as you like it
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AS YOU LIKE IT. by William Shakespeare (1599-1600). Opening suggests a dark world, not a comedy. Begins at a corrupt and suspicious court Two warring brothers, one is lovable (Orlando) and the other “altogether misprised ” (Oliver) - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
AS YOU LIKE ITby William Shakespeare
(1599-1600)
Opening suggests a dark world, not a comedy
Begins at a corrupt and suspicious court
Two warring brothers, one is lovable (Orlando) and the other “altogether misprised” (Oliver)
Their enmnity is mirrored by the usurpation of Duke Senior by his brother Duke Frederick
The “good” brothers are banished to the forest
Shakespeare’s comedies often begin this way
Ultimately, we are guided to the play’s heroine ROSALIND
The play’s action concerns itself with ‘coupling’ (four couples are wed at the end of the play)
One of the happiest of comedies• Brothers are reconciled• Legitimacy and prosperity is restored• The evil convert• Each lover is appropriately matched
Significance of settingPlay’s action is set in the
Forest of Arden in Warwichshire
Shakespeare’s mother’s name was Arden
The play suggests both French and English characters and places…seemingly nowhere and everywhere
A magical place where anything can happen
Your If is the only peacemaker…
Rosalind invites Orlando to imagine his life IF he had not met “your very very Rosalind”
She poses and solves a complex set of riddles at the climax IF IF I CAN IF I COULD IF EVER I MARRY WOMAN IF EVER I SATISFIED MAN IF WHAT PLEASES YOU CONTENTS YOU
Villains are miraculously changed
Oliver tells Celia “Twas I. But ‘tis not I.”
Like Eden, Arden is not wholly safe
Arden is cold and people must hunt for food
Lions and snakes threaten sudden death
It is threatened with invasion from the usurping Duke
Setting is pastoral Except for Corin, nobody seems
to work All can find plenty of time to
sing, philosophize and fall in love
It is not, however, an alternative to civilization. It is “nature” as opposed to “culture”
Perhaps Shakespeare is parodying the pastoral excesses of writers like Philip Sidney in works such as ARCADIA (1590)
It is not simply a play, it is a play about how people write about love
Act One, The Wresling MatchA 19th century painting
Sources for the play Thomas Lodge wrote ROSALYNDE,
EUPHUES’ GOLDEN LEGACIE in 1590 and Shakespeare borrows freely from its characters and plot
He excises a bloody battle between the feuding dukes and replaces it with Frederick’s conversion and retirement
He invents the characters of Jacques, Touchstone and Audrey
John Lyly wrote EUPHUES, THE ANATOMY OF WIT (1579)
The previously mentioned ARCADIA (1590)
A musical worldPlay contains more songs
than any other Shakespeare play
Most famous is “It was a lover and his lass” (V.3)
The song was arranged and published by Thomas Morley in 1600
Lovers grow upRosalind and Orlando escape the
gloom, confinement and danger of court by escaping to the forest…and growing up
This requires Rosalind and Orlando; Celia and Oliver to move from the family they were born into to the family one starts and presides over “from one’s father to one’s child’s father” (1.3)
As with Ophelia (Hamlet), Cordelia (King Lear) and Desdemona (Othello), Rosalind’s relationship with her father is changed
Shakespeare’s GlobeTheatre Production, 2010
Celia and RosalindAs both separate from their
father’s; they also outgrow their friendship
The threat to marriage is not only Rosalind’s attachment to Celia, but also Orlando’s attachment to Ganymede (the homo-erotic theme described by some)
Further expressed by Rosalind taking on the identity of Ganymede (Jove’s cupbearer and “lover”)
Disguises Rosalind as Ganymede Celia “darkens” her face to be seen as
less “fair” Ganymede seems to relish being a man…
as a woman, she could not buy property, but as a man she buys a “cottage, pasture and flock”
Rosalind’s disguise seems to enhance her confidence while doing the opposite to Celia
Still Rosalind does woo Orlando, not girl to boy, but man to man
Perhaps these disguises are simply pragmatic since boys played the female roles in Elizabethan theatre
Four couplesRosalind and OrlandoMarriage offers a different kind of ending, as well as a different kind of beginning for four couples
Four couples
Celia and Oliver
Four couplesAudrey and Touchstone
Four couplesPhebe and Silvius
Marriage offers a different kind of ending, as well as a different kind of beginning, for each of the four couples
All the world’s a stage… Jacques speech from Act Two, scene 7 is
rightly one of the most famous in all of Shakespeare
Of the SEVEN AGES, only one really relates to the action of the play…
And then the loverSighing like furnace, with a woeful balladMade to his mistress’ eyebrow
Jacques (and Adam) help to put the marriages into perspective
First printed editionFolio edition, 1623Production was
entered into the Stationers Register by the Lord Chamberlain’s Men as one of four plays “to be staied” (withheld from publication)
On Film
As You Like It (2006)Directed by Kenneth Branagh
Brian Blessed Duke Senior & Duke Frederick
Bryce Dallas Howard RosalindDavid Oyelowo Orlando De BoysRichard Briers AdamPatrick Doyle AmiensRomola Garai CeliaAdrian Lester Oliver De BoysAlfred Molina TouchstoneKevin Kline JaquesJanet McTeer Audrey
1936 FilmDirector: Paul CzinnerWriters: William Shakespeare (play)
J.M. Barrie (treatment)Robert Cullen (scenario)Carl Mayer (adaptation)
Cast:Henry Ainley Exiled Duke Elisabeth Bergner Rosalind Felix Aylmer Duke Frederick Laurence Olivier Orlando Leon Quartermaine Jacques
As You Like It (1987 - BBC)Director: Basil Coleman Helen Mirren RosalindBrian Stirner OrlandoRichard Pasco JaquesAngharad Rees CeliaJames Bolam TouchstoneClive Francis OliverRichard Easton Duke FrederickTony Church Duke Senior
'As You Like It' at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre (2010) 149 min Directed by Thea Sharrock Michael Benz Silvius
Philip Bird Duke SeniorSophie Duval AudreyNaomi FrederickRosalindBrendan Hughes Duke FrederickJack Laskey Orlando de BoysTrevor Martin AdamTim McMullan JacquesJamie Parker Oliver de BoysLaura Rogers CeliaDominic Rowan Touchstone