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Stypula 1
Harrison Stypula
Dr. Dennis Jerz
SEL 264 75
10/10/21
Shakespeare and Disguise: The Literal and Metaphorical Use of Disguises and False Identities in
Shakespeare’s The Twelfth Night and The Taming of the Shrew
In Jane Wells’ article “The Counterfeit Trap in Shakespeare’s Comedies: Twelfth Night,
The Taming of the Shrew, and Much Ado About Nothing” she touches on the ways in which the
use of disguise in Shakespeare’s comedies can cause the wearer of the disguise to fall into a
“trap” (Wells, 1). The first, being that “It can refer to the unintended consequences to self and to
others that adopting a disguise or other pretense brings about”, in so much that it can cause prob-
lems throughout for the disguised character as well as others in the cast, as seen with the actions
of Viola as Cesario throughout The Twelfth Night (Shakespeare). The second trap discussed goes
into detail that rather than simply causing confusion among the characters by pretending to be
someone they are not, they become trapped themselves in the new roles they’ve undertaken. I be-
lieve that this opinion is not fully incorrect in its assumption, and that throughout both The
Twelfth Night and The Taming of the Shrew we can see points where these disguises that are
donned by the characters become the source of not only their own downfalls, but more often than
not they become the source of trouble for those around them, for at least a moments time.
We first see things begin to unravel in the plot set in place by Lucentio in The Taming of
the Shrew when his father, Vincentio, arrives at his home to be greeted by the false “Vincentio”
from the balcony who after a brief altercation with true Vincentio calls for his servants to “Lay
hands on the villain.” (Shakespeare, Shrew, 5.1.40). This scene of a character going about un-
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knowing of the protagonist’s plot only to be caught in the middle of it in a most unfortunate man-
ner, can also be seen during the fourth act of The Twelfth Night in the case of Sebastian.
Upon being met by Sir Andrew, he is struck, along with the phrase, “Now, sir, have I met
you again? There’s for you.” (Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, 4.1.24-25). This theme of unknowing
characters being trapped by another in their scheme is furthered still on the arrival of Oliva, who
welcomes Sebastian with open arms believing him to be “Cesario”, saying later in Act IV,
“Blame not this haste of mine. If you mean well, / Now go with me and with this holy man / Into
the chantry by. There, before him / And underneath that consecrated roof, / Plight me the full as-
surance of your faith, / That my most jealous and too doubtful soul / May live at peace. He shall
conceal it / Whiles you are willing it shall come to note, / What time we will our celebration keep
/ According to my birth.” (Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, 4.3.23-32).
Where we begin to see Wells’ “second-type trap, or the tendency of characters to morph
into their counterfeit” (Wells, 25) as she puts it, is during the final act and scene of The Twelfth
Night, in which “Viola remains Cesario and a man” (Wells, 4) as according to Orsino, until she
regains her “woman’s weeds” (Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, 5.1.286). It seems a likely thought
that, in line with Wells’ theory that Viola is trapped as a man following Orsino’s lines such as
“Boy, thou hast said to me a thousand times / Thou never shouldst love woman like to me.”
(Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, 5.1.279-80) or so simply him saying “Cesario, come,” (Shake-
speare, Twelfth Night, 5.1.408), is in fact more than believable of an argument.
This form of the second “trap” is seen, though not to so great of an extent, once again
with the occurrences in the fifth act of The Taming of the Shrew. After the beginnings of the
scene one, involving Vincentio’s interactions with the Merchant and Tranio, we see the pair
nearly solidify completely in their roles as “Lucentio” and “Vincentio”. We see Wells quote in
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her article an earlier scene from Act IV in which Lucentio seems to refer to Tranio as master and
openly accepts being called Cambio (Wells, 11). Similarly, we see that here in Act V, when
Tranio and the Merchant have taken their roles so seriously that they have Baptista and the Offi-
cer convinced by their performance that they are ready to toss Vincentio in jail (Shakespeare,
Shrew, 5.1.93-110). Their roles it would seem would be set in place fully were it not for the ar-
rival of the true Lucentio, upon which we see Biondello say, “O, we are spoiled, and yonder he
is! Deny him, forswear him, or else we are all undone.” (Shakespeare, Shrew, 5.1.111-12). This
line demonstrates that though this is not an unintentional case of the second “trap” Wells de-
scribes, but rather instead displays that the servants are trying to overthrow the masters by elimi-
nating the opposition to their solidification.
Through the lens of Wells’ argument, we can see that both plays demonstrate a heavy use
of disguise that not only effects those who are disguised themselves, but also the people around
them who are drawn into their schemes. Whether intentional as in the case of Tranio and the
Merchant, or unintentional as in the case of Sebastian or Viola, the characters use of disguise to
further their intentions tends to have chaotic consequences for either themselves or their fellow
characters.
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Works Cited
Shakespeare, William. The Taming of the Shrew from The Folger Shakespeare. Edited by
Barbara Mowat and Paul Werstine, Folger Shakespeare Library, October 9,
2021. https://shakespeare.folger.edu
Shakespeare, William. The Twelfth Night from The Folger Shakespeare. Edited by Barbara A.
Mowat and Paul Werstine, Folger Shakespeare Library, 2019.
Wells, Jane. “The Counterfeit Trap in Shakespeare’s Comedies: Twelfth Night, The Taming of
the Shrew, and Much Ado About Nothing.” Journal of the Wooden O, vol. 18, July 2018,
pp. 66–93. EBSCOhost, search-ebscohost-com. setonhill.idm.oclc.org/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=ibh&AN=138804188&site=ehost-live

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Stypula 1

Dr. Dennis Jerz

Shakespeare’s The Twelfth Night and The Taming of the Shrew

/ According to my birth.” (Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, 4.3.23-32).

speare, Twelfth Night, 5.1.408), is in fact more than believable of an argument.

nating the opposition to their solidification.

Shakespeare, William. The Taming of the Shrew from The Folger Shakespeare. Edited by

Barbara Mowat and Paul Werstine, Folger Shakespeare Library, October 9,

Mowat and Paul Werstine, Folger Shakespeare Library, 2019.

pp. 66–93. EBSCOhost, search-ebscohost-com. setonhill.idm.oclc.org/login.aspx?

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