William Shakespeare - The Complete Works/William Shakespeare - The Complete Works on CD-ROM.iso/library/text/ayl/introe.txt

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AS YOU LIKE IT

Classwork and Examinations

The works of Shakespeare are studied all over the world, and this
classroom edition is being used in many different countries. Teaching
methods vary from school to school, and there are many different
ways of examining a studentÆs work. Some teachers and examiners
expect detailed knowledge of ShakespeareÆs text; others ask for
imaginative involvement with his characters and their situations; and
there are some teachers who want their students to share in the
theatrical experience of directing and performing a play. Most people
use a variety of methods. This section of the book offers a few
suggestions for approaches to As You Like It which could be used in
schools and colleges to help with studentsÆ understanding and
enjoyment of the play.
    A Discussion
    B Character Study
    C Activities
    D Context Questions
    E Comprehension Questions
    F Essays
    G Projects

A Discussion

Talking about the play ù about the issues it raises and the characters
who are involved ù is one of the most rewarding and pleasurable
aspects of the study of Shakespeare. It makes sense to discuss each
scene as it is read, sharing impressions ù and perhaps correcting
misapprehensions. It can be useful to compare aspects of this play
with other fictions ù plays, novels, films ù or with modern life.

Suggestions

A1 When Rosalind and Celia are invited to watch the wrestling in Act
1, Scene 2, Touchstone observes ôit is the first time that ever I heard
breaking of ribs was sport for ladiesö (127û9). Do you agree with his
attitude?

A2 Celia is surprised when Rosalind declares her feelings for
Orlando: ôis it possible on such a sudden you should fall into so
strong a liking?ö (1, 3, 25û6). Do you believe in love at first sight?

A3 In the forest of Arden, Duke Senior addresses his followers:

shall we go and kill us venison?
And yet it irks me the poor dappled fools,
Being native burghers of this desert city,
Should, in their own confines, with forked heads,
Have their round haunches gored.
                            (2, 1, 21û5)

How do you react to this speech?

A4 Duke Senior asserts that the simple life in the Forest of Arden is
ômore sweet Than that of painted pompö (2, 1, 2û3). What is your
idea of the Good Life?

A5 By ôcourtesy of nationsö (1, 1, 43û4) the eldest son inherits all. Is
this fair?

A6 Would anything be gained ù or lost ù by staging this play in
modern dress?

A7 Discuss the social functions of satire in the light of JaquesÆ
comments (2, 7, 44û87). Is there any modern equivalent for the court
fool?

B Character Study

Shakespeare is famous for his creation of characters who seem like
real people. We can judge their actions and we can try to understand
their thoughts and feelings ù just as we criticize and try to
understand the people we know. As the play progresses, we learn to
like or dislike, love or hate, them ù just as though they lived in our
world.
    Characters can be studied from the outside, by observing what
they do, and listening sensitively to what they say. This is the
scholarÆs method: the scholar ù or any reader ù has access to the
whole play, and can see the function of every character within the
whole scheme of that play.
    Another approach works from the inside, taking a single
character and looking at the action and the other characters from
his/her point of view. This is an actorÆs technique when creating a
character ù who can have only a partial view of what is going on ù
for performance; and it asks for a studentÆs inventive imagination.
The two methods ù both useful in different ways ù are really
complementary to each other.

Suggestions

    a) from ôoutsideö the character
B1 Compare the characters of
a) Rosalind and Celia
b) Duke Senior and Duke Frederick
c) Oliver and Orlando

B2 Discuss the characters and dramatic functions of
a) Jaques
b) Touchstone
c) Adam

B3 Compare Orlando and Silvius as romantic lovers.

B4 Why do you think that Shakespeare introduces the truly rural
characters ù Corin, Audrey, and William ù into this pastoral
fantasy?

B5 ôNot one of the characters in As You Like It is truly credible: their
passions are always too extreme.ö Do you agree?

    b) from ôinsiderö a character
B6 As Orlando, give an account of your young life, filling in the
details of your brotherÆs harsh treatment.

B7 Give full media coverage ù newspaper, radio, television ù to the
wrestling matches in Act 1, Scene 2, being very sure to get interviews
with Charles, the chief wrestler, and with people who hold strong
views about such ôsportsö.

B8 Write AdamÆs memoirs of his service with ôold Sir Rowlandö.

B9    All the worldÆs a stage,
And all the men and woman merely players.
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages.
                            2, 7, 139û143

Jaques proceeds to describe ôthe Seven Ages of Manö. Write ôthe
Seven Ages of Womanö.

B10 Celia gives ù 1, 3, 72û5 ù a very succinct account of her
friendship with Rosalind. Describe the relationship with your best
friend.

