Queer(ed) Bodies: Subversive Sexualities and Gender Identities in Shakespeare’s As You Like It

Abstract

As far as Shakespeare’s comedies are concerned, a recurring topic is the exploration of love via the portrayal of gender role transformations and the cross-dressing of female characters. This often involves the depiction of power dynamics between male and female characters, which may be seen as alluding to homoerotic relationships and transgressions of gender roles. Shakespeare, in his play As You Like It, reveals the reformulation and deconstruction of established and logocentric gender roles and sexuality, where female characters adopt trans-gendered bodies, queer identities, and homoeroticism through the concept of love and cross-dressing in many respects. Likewise, the play explores the issues of gender roles and sexuality, particularly via the portrayal of female characters who assume trans-gendered identities, engage in cross-dressing, and experience homoerotic love in various ways. It can also be stated that the identity of Shakespeare is never fixed but is constructed. The fluidity of identity, sexuality, and desire in the play indeed challenges and deconstructs any basic hetero/homo, masculine/feminine dichotomy. In this context, Shakespeare effectively challenges traditional gender roles and norms by subverting them through the portrayal of male and female characters. Specifically, the female characters deviate from their expected gender roles and boundaries, resulting in the depiction of a homoerotic love triangle involving Phebe, Orlando, and Rosalind/Ganymede. As in the play, the heterosexual love between Orlando and Rosalind is subverted to a homoerotic love between Orlando and Ganymede/Rosalind, and Phebe and Ganymede/Rosalind. As a result, it can be claimed that Shakespeare’s play features transgendered sexuality and a homoerotic love triangle between male and female characters. Hence, as it has been stated, Shakespeare suggests here that, as with the title of the play, one can construct his or her gender role as she or he likes or desires, even if this sex is different.