The theme of disguise is central to a number of Shakespeare’s plays. Write about any two characters (from different plays/sonnets) who employ some kind of disguise (physical or moral) and how this relates to wider issues of social identity.

“No plot device is more constantly recurrent in Shakespearean drama then is disguise,” writes critic P. Kreider.[1] Indeed, Shakespeare frequently uses cross-dressing as a means by which to spur a sequence of events, or, in the cases of Twelfth Night[2] and The Merchant of Venice[3], to bring to light and critique several societal problems. Within both comedies, female protagonists Viola and Portia disguise themselves as men, provoking questions around traditional Elizabethan patriarchy as well as unsettling paradigms of heterosexual erotic attraction. Through the cross-dressing that is ensued by both women, the English theatre becomes both a staging ground for debates over early modern sexuality. Ultimately, the drama that ensues due to a simple change in appearance by women temporarily “disrupts the boundaries of compulsory heterosexuality and class-consciousness”.[4] It is paramount to acknowledge the emphasis that Shakespeare places upon the need to reveal interior identity; “So may the outward shows be least themselves/ The world is still deceiv’d with ornament.” (The Merchant of Venice, III.ii.104-6) Ultimately, it is Portia’s gender disguise that allows her to reveal her full potential. Portia wishes to “prove” her worth through her rhetoric: “I’ll prove the prettier of the two,/ […] And speak between the change of man and boy,/ With a reed voice, and turn two menacing steps/ Into a manly stride.” (III.iv.63-68) Although Portia acknowledges her feminine identity her cross-dressing allows her shrill voice to trick Shylock, who is fooled by her disguise as well as her ploy in act IV. The motif of disparity between physical appearance and interior identity is present throughout act III, as Bassiano’s choice of “meagre lead” casket as opposed to that of gold or silver reinforces the said discrepancy: “Thy paleness moves me more than eloquence.” (III.ii.106) This, according to Shakespearean expert Warren Chernaik, affirms Bassiano as a suitor worthy of Portia.[5] “Portia’s right to exercise her authority depends on her lawyer’s robes, and the episode can be seen as making the visible injustice which allows women authority only on condition that they seem to be men” writes Graham Midgley.[1] Had Portia not dressed up in men’s clothing, the opportunities available to her in the trial scene would simply not exist. Portia says things as Balthazar that she that she could never conceivably say as female Portia: “Thou shall have nothing but forfeiture,/ To be so taken at thy peril.” (IV.i.338-339) Through her dress, she achieves freedom from the constraints of custom and is welcomed as a “noble judge” and an “excellent young man” by both Shylock and Gratiano. (IV.i.241) Whilst Warren Chernaik argues that “Portia is not present in the Venetian courtroom”[2] it is essential to acknowledge that both her disguise and her defence of Antonio were made by her own choice, and thus her male disguise did not remove her character, but enabled her to act upon it. Consequently, disguise challenges conventional assumptions about what men and women are committed to and expected to do, however, the position of authority Portia assumes in Venice is not relinquished on her way home, suggesting that Shakespeare accepts renaissance patriarchy as indefinite, but wishes to question its necessity. Upon viewing the trial scene of Twelfth Night it is obvious to the audience just how interchangeable sex as well as gender were.[3]