Shakespeare's Women and The Need for Disguise

Celebrating Shakespeare’s Birthday‘Disguise I see thou art a wickedness’ (TWELFTH NIGHT) remarks Viola, entangled in a plot not of her own making, which she is powerless to resolve. Cross dressing – though not the only form of disguise in Shakespeare’s plays – has many unexpected consequences: for the characters themselves, for those they encounter, and also for the audience, whether in the seventeenth or the twenty-first century.