Introduction to Disguise and Deception in Twelfth Night and A Midsummer Night’s Dream
After reading the plays, Twelfth Night and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, researchers, having examined the role and nature of the disguise of different Shakespearean characters, and have diverse opinions regarding the disguise as well as the responses of the contemporary Elizabethan audience. Although this disguise and deception is mostly in comedies, all of the tragedies also have these features common among them – a requirement of the time when women were not permitted to take part in theatrical performances and acting on the stages in Elizabethan England, and their roles were played by women in disguise. The literature review, given here, presents not only disguise and deception from the point of view of the writer, but also from the contemporary audience’s point of view. The selected researchers, in this connection, have expressed various opinions regarding why, how, and where disguise and deception were used by different characters in Twelfth Night and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. They address the issue of the audiences’ response to (1) commonly accepted contemporary thought and belief about women’s performance, (2) theatrical impossibilities regarding the roles of women and future predictions about their independence, and (3) information for their audience about topical politics and giving them moral instructions.
Beliefs of Elizabethans
As far as the reactions of the contemporary audiences regarding their different thoughts and beliefs during Twelfth Night and A Midsummer Night’s Dream era are concerned, the pre-Shakespeare era was Puritan time, having no sense of gender, sex-equality or such other concepts, but where was awareness of the gender roles. In his essay, “Masculine Plots in Twelfth Night,” Goran V. Stanivukovic says that disguise is used to take control over women. It is because most of the narratives were presented from a masculine or patriarchal point of view where all actors were males, and women had little role to play or sometimes no role to play, as male members used to play female roles. It was actually a belief that women were too weak to perform such acts. He argues, “It is another instance of re-imagining masculinity in the romance” (123). Quoting Herbert as an analyst of spectators, Virgil Hutton states that the primary intention of Shakespeare was to see the reaction of the contemporary spectators to the performance of the male actors in female roles. Another point regarding beliefs was the presentation of fairies in disguise in, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, according to Hutton, “manifest the effort to bring the gods back to earth in an understandable and meaningful relationship with humans” (302). However, he states that this is a sort of a union that Hutton calls between man and nature or better to say a Homeric union, where gods or godly creatures are sent to the earth to help man. The issue is that these creatures were also represented by male characters as is clear from A Midsummer Night’s Dream. It shows that disguise and deception techniques were intended to hit the spectators of that time regarding their religious beliefs. It could be that this has been an attack on irrational thinking, as Hutton says that Shakespeare used the fragile human psyche to attack told beliefs or bring compliance to those ideas, perceptions, and beliefs. It was also a type of belief that women were not permitted to play the roles of women, which he attacked again and again through disguise and deception male actions adopted to play their roles in Twelfth Night and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Audience and Twelfth Night and A Midsummer Night’s Dream
It is, therefore, essential for the audience to be constantly on guard about the roles in disguises as well as about keeping their belief willingly suspended about fairies and other characters. The role of disguise in these seemingly impossible scenarios where fairies were to be represented by men rather gave free hand to Shakespeare. Peter Hayland argues that the “playwright reacted to the practical restrictions involved in the need for a change in or addition to a characters’ role by exploiting the theatrical possibilities” (82). Commenting on such roles assigned to males in his other article “Shakespeare’s Heroines: Disguise in the Romantic Comedies”, Peter Hayland further says that Shakespeare has been attracted to “girl-gap” device that means to use a girl for double roles. He calls it a representative of the audience on the stage, saying perhaps Shakespeare was the first to have used girls to “see the possibilities of a genuine distinction between primary and secondary personal to manipulate the distinction”, adding such characters can “speak the truth as a satirist or moralist”, making implicit warnings to the audience about acts performed in this way (28). However, this is done by winning the sympathy of the audience first and not by alienating them. The major function that he employs is for information and instructions of the audience, and not entertainment only.
