Disguise as a Reflection of Sociopolitical and Cultural Norms in Elizabethan England: A New Historicist Analysis of Shakespearean Comedies

Abstract

In this paper, the authors examines the phenomenon of disguise in Shakespearean comedies with the help of New Historicist approach to understand the sociopolitical and cultural context of Elizabethan England. The play examines the concerns of class rivalry, female role and identity through the function and the outcome of disguise. Thus, the research illuminates the extent to which disguise not only served functional dramatic and comic purposes but also reflected the instability and rigidity of power and gender relations in expectation-proffered Elizabethan culture. In this context, this analysis aims at showing how the playwright employed disguise in order to perform the discursive debates of the society at his time and provide the readers with the necessary insights into the cultural and political subtexts of his works.

Keywords- Shakespearean comedies, disguise, New Historicism, Elizabethan England, sociopolitical norms, class mobility, gender roles, identity, cultural context.