Women and Cross-dressing in Shakespeares Time and Plays

The present thesis concentrates on the phenomenon of cross-dressing in Shakespeare’s comedies and the impact it had on the female characters. The primary objective of the work is to show how disguise influenced and changed a female character’s personality and how “being” a man allowed them to achieve what was unavailable for them as women. The current work project is divided into three chapters; the first chapter introduces the term cross-dressing and describes the life of Elizabethan women; the second chapter offers a brief analysis of the social context in which chosen female characters in Shakespeare’s comedies function; the third chapter is an attempt to understand the social sense and the dramatic effect of Shakespeare’s decision to introduce cross-dressing and disguise into these characters’ dramatic lives. As You Like It, The Merchant of Venice and Twelfth Night are the three major plays to which the present discussion will refer.

Niniejsza praca magisterska skupia się na zjawisku cross-dressingu w wybranych sztukach Williama Szekspira oraz bada jego wpływ na żeńskie postacie. Celem pracy jest ukazanie celów oraz motywów kobiet w komediach Szekspira poprzez dogłębną ich analizę.