Running head: GENDER ROLE REVERSAL
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Alyssa Pitura
ENGL 480. Shakespeare
Gender Role Reversal in Shakespeare
December 15, 2010
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Writers are often influenced by their surroundings; by what they live through day to day
and William Shakespeare is no exception. Many believe that society, or rather the beliefs thought
to represent the great majority of the population, in Elizabethan England played some part in
determining the way Shakespeare chose to write his plays or present them to an audience.
Although England may have barred female performers from the stage during the Elizabethan era,
there were instances where females performed, not only in specific kinds of productions, but also
in other European countries. Regardless of the reasons why England chose to ban females from
the formal stage, the role of women in Elizabethan society was very distinct.
This paper aims to discover potential reasons why Shakespeare incorporated gender role
reversal into his plays, possibly causing audience members or readers to question the distinct
roles of women, and discuss evidentiary support and connections that exist between characters in
three of Shakespeare‟s plays: Portia from The Merchant of Venice, Viola from Twelfth Night, and
Rosalind from As You Like It.
Finally, the paper will prove that gender role reversal is required in Shakespearean plays
in order for a female character to be seen as strong and independent, with forces like society and
religion ultimately impacting and shaping this belief, and that Shakespeare used it as social
commentary to directly reference Queen Elizabeth I.
Women had a very different role in Elizabethan England than they do today. Singman‟s
text about the time period uses a quote from Sir Thomas Smith‟s De Republica Anglorum which
explains a woman‟s role in society by stating, “Women…nature hath made to keep home and to
nourish their family and children, and not to meddle with matters abroad, nor to bear office in a
city or commonwealth no more than children or infants” (18).
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Religion may have fluctuated in England, but the general image of women depicted by
the church remained the same during this time in history. The idea of women being evil and
manipulative goes far back religiously and other examples of it can be found in the Bible. Eve,
the woman who is the original sinner, not only needs man to exist (she was made from his rib),
but she gives in to the evil serpent by eating fruit from the sacred tree and also convincing Adam
to do the same. In addition, Stone notes that, “In Matthew‟s bible of 1537 there was an ominous
gloss to 1 Peter 3, noting that a husband, if his wife is „not obedient and helpful to him,
endeavoureth to beat the fear of God into her head, and that thereby she may be compelled to
learn her duty and do it‟ ” (138).
Stone also noted that the Homily on Marriage stated that, “…All parsons were ordered by
the Crown to read in church every Sunday from 1562 onwards. It left the audience in no doubt
about the inferior status, rights, and character of a wife” (138). Terms were used in this
document calling the woman “a weak creature” and “the weaker vessel” (Stone 138). For the
sake of this particular paper, the Protestant faith would be the one most responsible for the
negative religious viewpoint of women, as the plays in question were suspected to have been
written during the final years that Elizabeth, who was Protestant, ruled.
Working women were not common in any occupation, with theater being no exception,
even though “a large proportion of the audience consisted of women” (Orgel 10). England may
have been strongly opposed to allowing women the chance to act on stage but other countries
were not. As Orgel states, “French, Spanish, and Italian society was just as familiar with
academic and guild performances, and quite as deeply concerned with female virtue as England
was, and none banned actresses from the public stage” (1). England obviously had views that
differed from other European powers and, as Smith notes, “Performances by women on the
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stage…were unknown to the native British theater and even had the women acted only in the
most moral tragedies, they would have met with little favor” (176). Smith also includes a
footnote from Cf. Toldo‟s Rev. d’hist. lit. de la France stating that,“ Women did not appear on
the English stage regularly till after the Restoration” (176).
