{"id":881,"date":"2017-06-26T11:25:52","date_gmt":"2017-06-26T15:25:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/exhibits\/shakespeare400\/?p=881"},"modified":"2017-07-26T14:36:19","modified_gmt":"2017-07-26T18:36:19","slug":"dudes-in-drag-an-exploration-of-humor-through-merry-wives-of-windsor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/exhibits\/shakespeare400\/2017\/06\/26\/dudes-in-drag-an-exploration-of-humor-through-merry-wives-of-windsor\/","title":{"rendered":"Dudes in Drag: An Exploration of Humor through Merry Wives of Windsor"},"content":{"rendered":"

By: Sydney Vollmer, ARB Intern<\/em><\/p>\n

\"DudesIn my previous blog I mentioned that the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company would be putting on free productions of Merry Wives of Windsor<\/em> this summer as part of its Shakespeare in the Park <\/em>series. \u00a0If you\u2019ve read the play or seen the show, you know a main plot point is about Sir John Falstaff and how he tries to seduce Mistress Page and her best friend, Mistress Ford\u2014at the same time. \u00a0Both women, faithful to their husbands, decide to create quite the fool out of Falstaff by feigning interest and arranging secret meetings between Falstaff and Mistress Ford. \u00a0Those meetings are always interrupted by Master Ford coming home, thus putting Falstaff in precarious positions. \u00a0One of the most notable scenes involves Falstaff donning a dress, pretending to be the fat aunt of the Fords\u2019 servant so he can leave the house without being recognized. \u00a0It\u2019s been long thought of as one of the funniest scenes in the play\u2026why? What is it about a man in a dress that gives us a big chuckle?<\/span><\/p>\n

There isn\u2019t a short answer to this question, and people are rather divided in their opinions. \u00a0Some think the humor is obvious because of the way it looks. \u00a0The clothes don\u2019t fit, so it just looks wrong. \u00a0Some think it\u2019s an offensive form of comedy because it doesn\u2019t take into consideration the men and boys who may identify as female and therefore be more comfortable in women\u2019s clothes. \u00a0And some say the humor is derived from the age-old notion that men are inherently the superior sex, so when men dress as women, they are effectively downgrading their own status.<\/p>\n

\"DudesPersonally, I believe there is some truth in all of these, and that the humor is dependent on the character\u2019s circumstances. \u00a0\u00a0A man who identifies as a woman and dresses as such is not funny because that is a lifestyle. He sees himself as a woman, so the rest of the world should respect that. \u00a0However, a man who sees himself as a \u201cman\u2019s man\u201d all dolled up in a mini skirt and pumps is hilarious, because the audience knows that if he saw himself he would be poking fun too.<\/p>\n

How desperate is the person putting on the gown? \u00a0Is it a personal choice or is it the only way for the man to escape an undesirable situation? \u00a0If the donning of a dress doesn\u2019t add anything to the storyline, it\u2019s not going to be very funny.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So why is Merry Wives of Windsor<\/em>\u2019s use of cross-dressing funny?<\/strong><\/p>\n

In Shakespeare\u2019s time, all characters in his plays were portrayed by men\u2014even the women. \u00a0So why is it funnier when Falstaff is forced to be a woman for a scene than the male actor portraying Mistress Ford, Mistress Page, or another female character in the play?<\/p>\n

\"DudesIn Elizabethan plays, this ploy would have been funny because audiences knew that there would be men portraying women. \u00a0That wasn\u2019t anything new. \u00a0From the start of the play, they accepted the women characters as women, rather than men playing women. \u00a0However, in the case of Falstaff, he starts the play as a man. \u00a0Not only is he a man, but a very proud man. \u00a0He is a knight who prides himself on his masculinity. \u00a0\u00a0When he is forced to become an old, fat woman, it\u2019s nearly the last thing he would ever want for himself. \u00a0His character has already proven himself to be boastful and stupid, so the audience isn\u2019t exactly rooting for him.\u00a0 It\u2019s always funny to see a villain getting what they deserve, especially if it comes from two strong, virtuous characters. \u00a0Not to mention that Falstaff is a large man. \u00a0The clothes he is wearing have to be big enough to accommodate his stature, and that is sure to be a sight. \u00a0Pair that with the fact that if he is caught, he will be subjected to physical pain, humiliation, and have no hope of attaining his goal of wooing the women, it makes for a funny scene. \u00a0Even today, when female actresses are involved in productions, this scene is funny because of the juxtaposition between the character\u2019s bravado and his sticky situation.<\/p>\n

\"Dudes<\/p>\n

To see this play and make your own decisions on the humor of this scene, check out the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company\u2019s website, https:\/\/cincyshakes.com\/shakespeare-in-the-park\/<\/a>. \u00a0To view more images of Falstaff or any other Shakespearean characters, call the Archives & Rare Books Library at 513.556.1959 or emailing archives@ucmail.uc.edu<\/a>. Our hours of operation are Monday through Friday, 8a-5p. We are located on the 8th<\/sup> floor of Blegen Library. Please give us a \u201clike\u201d on Facebook<\/a>, check out our Shakespeare web page at https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/exhibits\/shakespeare400\/<\/a> and don\u2019t forget about our upcoming collaboration with the Cincinnati Museum Center on their Shakespeare exhibit \u2013 http:\/\/www.cincymuseum.org\/shakespeare<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By: Sydney Vollmer, ARB Intern In my previous blog I mentioned that the Cincinnati Shakespeare…<\/p>\n

Read the postDudes in Drag: An Exploration of Humor through Merry Wives of Windsor<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":883,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[158,7,16],"tags":[106,146,145],"class_list":["post-881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-costuming","category-shakespeare","category-shakespeare-today","tag-falstaff","tag-humor","tag-merry-wives-of-windsor","excerpt","zoom","full-without-featured","even","excerpt-0"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/exhibits\/shakespeare400\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/exhibits\/shakespeare400\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/exhibits\/shakespeare400\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/exhibits\/shakespeare400\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/exhibits\/shakespeare400\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=881"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/exhibits\/shakespeare400\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/881\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":884,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/exhibits\/shakespeare400\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/881\/revisions\/884"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/exhibits\/shakespeare400\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/exhibits\/shakespeare400\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/exhibits\/shakespeare400\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/exhibits\/shakespeare400\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}