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@article{208456,
        author = {Prateeti Bhattacharya},
        title = {Women As Men In Some of Shakespeare’s Plays: The Outer Dress And The Inner Mind},
        journal = {International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology},
        year = {2026},
        volume = {13},
        number = {4},
        pages = {1838-1842},
        issn = {2349-6002},
        url = {https://ijirt.org/article?manuscript=208456},
        abstract = {This paper explores Shakespeare’s use of female cross-dressing in Cymbeline, Twelfth Night, As You Like It, and The Merchant of Venice, focusing on how women adopt male identities to negotiate vulnerability, exercise agency, and control adverse circumstances. Imogen, disguised as Fidele in Cymbeline, represents the most ambiguous form of agency, as her disguise is suggested by Pisanio and her feminine behaviour repeatedly emerges beneath her masculine appearance. Viola, as Cesario in Twelfth Night, deliberately assumes an androgynous identity, but becomes entangled in an unexpected triangle involving Orsino and Olivia. Rosalind, as Ganymede in As You Like It, exercises greater psychological control by testing Orlando’s love, influencing Phoebe and Silvius, and ultimately orchestrating multiple marriages. Portia, as Balthasar, and Nerissa, as his clerk, demonstrate the greatest effectiveness, but their disguise also enables Portia to participate in the unjust treatment of Shylock. The paper thus examines the complex relationship between outer dress, inner identity, agency, and moral consequence.},
        keywords = {Cross-dressing, Disguise and Identity, Female Agency, Gender-Identity.},
        month = {September},
        }