The transgression of Gender in Shakespeare’s Comedy ‘Twelfth Night

Seminar paper from the year 2010 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,7, University of Wuppertal, language: English, abstract: Women mistaken for men, men mistaken for women, disguised as men - this play with identity and gender does not seem to be a new topic for the theatre audience of the 21. century. But in Elizabethan England, where identity and the question of class were very important for society, these confusing relationships shown on stage must have been puzzling. Although confusions over identity are nothing new in comedy since classical times, it is Shakespeare who mainly focused on the issue of gender in his comedies. In ‘Twelfth Night’ he plays with the cultural constructions of his time, for example the question of gender and erotic attraction, even between partners of the same sex.