B11 Re-write OrlandoÆs verses ù Act 3, Scene 2 ù in a modern
idiom.

B12 In CeliaÆs diary describe your observation of RosalindÆs love
affair with Orlando.

B13 In the character of Audrey, (a) tell your parents about Jaques and
your woodland ômarriageö in Act 3, Scene 3; (b) talk to William
about your marriage to Jaques which may ù or may not ù have been
ôbut for two months vitualledÆ (5, 4, 189).

B14 Write a letter from Phoebe to her girlfriend, telling her all about
Silvius and your meeting with ôGanymedeö.

B15 In OrlandoÆs diary, confide your feelings after the mock marriage
(Act 4, Scene 1) with the boy whom you called ôRosalindö.

B16 The reformed Oliver identifies himself to Rosalind, saying

I do not shame
To tell you what I was, since my conversion
So sweetly tastes, being the thing I am.
                                4, 3, 137û8

In OliverÆs diary (or letter to his friend), reveal all the stages in your
ôconversionö.

B17 Recount the events of Act 5, Scene 4 as seen through the eyes of
a) Duke Senior
b) Orlando
c) Silvius
d) Phoebe

B18 We are told (5, 4, 152û62) how Duke Frederick followed his
brother into the Forest of Arden

Where, meeting with an old religious man,
After some question with him, [he] was converted.

Write the DukeÆs story, either as an intimate letter to a close friend, or
for publication as a feature-article: ôæWhy I renounced the worldÆ:
thoughts of a ducal drop-outö.

B19 ôWhere are they now?ö Celia, former head girl of Arden High
School, writes for the school magazine describing events leading up
to the double marriage.

B20 Several Lords followed Duke Senior into the Forest of Arden
(where they could ôfleet the time carelessly, as they did in the golden
worldö, 1, 1, 112û3). As one of these Lords, explain your action to the
wife or friends you left at court; describe your life in the Forest and
your feelings about your return.

C Activities

These can involve two or more students, preferably working away
from the desk or study-table and using gesture and position (ôbody-
languageö) as well as speech. They can help students to develop a
sense of drama and the dramatic aspects of ShakespeareÆs play ù
which was written to be performed, not studied in a classroom.

Suggestions

C1 Act the play ù or at least a few scenes of it.

C2 Organize a ôtown versus countryö debate between those who
share Duke SeniorÆs views and those who take sides with Touchstone
(see 2, 1, 2û4 and 2, 4, 14û15)

Hath not old custom made this life more sweet
Than that of painted pomp? Are not these woods
More free from peril than the envious court?
and
ô . . . now I am in Arden; the more fool I: when I was at home, I
was in a better placeö.

C3 Produce a holiday brochure or television commercial for DukeÆs
Travel Agency Forest Retreats (perhaps with special discounts for
senior citizens).

C4    When it comes, will it come without warning
Just as IÆm picking my nose?
Will it knock on my door in the morning,
Or tread in the bus on my toes?
Will it come like a change in the weather?
Will its greeting be courteous or rough?
Will it alter my life altogether?
O tell me the truth about love.
                    (W.H. Auden, Song XII)

Organize a classroom debate to answer AudenÆs question. How would
the question be answered by the different characters in As You Like
It?

C5 OrlandoÆs verses have been re-written in modern idiom (see B11).
Devise a scene in which they are discussed by modern Rosalind and
Celia.

D Context Questions

In written examinations, these questions present you with short
passages from the play, and ask you to explain them. They are
intended to test your knowledge of the play and your understanding
of its words. Usually you have to make a choice of passages: there
may be five on the paper, and you are asked to choose three. Be very
sure that you know exactly how many passages you must choose.
Study the ones offered to you, and select those you feel most certain
of. Make your answers accurate and concise ù donÆt waste time
writing more than the examiner is asking for.

D1    Good my complexion! Dost thou think, though I am
    caparisoned like a man, I have a doublet and hose in my
    disposition? One inch of delay more is a South Sea of
    discovery. I prithee tell me who is it quickly, and speak apace.

(i) Who is the speaker? Who is referred to?
(ii) Why is the speaker ôcaparisoned like a manö? What name does
she use when she is appearing as a man?
(iii) Who comes on to the stage after this speech? What does the
speaker offer to do?

D2    He threw his eye aside,
And mark what object did present itself.
Under an old oak, whose boughs were mossed with age,
And high top bald with dry antiquity,
A wretched, ragged man, oÆergrown with hair,
Lay sleeping on his back.

(i) Who is the speaker? To whom does he speak?
(ii) Who are the two men referred to in the passage?
(iii) What happened when the sleeping man awoke? What effect does
this story have on one of the hearers?