Comparing Shakespeare’s use of disguise with Machiavelli’s Mathew Thomas Nilsson says;
“While Shakespeare employed a broader range of disguise devices in Twelfth Night than Machiavelli in The Mandrake Root, both Shakespeare and Machiavelli implemented “task-oriented,” means-to-an-end disguise devices into their plays” (Nilsson)”
In fact, there are several similarities as Nilsson argues saying that the major similarity is regarding the types of task-oriented devices, a technique used by the character. However, in Shakespeare, this disguise is broad, as its purpose is also entertainment and not only edification. In this connection, Nancy K. Hayles argues that this is actually a progression from the early plays to later plays in which he wants to use disguise as a “means to investigate, and eventually resolve, the disparity between appearance and reality” (115). This is clear from Hutton’s remarks also that Shakespeare wants to provide information to his audience first and then to entertain them by using disguises in his plays. Maurice Hunt says that Shakespeare has shown the concept of love and knowledge intertwined with knowledge or information. He says that disguise permits exposure of love in Twelfth Night, because the true nature of all the four characters Olivia, Malvolio, Viola, and Orsino is revealed. He argues that Orsino enjoys feminine beauty, while Cesario provides him an excuse for not recognizing the opposite (487). That is the very reason that Charles Casey has highlighted homosexual and heterosexual dynamics of characters and their gender changes in different disguises in his essay “Gender Trouble in Twelfth Night” (121).
Deception and Disguise in Twelfth Night and A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Although the literature reviewed above regarding the role of deception and disguise in Twelfth Night and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, is about orientating the audience about the contemporary beliefs, concepts, and thoughts, still a great care was taken by Shakespeare to keep the audience in sync with the message given through these techniques. Shakespeare, as a playwright had also to see theatrical impossibilities and warn the readers and the audiences of the future progression. There is not only entertainment but also information packed in different disguises the men played in the place of women, sometimes explicitly, because they had to be clear, while sometimes implicitly because the message was veiled in acting or language.
Works Cited
- Charles, Casey. “Gender Trouble in Twelfth Night.” Theatre Journal 49 (1997): 121-141.
- Hayland, Peter. “The Performance of Disguise.” Early Theatre 5.1 (2002). Web. 15 March 2016.
- —————–.”Shakespeare’s Heroines: Disguise in the Romantic Comedies.” UCAL. n. d. Web. 15 March 2016.
- Hayles, Nancy K. “Sexual Disguises in As You Like It and Twelfth Night.” Editor. Catherine M. S. Alexander. The Cambridge Shakespeare Library: Shakespeare criticism, Volume 2. Cambridge University Press. 2003. 115-128.
- Hutton, Virgil. “A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Tragedy in Comic Disguise.” Studies in English Literature 25 (1985). Web. 15 March 2016.
- Hunt, Maurice. “Love, Disguise and Knowledge in Twelfth Night.” CLA Journal 32 (1989): 484-493.
- Nilsson, Matthew Thomas. “Machiavelli and Shakespeare: Disguise as a Means to an End.” Binghamton University. n. d. Web. 15 March 2016.
- Stanivukovic, Goran V. “Masculine Plots in Twelfth Night.” Editor. James Schiffer. Twelfth Night: New Critical Essays. Routledge. New York. 2011. Print. 120-129.
- Howard, Jean E. “Crossdressing, the Theatre and Gender Struggle in Early Modern England.” Shakespeare Quarterly 39 (1988): 418-440.
Relevant Questions about Twelfth Night and A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Disguise and Deception
- How do the themes of disguise and deception contribute to the comedic elements in Twelfth Night and A Midsummer Night’s Dream? What role do mistaken identities and hidden truths play in creating humor and confusion in these plays?
- In “Twelfth Night,” Viola disguises herself as Cesario, and in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” Puck uses magic to create deception among the characters. How do these instances of disguise and deception impact the romantic relationships and love triangles in both plays? What insights do they provide about the nature of love and attraction?
- Shakespeare often uses disguise and deception as a means to explore social norms and gender roles. How does the theme of disguise challenge traditional gender roles and expectations in “Twelfth Night”? Similarly, in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” how does the use of magic and deception blur the lines between reality and fantasy, highlighting the idea of the irrational and unpredictable nature of love?