, his wife, Lady Macbeth on the outside is a dainty, gentle person when in reality she is a vindictive, resourceful and ambitious woman. In Act I.VII Lady Macbeth convinces her husband to commit to murdering King Duncan, when in the prior scene he decided against it. “ Wouldst thou have that Which thou esteem’dt the ornament of life And live a coward in thine own esteem, Letting I dare not wait upon I would, Like the poor cat i’th’adage?” (I.VII.41.45.) Lady Macbeth used fear and shame to convince Macbeth to see

“King Lear” is known as one of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies. “King Lear” is a play which tears off the outer coverings of human character. Two prominent themes that can be found in “King Lear” are disguise and deception. Disguise and deception are connected to each other because if you put on a disguise, you are masking yourself. If you are masking yourself, you are misrepresenting the truth, which is also known as deception. The characters constantly deceive each other throughout the play by either changing their physical appearance or changing their personality to mask their true identities and motives. Shakespeare’s exposure of the connection between disguise and deception reflects today’s culture and is still relevant today.

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

Gender identity and its roles in 17th and 19th century England were regarded as rigid fact — definite and unyielding. The adherence to these social protocols was of utmost importance. Masculinity was viewed as being dominant, assertive, and bold, whereas femininity involved beauty, obedience, and chastity. The theatre became a method of challenging this rigid social concept. Both William Shakespeare’s As You Like It and Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest explore these public values through their characters. Wilde and Shakespeare’s use of gender reversals satirize the traditions of social order, marriage, and gender responsibilities at the time, thereby revealing that gender is not absolute.

Disguise in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night has many purposes. Even though disguising one's gender is a common theme in Shakespeare, some say it is instates bonding and allows a way for it to happen. It is known that it is used as a necessity for survival. In Twelfth Night, Disguise and Identity is shown in feelings, appearances and decisions. Disguise is an occasionally seen force which drives one’s mind into believing in something unrealistic. Disguise and Identity get mixed up which causes confusion. Both factors are compared in the meaning of Truth.

The concept of disguise has been known and used since the beginnings of drama, but this concept was most famously known for being used in plays written by the biggest playwrights of the Elizabethan era— especially for being used in William Shakespeare’s plays. What do we mean by disguise? In broad terms, it would mean pretending to be something that one is not. The concept of disguise can mean changing behavior, or hiding intentions, the most frequent form of disguise is the change of ones personal appearance, usually through the changing of clothes, to mask ones true self. Shakespeare used disguises in various ways in his plays; As You Like It, Measure for Measure, The Merchant of Venice, and Twelfth Night were all plays in which Shakespeare used the concept of disguise as a device to further the plot, it was sometimes even used for comic relief. Disguises can be used both maliciously and/ or morally, depending on its use and its influence on the characters. In both Merchant of Venice and Measure for Measure, both Portia and Duke Vincentio donned a disguise to pursue justice how they saw morally fit, but ultimately their deception was only for selfish gain; Portia disguises herself to save a friend, and Vincentio disguises himself to know the true feelings of his subjects, both manipulate the law in the name of justice while in their disguises.