Working Title: She's The Man: The Dynamics of Gender Identity and Transvesticism in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night.
Working Thesis: A close examination of the play Twelfth Night suggests the significance of the romantic pairings within the plot. They exist not to symbolize heterosexuality as the social norm, but rather to challenge gender identity and sexuality all together. Viola's character demonstrates that gender is a fluid identity and not a permanent role received at birth depending on genitalia. By doing so, Shakespeare challenges binary gender identities and the entire notion of it.
1. Orgel, Stephen. “The Performance of Gender in Shakespeare’s England.” Impersonations: 53-82. Rpt. in Cambridge UP, 1996.
This book focuses on why men played female roles in drama, how did cross-dressing impact on the plays of Shakespeare and his contemporaries, and how society made sense of women who significantly and successfully violated accepted gender boundaries in Shakespeare. I will use this in my paper to connect how gender identities in Shakespeare's plays made an impact on that era.
2. Donno, Elizabeth Story. Twelfth Night or What You Will: The New Cambridge Shakespeare. Cambridge University Press, 2004.
In this book she analyzes the play's balance between romance and realism and its exploration of gender, sexuality and identity. I will use this to draw some insight from how the play speaks on gender identity and how it is interpreted through the play.
3. Carlos-Manuel. "A Funny Joto And An Immigrant: Theater For Awareness And Social Change." Aztlan 39.1 (2014): 207-214. Academic Search Premier. Web. 2 Dec. 2015.
The article talks about how theater has educating audiences about the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender in our era. It explains how theatre has become a tool for pushing social norms and causing social change. I will use this article to examine how cross-gender theatre has impacted society today in contrast with how it impacted Shakespeare's era.
4. Gardner, Sarah. "Choice Theory: Gender Roles And Identity." International Journal Of Choice Theory & Reality Therapy 35.1 (2015): 31-36. Academic Search Premier. Web. 2 Dec. 2015.
This article focuses solely on how gender is determined socially. It explains socially constructed gender roles, gender identity, and how they came about. I will use this article to help me define gender-identity in my paper.
5. Thomas, Catherine. "Nunn's Sweet Transvestite: Desiring Viola In Twelfth Night." Journal Of Popular Culture 41.2 (2008): 306-320. Academic Search Premier. Web. 2 Dec. 2015.
This article analyzes how cross-dressing and gender identity has been portrayed in Shakespeare's play Twelfth Night. It focuses on Viola's representation of gender identity and brings in a different light on how transvestitism was involved in Shakespeare's play. I will use this to draw insights into my thesis because this essay is similar to how I am going to structure mine.
I think your 3rd source sounds really interesting, I'm interested to see how you use that!
ReplyDeleteI like this topic! I had been thinking about the whole gender fluidity thing while I read Twelfth Night. The first source looks fascinating-- discussing how theatre allowed men to transcend gender by playing other characters and how that impacted the way that Shakespeare portrayed gender would be a neat discussion.
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