Transgressing Prescribed Gender Roles in Shakespeare Essay

Transgressing prescribed gender roles in As You Like It Shakespeares As You Like It is both a gentle, pastoral comedy and a complicated, dark debate on the relationship between love, power and gender construction. At the centre of the play is Rosalind, arguably one of Shakespeares most engaging, witty, intelligent, and lovable female characters. Rosalind is the epitome of Elizabethan femininity: beautiful, chaste, and charitable; and yet she is able to transcend traditional gender boundaries to become a powerful masculine figure, allowing Shakespeare to call into question the serious nature of gender and identity, while also adding to the comic relief of the play through the use of dramatic irony. The serious potential of†¦show more content†¦She repeatedly deflates Orlandos conventional rhetoric and corrects his over-idealisation love and gender. This comes out most clearly in her reply to Orlandos claim that if Rosalind rejects him, then he will die. The poor world is almost six thousand years old, and in this time there was not any man died in his own person, videlicet, in a love-cause... Men have died from time to time and worms have eaten them, But not for love. (4.1.81-92) Rosalinds masculine disguise essentially allows her to acquire a certain freedom, in which she is able to give advice, and associate as an equal among other men. This freedom also gives her the ability to initiate the courtship with Orlando. Such power does Rosalind possess in this stage of the play, that much like the character of Puck in A Midsummer Nights Dream Rosalind becomes a director of the play (Dash 211). Bring us to this sight, and you shall say Ill prove a bust actor in their play (3.4.54-55) Here the role of Rosalind is decisive, and much of ones response to the play depends upon ones response to her as a character. Through her masculine disguise, she acquires the ability to manipulate characters such as Orlando and Phebe, and ultimately determine their fate, as well as the fate of the play. Here, it is important to note that despite Rosalinds use of disguise, as an audience we do notShow MoreRelatedCross Gender Dressing2838 Words   |  12 PagesSociety plays a role in prescribing appropriate and inappropriate behavior. How a man and a woman are supposed to dress are unwritten codes of behavior that most people tend to follow. Cross-dressers represent a group that is defiant of established norms as they opt to dress in ways contrary to their gender assignment. Further controversy surrounds the issue of cross-dressing particularly because there is little consensus on its definition. There is also debate on the distinction, if any, that existsRead MoreStephen P. Robbins Timothy A. Judge (2011) Organizational Behaviour 15th Edition New Jersey: Prentice Hall393164 Words   |  1573 PagesComprehensive Cases Indexes Glindex 637 663 616 623 Contents Preface xxii 1 1 Introduction What Is Organizational Behavior? 3 The Importance of Interpersonal Skills 4 What Managers Do 5 Management Functions 6 †¢ Management Roles 6 †¢ Management Skills 8 †¢ Effective versus Successful Managerial Activities 8 †¢ A Review of the Manager’s Job 9 Enter Organizational Behavior 10 Complementing Intuition with Systematic Study 11 Disciplines That Contribute to the OB Field 13 Psychology