Cross -Dressing; A Common Theme in Shakespearean Plays
All research for this play was written and conducted by Madison Padilla
Introduction
Cross-dressing became a widely accepted theater practice on many sixteenth century stages across London. Many characters in Shakespeare’s plays were disguised as opposite sexes in order to gain respect, blend in with society, and entertain for performance purposes. Cross-Dressing is often recognized in Shakespearean plays as an element of comic relief because it provided entertainment for not only the people of London, but also for Queen Elizabeth. Theater became riveting entertainment and allowed for citizens to express how they felt in a growing society. Cross- dressing is a relevant theme in many Shakespearean plays, as Phyliss Rackin notes in her article, “Cross -Dressing in Shakespeare’s comedies- and beyond” in plays such as, “The Merchant of Venice, As You Like It, and the Twelfth Night, female characters disguised themselves as men. In The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Taming of the Shrew, and The Merry Wives of Windsor, and [A Midsummer’s Nights Dream] male characters are disguised as females” (1). In the conclusions of these plays often it was common to find these characters as the heroines of the play.
Background
During the Renaissance, England was [beginning] to [transition] from a medieval traditional society to a more modernized society (1). The Renaissance society was predominantly ruled by men, which led a patriarchal society, where men had authority and power over women. Rackin cites Jean Howard from her book, A Companion to Shakespeare’s works, Volume III: The Comedies,
“From the social point of view, cross-dressing in the Renaissance had an important aspect: as women were considered inferior to men, cross-dressing presented an important change of status. If a woman pretended to be a man, she was, in fact, assuming more rights than she was entitled to. Apart from several exceptions in the real life, it was only in fiction and carnivalesque festivities that cross-dressing was allowed as a temporal escape from everyday reality. Since a woman was not supposed to ‘leave her house’ and to travel alone, some women might have worn male clothing for protection. If a women’s male disguise was discovered, however, she was suspected of leading ‘a loose life’ (Howard, 421), and was punished”(1).
Cross-dressing stemmed from the changing gender roles of the sixteenth century and eventually led to a tradition known to sixteenth century London. Women wanted to make it in a ‘mans world’ and in order to make it they had to fit in. Not only did women cross-dress as men, but men also cross-dressed as women. These limitations on the way women could behave in society led to the publishing of the sixteenth century pamphlet the Hic Mulie, “Between 1610 and 1620 there was a controversy over gender roles in England, leading to a pamphlet entitled Hic Mulier (This manlike woman). Hic Mulier was published in 1620 in an England that condemned transvestitism. Women wearing men’s clothes were becoming increasingly common, causing concern to social conservatives. The pamphlet argued that transvestitism was an affront to nature, The Bible, and society. As with the London aldermen and magistrates, the author of Hic Mulier associates female cross-dressing with sexual wantonness”(1). This is when cross-dressing came into play, both literally and figuratively. Women demanded to be held to the same standards as men and still be respected. The only way they were able to accomplish this was to dress like men in performances. By dressing like men, they were able to get the message through that women could be equal to men even in a society ruled by men.
Men also dressed as women in many plays to help women find love. They were essentially side -kicks to their female companions and were responsible for their love lives, “Most of the plays involving heroines in male disguise take a sympathetic view of cross-dressing. They usually present it as a strategy used by wives and girlfriends to follow or rejoin the men they love. In other plays [women] put on male clothes in order to protect themselves from male sexual desire. Note that if a woman is cross-dressed, she usually becomes a boy of a lower status (Rosalind, the heiress to the throne, becomes a humble owner of a herd of sheep; the rich heiress Portia becomes a junior, though wise, lawyer; the noblewoman Viola becomes a pageboy). Although generally a cross-dressed man was more acceptable than a cross-dressed woman, in Shakespeare’s comedies we seldom encounter men in women’s clothes”(2). It was evident throughout the century that cross-dressing was widely accepted on stages throughout London because of the gender barriers of the century.
Fairies in A Midsummer’s Nights Dream
In Shakespeare’s 1590 play, A Midsummer’s Nights dream, Men were forced to dress as women because women were not allowed to act on stage. The play follows Titania’s four mystical fairies, Peaseblossom, Cobweb, Moth, and Mustardseed. In the play the fairies represent a divide in society, the changing gender roles, and the magic associated with Elizabethan England. The fairies represented a divide in society because they were considered to be mystical and allowed for more freedom in an environment where usually it was uncommon.
In the ASF 2016 study guide and materials for A Midsummer’s Nights dream Susan Willis gives an account of the fairies mystical history, “Shakespeare roots his magical comedy in the legendary world of Athens with the like of Theseus and Hippolyta, heroes both. Their wedding plans bookend the action of the play, but in between Shakespeare taps other traditions that stem from that world, the tutelary spirits of wood and dale, fertility and harvest that descended from the folk memory of ancient gods and goddesses. When new belief systems enter, the old may be supplanted but not eradicated; instead they change and find another role in the lives of believers.. Folk belief was also linked supernaturals to the natural world’s four elements: earth, air, fire, and water. Many spirits were seen in terms of their “elemental” nature, and the arguments of fairy royalty in the play affect both the seasons and the weather(10). The fairies were brought in to provide an element of a magical forest to the play and to provide some comic relief to the fairies. Along with the divide in society the fairies also represent gender barriers because in the sixteenth century men had to play these characters on stage. That brought the question of cross-dressing in society and the restrictions on expression in the sixteenth century. Both men and women had to adapt to the restrictions in society. To be a cross-dressed fairy meant that men had to play these feminine characters, which led to a different view on magic and costumes in the play.
During the Elizabethan era magic was a common theme and element in many plays. Willis notes in her study guide to the play that the Elizabethan era was thought to have many influences on Shakespeare’s writing of the play, “A long-standing theory about A Midsummer Night’s Dream is that Shakespeare may have written it with a specific aristocratic wedding in mind, a wedding for which the Lord Chamberlain’s Men provided entertainment. Every major English wedding between 1590 and 1600 has been scrutinized and considered, and a few have large followings among critics, but no single wedding has won total assent. The play does establish a wedding as its objective from the very beginning and ends with more weddings than anticipated—plus a play about defiant love ending tragically. With onstage nobles watching a play on stage, having more nobles as an audience watching those noble characters is just the kind of meta-theatrical effect Shakespeare relishes. He loves to wink about theatre action even while involving us in it. Another edge to this theory is that Queen Elizabeth seems to have been in attendance, as several allusions to her and events honoring her are mentioned in the play”(13). Queen Elizabeth was a regular in the audience to most of these sixteenth century plays. The purpose of the plays were to entertain Queen Elizabeth and the people of London as a special occasion.
All research for this paper was written and conducted by Madison Padilla.
Works Cited
Paltrow, Gwyneth “Shakespeare in Love” N.d. Google Images. Web. 31 Mar. 2016.
Rackin, Phyliss, Richard Dutton and Jean E. Howard. A Companion to Shakespeare’s Works
Volume III: The Comedies. Ed. Richard Putton. Vol. 3. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2016.
Twelfth Night on Broadway. N.d. New York Broadway. Google Images. Web. 31 Mar. 2016.
Willis, Susan. “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” A Midsummer Night’s Dream Second Series (n.d.): n. pag. Web. 11 Apr. 2016.
2) Photo courtesy of Howlround.com 1) Photo courtesy of Miramax Everett/Rex Features
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