Theatrical Tradition of Transvestitism in Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare

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The Elizabethan Era is considered to be golden age in English poetry, music, and literature. William Shakespeare uses the theater as a place to display the latest styles in clothing, poetry and music. Clothing plays an important part in Shakespeare’s plays. Clothing helped the audience understand the character and components of clothing are mentioned literally and metaphorically in several of his plays, often used as a plot device, and used in appearance versus reality. Queen Elizabeth I did not change the fashion right away; she waited until she had been queen for a while. The first changes she made were the enlargement of the corsage, farthingale, and the ruff (Covington, Sarah) Then as people became richer, their clothes became fancier: “With silken coats and caps and golden rings, with ruffs and cuffs and farthingales and things; with scarfs and fans and double change of bravery.” (Tam. Sh. IV. iii. 55-7) The tailor arrives with elegant and expensive clothes for Kate, since they are about to go to Baptista’s house in Padua. (SparkNotes: The Taming of the Shrew: Act IV, scenes iii-v) This part of the play alludes to the time when Queen Elizabeth made changes of style and wanted everyone to dress as if they were on a portrait. Everyone had to follow what the Queen Elizabeth I said, because the citizens wanted to impress the Queen with their clothes. Today cross-dressing is still used as a form of entertainment. In Twelfth Night Shakespeare uses a theatrical tradition of transvestitism in which the actor’s and character’s real identity is covered by clothes, voice, and gesture of the opposite sex, although sometimes the character remained the same gender. (“Clothing.” Europe, 1450 to 1789: Encyclopedia of the Early Modern Worl... ... middle of paper ... ... Works Cited Covington, Sarah. "Clothing." Europe, 1450 to 1789: Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World. Ed. Jonathan Dewald. Vol. 1. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2004. 545-549. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 30 Apr. 2014. Macquoid, Percy. "Clothing in Shakespeare's Time." EXPLORING Shakespeare. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Student Resources in Context. Web. 29 Apr. 2014. "Clothing in Macbeth." Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 1 May 2014. "Clothing in Much Ado About Nothing." Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 1 May 2014. "Hamlet's Costume Changes in Hamlet." Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 1 May 2014. “SparkNote on The Taming of the Shrew.” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. 2002. Web. 30 Apr. 2014. “SparkNote on Twelfth Night.” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. 2003. Web. 30 Apr. 2014.

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