Although women were not allowed to perform on the main stage in England during this
time period, there were two other forms of entertainment that they did take part in: commedia
dell‟arte and court masques. Commedia dell‟arte is defined by Smith as, “…In part the transitory
creation of the individual actors who played it,” or in other words known as, “professional
improvised comedy” (2). It is no wonder that Shakespeare staged many of his plays in Italy as
commedia dell‟arte originated and was very popular there. In addition, many Italian actors came
to England, “playing both at court and in the city” and also, “acted almost side by side with
English companies on the continent” (Smith 170). Similarities can also be found between certain
Italian plays and Shakespeare‟s work. Smith states, “Anyone who will take the trouble to turn to
Bartoli‟s Onorata fuga di Lucinda and compare it to the Two Gentlemen of Verona, or who will
read Peacock‟s abstract of Gl’ingannati with an eye to Twelfth Night, can see for himself certain
likenesses of motivation and plot, even broadly of character” (197).
Even though it was more common for female performers in England to take part in
commedia dell‟arte productions they still were not held in high regard and the Italians were often
blamed for corrupting the British theater. Smith explained the situation by saying, “Hear Nash
for one speak of the „players beyond the sea [Italians]‟ as „a sort of squirting baudie comedians
that have whores to play womens‟ parts and forbeare no immodest speech of unchast action that
may procure laughter‟ ” (Smith 176).
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Another place that women could perform onstage in Elizabethan England was in a court
masque. These dramatic productions, performed in court, often used amateur actors and lacked in
quality because of it. It was more common for women to appear, “…As dancers in court masques
throughout the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods, and under the patronage of Henrietta Maria,
Charles I‟s French queen, they took speaking roles in court plays as well” (Orgel 3).
Even though females were not allowed to take part in formal play productions, William
Shakespeare still chose to incorporate them into his plays. They may not have acted on the stage,
but through cross-dressing and gender role reversal parts, the audience saw feminine qualities in
the production. Including female parts that men would play was not so out of the ordinary, as this
technique was used by other writers at the time too. Having a man, who is pretending to be a
woman, pretend to be a man (gender role reversal) is not only confusing, but also a bit odd. So
why did he do it?
As Burt and Archer state, “…Cross-dressing, which, then as now, constituted a dressing
up for women but a dressing down for men” (70). In simple terms, this statement is saying that
masculinity is a quality to be desired, whereas femininity only makes one weak. A concept that
differs from this slightly is androgyny, or the display of characteristics of both sexes; both
masculine and feminine, that in theory, is supposed to create a balance or sense of equality
between the two. Virginia Woolf, author and feminist, discussed the concept of androgyny in her
work A Room of One’s Own, “Some collaboration has to take place in the mind between the
woman and the man before the act of creation can be accomplished. Some marriage of opposites
has to be consummated” (108). Many may feel that Shakespeare made Portia, Viola, and
Rosalind specifically more androgynous to level the playing field. The audience was forced to
look at the characters as people rather than as specifically male or female.
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Perhaps he used gender role reversal for convenience sake in that men are more
believable than women when pretending to be men. He also could have been taking a comedic
angle as the Elizabethan audience may have found the man, dressed as a woman, dressed as a
man bit quite humorous.
The Merchant of Venice, Twelfth Night, and As You Like It are all suspected to have been
written during the latter part of Queen Elizabeth‟s I‟s reign. It is possible that Shakespeare wrote
these characters as a social criticism of, or homage to, Queen Elizabeth. Elizabeth was known for
her masculine or androgynous traits, often trying to make herself appear more like a King than a
Queen. As Orgel states, “…Queen Elizabeth emboldens her troops by finding within her female
body the heart and spirit of a king” (127).
She needed to gain the respect of her public and obviously thought that to do this she needed
to acquire or display male characteristics. Never taking a husband, Elizabeth was surprisingly not
very supportive of other members of her sex and was never known to be a feminist. As hard as
she tried though, she may not have successfully convinced everyone of her capability to run the
country: “In life as on the stage, masculine women were regarded as whores” (Burt and Archer
72). Elizabeth may have been a fan of Shakespeare, but there is no way to truly know if
Shakespeare was a fan of hers.
