Disguise in Shakespearean Comedy
William Shakespeare was a jack of all trades. He could do it all - histories, tragedies, comedies, romances. While some people may say that Shakespeare's tragedies are the most popular, his comedies are as popular as the tragedies, if not more. However, comedies of Shakespeare's time are not what people of the twentieth century perceive to be "comedy." Some of the elements of Shakespearean comedy are similar to today's comedy, such as physical comedy. People of Shakespeare's time found the fall Kate took from her horse in Taming of the Shrew, and surely people of our time would find that amusing as well. A large part of Shakespeare's comedy was disguises. The use of disguise was a key part of Shakespearean comedy; his plays Much Ado About Nothing, The Merchant of Venice, and Twelfth Night all use the element of disguise as part of their plot, some more than others. Much Ado About Nothing, one of Shakespeare's "festive" comedies, centers around two couples. One, Claudio and Hero, fall in love at first sight. The other, Benedick and Beatrice, have a verbal war almost every time they meet. Disguise is not an integral part of this play, but they are used during the masque that takes place. During the masque, Beatrice tal
Of all the plays viewed in class, Twelfth Night was the one that was completely centered around the use of disguise. In fact, disguise is crucial to the plot of this play. Another "festive" comedy, Twelfth Night deals with not only disguise, but with the aspect of twins as well. A young girl, Viola, and her identical twin brother Sebastian are separated when their ship is destroyed during a storm. Viola disguises herself as a eunuch so she can join Duke Orsino's court. Orsino sends "Cesario," who is Viola in disguise, to court the Lady Olivia. However, Olivia falls in love with Cesario, and the chaos and confusion ensue. Another place in this play where disguise is used is when Feste goes to visit Malvolio in the prison. Feste dons the disguise of Sir Topas the curate, in order to further confuse Malvolio. In a way, Malvolio even puts on a disguise himself when he goes to Olivia, smiling, wearing yellow stockings, and cross-gartered. Disguise is crucial to this play, and if disguises had not been used in this play, it simply would not have been the same. A second play that uses disguises as part of its plot is The Merchant of Venice, a "confusion" comedy. This play's climax involves the use of disgui
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Approximate Word count = 823
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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