123 School Work

Cross Dressing and Disguise in The Roaring Girl and in Epicene

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       In The Roaring Girl by Thomas Dekker and Thomas Middleton, cross-dressing serves as the major focus of the plot. Similarly, in Ben Jonson's Epicene, the perfect female is actually a man in disguise, whereas the imperfect women must hide themselves behind masks. The question that arises is why these authors would use the theme of cross dressing and disguise. Through an examination of the plot lines, we shall see that cross dressing in both of these plays serves to break down social, class, and gender boundaries.
       In Thomas Dekker and Thomas Middleton's The Roaring Girl, the character of Moll Cutpurse goes around wearing men's clothing, but not in an attempt to disguise herself. The other characters in the play are aware that the woman garbed in men's clothing is indeed Moll. Since the cross dressing is not used as a disguise, a further examination of the intent of the authors is needed. There are two main possibilities for the use of cross dressing in this play. The first is that the authors intended to make a statement on the nature of the type of woman who would engage in cross dressing. Throughout the play, there are comments made, which suggest that women like Moll are likely to be unchaste and immoral...