Disguise and the Return to Order

Paper Summary:

In this article, the writer discusses and compares William Shakespeare's use of disguise in his comedies with Ben Jonson's use of disguise in "Volpone". The writer first notes that, in Elizabethan comedy, characters in plays use disguises and alter identities to overturn Elizabethan society norms; particularly norms concerning power relations between parent and child, male and female, and morality and immorality. However, this turn from societal order to disorder is only temporary. The disguises cannot sustain a character for more than four acts, and their true identity must be revealed to reinstate order in society. The writer then looks at how Shakespeare's comedies follow this formula exactly, while Jonson's 'Volpone' changes the formula. The writer explains that, instead of introducing order in his play as a collection of societal norms in need of reversing, 'Volpone' overturns societal norms at the outset. The writer concludes that both playwrights challenge Elizabethan societal constraints and norms using disguise. Yet as Shakespeare's reversal of the societal norm is temporary, Jonson's reconfiguration of the classic Christo-Elizabethan theme of morality versus immorality is permanent.

From the Paper:

"A societal norm overturned in Shakespearian comedy is the constraint of a patriarchal system placed upon women in Elizabethan England. In this sense, a patriarchal dominated system represents order and the disintegration of this system, when women are no longer constrained by their sex, represents disorder. Shakespeare uses disguise to overturn patriarchal domination to the female characters' favor. The societal constraints placed upon women are released as the environment of the play turns from order to disorder. With the dissolution of societal standards, the women of Shakespeare's comedies gain a power once denied to them, and in effect create their own system of domination within the play. This domination takes the form of romantic pursuit of another character. The once male dominated act of wooing is now attainable to women. However, the female characters do not replace males in this act of wooing, but rather their power exists alongside the male characters' power. This creates a tension that may only be resolved with an utter breakdown of the original dominating gender, the male gender, or with the return to order by the reinstating of the patriarchy. Shakespeare always ends his comedies with a return to order, and so disguises are lifted and, subsequently, so too is the power it provided to the female characters."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Twelfth Night, William Shakespeare
• Merchant of Venice, William Shakespeare
• As you Like It, William Shakespeare
• Volpone, Ben Jonson

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