Out of the plays we have read so far, Shakespeare
continually questions gender roles and politics. Within The Merchant of Venice, Portia is introduced as a desirable woman
before we even meet her.
Portia’s wealth makes her an immediate meal ticket for
Bassanio, and she immediately takes on the masculine quality of being in power
or control because of this wealth.
When Portia cross-dresses as a lawyer and saves Antonio’s
life during the big trial scene she also crosses the gender lines (quite
literally) and not only is she clever enough to save Bassanio’s BFF (or
possible lover?) she also makes it so both men owe her big time.
Portia maintains these male traits when she tricks Bassanio
into giving her the ring (the one she made him promise to never part from) In
doing this, Portia is able to regain agency within the limited circumstances
that her father left for her to live in. She basically tells Bassanio that he
better not fuck up again, and that she can do presumably whatever she wants. By
the end of the play, Portia has successfully tricked the men into believing she
was a male judge, and she outsmarts everyone and winds up on top.
After Portia, Shakespeare gives us Rosalind in As You Like It. Rosalind takes cross dressing to an even greater level than Portia does. Not only does Rosalind cross dress as Ganymede, she causes all sorts of a cluster fuck of relationships that cannot possibly work. Rosalind is an interesting character because she not only breaks the hetero-normative status of women, but she also breaks the traditional homoerotic relationships as well. The younger partner is supposed to be the more receptive one, but Ganymede controls the relationship with Orlando.
After Portia, Shakespeare gives us Rosalind in As You Like It. Rosalind takes cross dressing to an even greater level than Portia does. Not only does Rosalind cross dress as Ganymede, she causes all sorts of a cluster fuck of relationships that cannot possibly work. Rosalind is an interesting character because she not only breaks the hetero-normative status of women, but she also breaks the traditional homoerotic relationships as well. The younger partner is supposed to be the more receptive one, but Ganymede controls the relationship with Orlando.
Finally, Shakespeare destroys all boundaries between men in women in The Merchant
of Venice. Viola, the main female character uses cross dressing as a way to get what she wants as well. Instead of discussing the play itself, I want to discuss the plays modern
day portrayal of The Twelfth Knight She’s
The Man. This movie maintains similar character names and plots to the play.
This movie was produced in 2006 and stars Amanda Bynes and
Channing Tatum. Viola (the main female character) wants to play soccer for a
school, but is rejected because she is a female. Viola conjures up a plan to
take her brother Sebastian’s place at a boarding school so that he can go to
London and perform with his band, and so she can play soccer. Though the
stories are not exactly the same, a female is cross-dressing in order to get
what she wants. Like Portia and Rosalind, Viola is willing to act as a man in order to
attain the things she wants.
At the end of the movie, Viola tells her team that she has
been impersonating her brother and she convinces them of this by showing her
breasts. Similar to Portia and how she was able to fool everyone, Viola
successfully fooled her teammates into thinking she was a man, and is able to
remain on the team at the end of the movie.
Just like Portia and Rosalind fooled their 'lovers', Viola (Sebastian) has
fooled her roommate Duke who has met the actual Viola and has feelings for her.
Cross-dressing within all of these plays allow Portia, Rosalind, and Viola to carry out a role that they would be unable to do as
women. Portia and Nerrissa can attend Antonio’s trial and set him free, Rosalind is able to marry the man she wants, and Viola (from the movie) is allowed the chance to play on a male soccer team. Before each of these
women cross-dress they are only permitted to pray and hope for their causes,
but the instant they are transformed into male characters, they can
single-handedly help and get what they want.
I really liked how you tied Merchant of Venice, As You Like It and The Twelfth Night. I think it's important to notice that Shakespeare sticks to themes that represent women as capable parts to the plays. The fact that Shakespeare is able to dress these women up in the plays and then make them as capable and as clever as men is a total middle finger to society. However, the unfortunate aspect of this is that the women have to dress up as men to prove their worth. I think that it is an important distinction to be made that although the women are able to dress up as men, and control all three of the plays plots, that they could never have done this as a woman.
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