Gendered Guise: Shakespeare’s use of Transvestism and Gender Appropriation in his Plays
Often, transvestism or cross-dressing, (that is, wearing normative, gender-designated attire of the opposite sex) is both a leitmotif and a theatrical device in William Shakespeare’s plays. It not only serves as an integral element of a narrative/plot but it is also a dramatic device that is applie...
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Supriyo Chakraborty, Penprints Publication
2021-07-01
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Online Access: | https://www.litinfinite.com/wp-content/uploads/7_Sanghita-Sanyal.pdf |
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doaj-67c803fdced749c6b380fc2726380a642021-07-15T11:50:08ZbenSupriyo Chakraborty, Penprints PublicationLitinfinite2582-04002021-07-0131586810.47365/litinfinite.3.1.2021.58-68Gendered Guise: Shakespeare’s use of Transvestism and Gender Appropriation in his PlaysSanghita Sanyal0Assistant Professor, Departments of English and B.Ed., Loreto College, Kolkata, West Bengal, India.Often, transvestism or cross-dressing, (that is, wearing normative, gender-designated attire of the opposite sex) is both a leitmotif and a theatrical device in William Shakespeare’s plays. It not only serves as an integral element of a narrative/plot but it is also a dramatic device that is applied in order to preclude the woman as an actor (vis-a-vis her accepted participation) in the plays. Naturally therefore, transvestism or using socially-determined attires open up newer discourses on cultural and gender stereotypes in Shakespeare’s performative art, when cross-dressing was a somewhat compulsive alternative abiding the social mores of that time, which did not quite expect women’s active participation on-stage. In this paper we shall read how this gender imbalance on Shakespearean stage made the dramatis personae and the crew more significant, on the basis of their attires, cross-dressing and gender-appropriation on stage. We shall specifically read how the master playwright used cross-dressing also as a theme in his various plays which in a way problematized gender appropriation further.https://www.litinfinite.com/wp-content/uploads/7_Sanghita-Sanyal.pdftransvestismalternative sexualitygender |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
Bengali |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Sanghita Sanyal |
spellingShingle |
Sanghita Sanyal Gendered Guise: Shakespeare’s use of Transvestism and Gender Appropriation in his Plays Litinfinite transvestism alternative sexuality gender |
author_facet |
Sanghita Sanyal |
author_sort |
Sanghita Sanyal |
title |
Gendered Guise: Shakespeare’s use of Transvestism and Gender Appropriation in his Plays |
title_short |
Gendered Guise: Shakespeare’s use of Transvestism and Gender Appropriation in his Plays |
title_full |
Gendered Guise: Shakespeare’s use of Transvestism and Gender Appropriation in his Plays |
title_fullStr |
Gendered Guise: Shakespeare’s use of Transvestism and Gender Appropriation in his Plays |
title_full_unstemmed |
Gendered Guise: Shakespeare’s use of Transvestism and Gender Appropriation in his Plays |
title_sort |
gendered guise: shakespeare’s use of transvestism and gender appropriation in his plays |
publisher |
Supriyo Chakraborty, Penprints Publication |
series |
Litinfinite |
issn |
2582-0400 |
publishDate |
2021-07-01 |
description |
Often, transvestism or cross-dressing, (that is, wearing normative, gender-designated attire of the opposite sex) is both a leitmotif and a theatrical device in William Shakespeare’s plays. It not only serves as an integral element of a narrative/plot but it is also a dramatic device that is applied in order to preclude the woman as an actor (vis-a-vis her accepted participation) in the plays. Naturally therefore, transvestism or using socially-determined attires open up newer discourses on cultural and gender stereotypes in Shakespeare’s performative art, when cross-dressing was a somewhat compulsive alternative abiding the social mores of that time, which did not quite expect women’s active participation on-stage. In this paper we shall read how this gender imbalance on Shakespearean stage made the dramatis personae and the crew more significant, on the basis of their attires, cross-dressing and gender-appropriation on stage. We shall specifically read how the master playwright used cross-dressing also as a theme in his various plays which in a way problematized gender appropriation further. |
topic |
transvestism alternative sexuality gender |
url |
https://www.litinfinite.com/wp-content/uploads/7_Sanghita-Sanyal.pdf |
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AT sanghitasanyal genderedguiseshakespearesuseoftransvestismandgenderappropriationinhisplays |
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