Tag Archives: disguise

Disguise in A Winter’s Tale

Posted on December 20, 2011 by erica.lin

The concept of disguise was really prominent in Act 4 Scene 4: everyone was in some sort of disguise: whether dressing up or just pretending to be someone entirely. This scene really reminded me of the “power of fashion” when we read the Taming of the Shrew, but it comes off even stronger here. The disguises seem to give each character a chance to reveal a side of themselves that would not otherwise be seen. We get to see perdita dressed up as a goddess instead of a farm girl, and the king leaves his court disguised a common man. In a sense, it seems that their roles (Perdita and Polixenes) are reversed and we see more of that “reversion’ later on when they discuss their opinions of mixing purebreed flowers with hardier wildflowers, but then again, can you apply reasoning of flower to humans? Polixenes stance on wildflowers made me think that he would have let Florenzo go through with the wedding were he more upfront about it. It seemed like he only got angry when Florenzo refused to invite him to the important ceremony. Disguise comes up again and again in all of shakespeare plays and every time it does, it shows us something important about each character in the scene the deception is taking place.

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The Winter’s Tale – Act IV and Disguise

Posted on December 12, 2011 by asmit

Act IV reminds me of previous plays we’ve read as it brings the heavy use of disguise and unknown identity. We see Perdita, whom nobody knows is actually a princess; Florizel, who hides the fact that he’s a prince and is going by “Doricles”; Autolycus in multiple disguises; and Polixenes, in disguise so no one see’s he’s the king.

Florizel as Doricles reminds me of The Taming of The Shrew, where Lucentio disguises himself as Cambio to gain access to Bianca. Also, Polixenes in disguise reminds me of Henry V, where Henry disguises himself in order to find out what people really think of him.

The use of disguise doesn’t seem to bring about much disaster here; it is the “Spring” (read: happier) part of the play after all. However, I wonder about whether it’s right for Florizel and Polixenes to be in disguises. There seems to be a recurring theme in Shakespeare of kings and noblemen disguising themselves as “lesser” men – and like we brought up in Henry V, is that really moral? And how do we judge its morality – if disguise is a means to a good end (as is what happens to Florizel), is it still moral, or is the very act of disguise – of leaders taking a peek on society without its knowing – immoral?

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