Portia, Viola, and Rosalind may be from three completely different plays but they have a
few very important things in common. First, all three plays can technically be considered
comedies by most of the scholarly community (although an argument could be made against
Merchant as it is more of a tragic comedy). Secondly, these three are Shakespeare‟s most
independent, powerful female characters and all obviously use gender role reversal, or acquire
masculine traits, to gain the upper hand. Combining the first two points I just made makes me
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wonder whether Shakespeare thought it was funny, or was trying to bring attention to the idea,
that women needed to be more like men to gain respect or success in Elizabethan times. The
three ladies do find themselves in very different situations that require the gender role reversal to
occur. Portia dresses as a man to save her husband Bassanio‟s friend Antonio. Viola pretends to
be Cesario in order for Orsino, Duke of Illyria, to employ her. Rosalind becomes her male
counterpart Ganymede to teach Orlando lessons in love. The third and overwhelmingly
important similarity between the three characters is that they all use gender role reversal to serve
the one‟s they love or as Burt and Archer put it, they are, “…Motivated by their love for men”
(71). They are successful, powerful characters because they employ manly characteristics to
ultimately serve or benefit their men.
Burt and Archer make a good point when they state that, “…Historical differences make
it difficult for us to understand the representations of gender and sexuality in Shakespeare‟s
plays” (72). There is no way to know for sure what Shakespeare meant by using gender role
reversal; however, as Orgel states, “The masculine woman…would be a singularly threatening
symbol, or at least she should be if patriarchy is to account for her,” (110) and so I must believe
that Shakespeare included this feature for a specific reason.
Some may like the idea that Shakespeare was a bit of a feminist himself; trying to place
women in positions of power. Virginia Woolf commented on Samuel Taylor Coleridge‟s theory
on androgyny by stating, “Coleridge certainly did not mean, when he said that a great mind is
androgynous, that it is a mind that has any special sympathy with women; a mind that takes up
their cause or devotes itself to their interpretation. Perhaps the androgynous mind is less apt to
make these distinctions than the single-sexed mind” (102).
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I think that although Shakespeare was combining androgynous elements into these
characters, he does not do so to benefit the female population. Convenience and comedy were
two added bonuses, but I believe the primary purpose of gender role reversal in The Merchant of
Venice, Twelfth Night, and As You Like It is to promote the idea that women can only be
successful if they develop male characteristics and ultimately serve to benefit a man. As Orgel
says, “…Though the women of Shakespearean comedy generally get that they want, the happy
endings of As You Like It and The Merchant of Venice nevertheless promise significantly greater
benefits to Orlando, Bassanio, and Lorenzo than to their wives” (14). In order for me to believe
Shakespeare actually had the best interests of women at heart he would have had to write these
female characters that have been discussed as having, “…An independent essence, an existence
that is not, in fact, under male control, a power and authority that either challenges male
authority, or, more dangerously, that is not simply a version or parody of maleness, but is
specifically female” (Orgel 63).
In addition, I think Shakespeare was making a direct reference to Queen Elizabeth using
these three characters. Queen Elizabeth “traced her patriarchal right to a Welsh grandfather”
(Burt and Archer 82). Burt and Archer further explain that, “Wales represents a constant military
threat, but it also represents the unspeakable realities of female power and authority which
threatened the idealized England of masculine longing constructed by Shakespeare‟s historical
myths” (83). I believe Shakespeare was not so fond of the idea of a woman running his country
and displayed these feelings, rather covertly, through the comedic idea of gender role reversal in
these plays. Elizabeth may have ruled with the power and authority of a man, proving her ability
to her subjects; however, Elizabeth, like the characters in Shakespeare‟s plays, was ultimately
controlled by the hands of men, or specifically one man, masculine England.
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Works Cited
Burt, Richard, and John Michael Archer, eds. Enclosure Acts. Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP, 1994.
Print.
Orgel, Stephen. Impersonations. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1996. Print.
Singman, Jeffrey L. Daily Life in Elizabethan England. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood
Press, 1995. Print.
Smith, Winifred. The Commedia Dell’Arte. New York: Benjamin Blom, Inc., 1964. Print.
Stone, Lawrence. The Family, Sex and Marriage In England 1500-1800. New York: Harper &
Row, 1979. Print.
Woolf, Virginia. A Room of One’s Own. New York: The Fountain Press, 1929. Print.