Cross-dressing in Twelfth Night
The issue of gender uncertainty and cross-dressing is one of the prominent issues of Shakespeare’s comedy Twelfth Night. One of the main characters of the book, Viola, disguise herself as a male, and this way causes many misunderstandings in people’s feelings. This behavior of the young woman can be easily compared to the period of renaissance. One parallel is that during this period women and girls were not allowed to play in theaters, therefore boys and men had to cross-dress to play female characters. However, we see an ironical opposite in the book, where a young woman cloaks her gender under the disguise of a young man. Moreover, the dresses of men during the renaissance period were so gay, that they actually looked like homosexuals. The same characteristic is observed in Cesario (Viola’s male name under disguise). He is considered a very tender and good-looking man, with some kind of uncertain beauty. 
The sexual mess and the cross-dressing issue in the comedy continues even when the real gender of Viola is revealed. Her lover Orsino seems to love more of a man in her, rather than a woman, which also resembles eminent homosexuality during the renaissance period. 
Twelfth Night is one of Shakespeare’s late comedies, which touches upon themes that were relevant during the renaissance. 
Bibliography
1.	Shakespeare William. Twelfth Night. Washington Square Press. 2004. 
2.	 Themes, Motifs, and Symbols. Twelfth Night. From Sparknotes at http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/ twelfthnight/themes.html