Shakespeare's Use of the Idea of Disguise in "As You Like It"

Character foils are important to any story or play as they compare and contrast character traits as the story unfolds. The use of character foils allows the audience to understand a characters way of thought and the actions that they take. Character foils show the moral behaviour and can help the audience see contradictory factors that help advance the plot. Although characters may seem similar, the use of character foils can show their differences. In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the use of character foils proves Fortinbras is a stronger political leader over Hamlet, the contrasting view of Laertes as a son in comparison to Hamlet and Horatio being thought of as the better man in contradiction to Hamlet.

The appearance of something is almost always the opposite of what it is in reality. In this time, masks are used everywhere. Masks are used to hide reality and give a different appearance. Appearances can be deceiving and will almost always trick you into thinking something that is not true. Literature, social media, and pop culture show that people will change themselves so they conform to societal expectations. In most literature, masks are used as a device to show appearance instead of reality.

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.

Disguise is one of Shakespeare's favorite ploys found in varying degrees in each of the mentioned works. Through it he alters the identity of an individual (frequently female character, though not always) and uses this disguise to heighten irony, develop theme, and enhance subtle comic innuendo. In As You Like It, Shakespeare develops specific ironies where the dialogue takes on new meaning when the true identity of the speaker (or hearer) is placed over the dialogue. By having characters in disguise, Shakespeare opens the door for all kinds of comic twists from the shepherdess in love with the "shepherd" Ganymede who is really a girl (Rosalind) to Orlando sharing feelings of love to Ganymede who is really Orlando's love Rosalind in disguise. The difficulty in maintaining a disguise or hidden identity is shown in the desire to say and experience things in the one identity than can only be accomplished by the alter identity which compounds the verbal comedy in the mistaken meanings of what is being said. In Measure for Measure, the Duke uses disguise and mistaken identity to reveal the truth about Angelo's character. At the same time this disguise provides comic moments as Lucio speaks of the Duke to the Duke while unaware of the Duke's identity.

As You Like It unravels one of William Shakespeare’s greatest pastoral comedies. Set in France, the play emphasizes the tension between the city and courtly world from the country or, for the purposes of this play, the green world. Shakespeare intensifies the tension between city and country by intertwining major themes of love and performance. Although the play begins in France, it mostly takes place within the confines of the forest of Arden. Through her transformable identity, Rosalind demonstrates the endless possibilities of the green world by wandering around Arden and resolving the troubles of love and marriage. Although Shakespeare’s pastoral comedy permeates a space of nostalgia, it more or less presents a play about lovers. On the other hand, Kenneth Branagh’s 2007 film adaptation of As You Like It presents an altered interpretation of Shakespeare’s pastoral comedy by focusing on

In William Shakespeare 's play 1 Henry IV, deception is a recurring theme. Main characters King Henry IV, Hotspur and Prince Hal deceived people to benefit themselves. Were these characters deceiving their subordinates to gain power or were their choices and actions political strategy geared toward gaining honor and maintaining the well-being of the nation? All three main characters deceive people to gain power which can be seen as an act of malice and disloyalty but also as a political strategy. King Henry deceives King Richard II into believing that he is on his side while he is secretly planning a rebellion, Hotspur does the same to King Henry by deceiving him into thinking that he is on his side while also secretly planning a rebellion and Prince Hal deceives the kingdom’s people into thinking he is this wild child so they will be more impressed with him when he becomes the mature prince and adequate potential leader he was expected to be all along. All of this deception brings up the question, do the characters use deception purely for their own benefit or for the benefit of the greater good? Shakespeare 's use of deception for power shows these three characters true intentions, for King Henry IV deception is used to gain power to benefit the kingdom while on the other hand, for Hotspur deception is used to gain power for his own benefit and the benefit of his family while in Prince Hal’s complicated case, deception is used both for his own benefit and ultimately the

One of the many factors that William Shakespeare implements throughout all of his comedic plays is the element of disguise and trickery. This element is shown through his works of As You Like It, Taming of the Shrew, and Twelfth Night. The primary purpose for using disguise and trickery is for deceit. The deception involved with changing characters’ identities is used for momentary gain. In the end, the concluding outcome of such deceit leads to exposure of a higher truth. The characters most closely involved with these occurrences of deceit normally acquire something about themselves by the end of the play. Disguise is additionally used to generate misunderstandings, internal conflict between the characters, and the comedic component of the play.

There’s no doubt that in “As You Like It”, the audience will reside with the idea that Rosalind and Celia withhold a homoerotic relationship. For example,

Deception and disguise are key themes in Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night. The conflicts and troublesome circumstances the characters face are the direct results of misdirection and trickery. Shakespeare uses such falsehoods to show that discrepancy between one’s “inside” and “outside” is caused not only by an individual’s intended deceit, but also by an outsider’s own perception. Viola, the shapeshifting protagonist, describes herself as “A blank,” (2.4.109). Are strangers not “blanks” to one another when they first meet? An individual’s opinions and views of another are the result of these “blanks” filling in based on first meetings and first impressions.

William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night; or, What You Will, performed in 1602, includes many characters who assume different identities and personalities through the use of disguise. Shakespeare uses disguises, masks, and mistaken identities to create confusion, internal conflicts, and add a comical nature to the play. Disguise also illustrates that one’s appearance is only an illusion. Disguise can probe to symbolic in a way that lets readers explore the lack of reality that is evident when keeping up with public appearances or showing the public what you want them to believe you embody. Although it can be viewed through a comedic perspective, the issues that it presses allow for a serious analysis.

Can someone pretend to be another person and come back being the same person as before? In many of William Shakespeare’s plays, the change of identity has been a success for many primary characters. Most notably, in comical plays, female characters have had the intention of changing not only their identity but their gender for a temporary period. The ploy of mistaken identity is a useful plot device that Shakespeare uses because it is a good way to get the audience humoured and have them thinking about when or how will the true identity be revealed. The mode of mistaken identity is a theatrical device that has been around before the Elizabethan era, but in the interest to Shakespeare, the device is more innovative and effective throughout many of his plays. In any manner, the word “identity” is a difficult word to define because there are various ways of comprehending the word when people identify one another. One person can identify themselves in different situations such as being a party animal at nightclubs on Friday nights to being super religious on Sunday mornings at church. In both cases, a person can have a hard time sticking to one identity because it may challenge them to know if they are representing a good reputation towards society. For this reasoning, pretending to be another person is somehow a great way to find out their own self because it makes them realize who they really are after the

The Theme of Appearance vs. Reality in William Shakespeare's Works Characters within one of William Shakespeare's greatest tragic plays,

William Shakespeare's As You Like It As a Study of Perception and Misperception The concepts of perception and misperception are common themes in many of Shakespeare's plays and can be found in his comedies, tragedies and histories alike. Shakespeare explores these often-parallel elements through several different forms in his work, such as disguise, mistaken identity and blindness, and events caused by these can lead to amusing, confusing or sometimes tragic consequences, depending on the nature of the plays themselves. The Concise Oxford Dictionary defines 'perception' as 'the ability to see, hear or become aware of something through the senses,' 'a way of regarding, understanding or