Uses of Disguise in Twelfth Night and As You Like It
English 3201 Disguise in Twelfth Night & As You Like It April 9, 2002 Disguise has become an effective literary device in the genre of comedy. It is almost always comical for the reader to be presented with a character that is not in his or her normal attire, especially if this disguise creates any sort of confusion throughout the plot. Thus, it would seem that the main reason for disguise is to provide the reader with merely a farcical situation intended solely for jest. However, in exploring two of Shakespeare’s great comedies, Twelfth Night and As You Like It, it becomes clear that the writers intent was not simply to provide the audience with a few laughs. Shakespeare uses disguise in various ways in these plays to provide a social commentary on such issues as the nature of love, sexual identity and gender roles, and the role of female heroines. Disguise is used in such a way to show that neither of these issues are as defined as one might imagine. ... Both As You Like It and Twelfth Night use disguise to represent the fact that love is not simply an outward expression. ... Because of the two contrasting environments of the pastoral Arden and the realistic court of the Duke in As You Like It, it is easy to exploit the romantic nature of love (Barton 161). Leech notes that “it is a kind of plot that easily lends itself to the device of disguise”. ... Therefore, we are able to conclude that love in its ideal form occurs above and beyond gender Similarly, the main characters in Twelfth Night also experience love ( at least initially) based on outward appearances.