A recurrent theme in Shakespeare's plays is the idea that things are not always what they seem. This is one of the major themes of literature, a serious theme even in comedies. Twelfth Night and Merchant Of Venice show good examples of this theme. In these plays we find many discrepancies between what seems to be and what is.

This theme is used in all sorts of comedies to cause confusion and misunderstanding. Disguise causes confusion and confusion leads to comedy. In Shakespeare's comedies physical disguises are used to help the heroine achieve her goal. Further more deception is used in comedies to bring about humorous situations. Shakespeare's Merchant Of Venice, Twelfth Night, and the British sitcom Keeping Up Appearances all use disguise and deception to add a comedic element to the plot.

The British television sitcom Keeping Up Appearances is based on a woman Hyacinth who was born into a poor family yet tries to show herself as being someone of a high social class. She goes to great length to disguise herself though her plans never end up the way she expected them to. These disguises cause confusion a

Characters in comedies often try to deceive others by pretending to be something they are not. A humorous situation is created when the deceiver is the one being deceived. Sir Andrew from Twelfth Night became jealous of Cesario/Viola and was insisted on challenging him to a duel. Through a mix up Sir Andrew ends up fighting Sebastian. (Shakespeare Twelfth IV.i.24-70). Sir Andrew is deceived when he gives the impression that he is a fearsome swordsman challenging a coward, when in reality he is a coward and he has challenged a brave young man. This is a comedic situation because Sir Andrew's weaknesses are clearly evident. Hyacinth from Keeping Up Appearances devises a plan to get her husband, Richard, a job. She tries to deceive the president of a company to believe that Richard is a brave man. Hyacinth gets her oversized brother in-law to act like a hooligan on the golf course. The plan is to get Richard to throw him out as proof of his bravery. However the deception comes when two bikers show up and Richard is unable to stand up to them. This is humorous because Richard is exposed as a fake just as Sir Andrew was.

nd misunderstanding especially on the part of her husband Richard. All this leads to a very humorous outcome. In Twelfth Night Mari

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 854
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)