D3    I remember when I was in love I broke my sword upon a
stone     and bid him take that for coming a-night to Jane Smile, and I
    remember the kissing of her batlet, and the cowÆs dugs that
her     pretty chapped hands had milked.

(i) Who is speaking? To whom is he speaking?
(ii) Why is the speaker in his present situation?
(iii) What two persons have reminded the speaker of the time when
he was in love?

D4    Then but forbear your food a little while,
Whiles, like a doe, I go to find my fawn,
And give it food. There is an old poor man,
Who after me hath many a weary step
Limped in pure love.

(i) Who is compared to the doe, and who is the fawn?
(ii) Why has the old man accompanied the speaker, and why has the
speaker made this journey?
(iii) To whom are these lines addressed? Why are they in this place?

D5    But let your fair eyes and gentle wishes go with me to my
    trial, wherein if I be foiled, there is but one shamed that was
    never gracious, if killed, but one dead that is willing to be so.

(i) Who is the speaker? Whose are the ôfair eyes and gentle wishesö?
(ii) What is the ôtrialö that is mentioned? What is the result of this
trial?
(iii) Why is the speaker willing to be dead? How do we know that he
is in more danger than he suspects?

D6    Neither call the giddiness of it in question, the poverty of her,
    the small acquaintance, my sudden wooing, nor her sudden
    consenting; but say with me, ÆI love ù Æ; say with her, that
she     loves me; consent with both, that we may enjoy each other.

(i) Who is speaking? To whom does he speak?
(ii) What does he call the woman he loves? What is her real name?
(iii) What does he offer to the person addressed?

D7    And will you, being a man of your breeding, be married under
a         bush like a beggar? Get you to church, and have a
good         priest that can tell you what marriage is. This fellow
will         but join you together as they join wainscot, then one of
        you will prove a shrunk panel, and like green timber,
        warp, warp.

(i) Who is the speaker? To whom does he speak?
(ii) Who is ôThis fellowö, and who is to be joined in marriage to the
person addressed?
(iii) Why has the person addressed chosen to be married in this way?
Is the marriage expected to last for a long time?

D8    Why would you be so fond to overcome
The bonny prizer of the humorous Duke?
Your praise is come too swiftly home before you.
Know you not, master, to some kind of men
Their graces serve them but as enemies?
No more do yours.

(i) Who is the speaker? Who is his ômasterö?
(ii) What is the event he refers to? Who is ôthe humorous dukeö?
(iii) Why does the speaker warn the person addressed? What does this
person decide to do?

E Comprehension Questions

These also present passages from the play and ask questions about
them, and again you often have a choice of passages. But the extracts
are much longer than those presented as context questions. A detailed
knowledge of the language of the play is asked for here, and you must
be able to express unusual or archaic phrases in your own words; you
may also be asked to comment critically on the effectiveness of
ShakespeareÆs language.

E1    Orlando
Speak you so gently? Pardon me, I pray you.
I thought that all things had been savage here,
And therefore put I on the countenance
Of stern commandment. But whateÆer you are
That in this desert inaccessible,
Under the shade of melancholy boughs,
Lose and neglect the creeping hours of time,
If ever you have looked on better days,
If ever been where bells have knolled to church,
If ever sat at any good manÆs feast,
If ever from your eyelids wiped a tear,
And know what Ætis to pity, and be pitied,
Let gentleness my strong enforcement be:
In the which hope I blush, and hide my sword.

(i) What is the meaning of ôgentlyö (line 1); ôcountenanceö (line 4);
ôcommandmentö (line 5); ôenforcementö (line 13).
(ii) Express in your own words the sense of lines 3û4, (ôtherefore . . .
commandmentö); line 7, (ôLose . . . timeö); line 9 (ôbells . . .
churchö); line 13 (ôLet . . . beö).
(iii) Comment on the style of this passage.
(iv) How do these lines contrast the life at court with life in the
country?

E2    Adam
O my gentle master,
O my sweet master, O you memory
Of old Sir Rowland, why, what make you here!
Why are you virtuous? Why do people love you?
And wherefore are you gentle, strong, and valiant?
Why would you be so fond to overcome
The bonny prizer of the humorous Duke?
Your praise is come too swiftly home before you.
Know you not, master, to some kind of men
Their graces serve them but as enemies?
No more do yours: your virtues, gentle master,
Are sanctified and holy traitors to you.
O, what a world is this, when what is comely
Envenoms him that bears it!

(i) Give the meaning of ômakeö (line 3); ôfondö (line 6); ôbonnyö
(line 7); ôhumorousö (line 7).
(ii) Express in your own words the sense of line 10, (ôTheir . . .
enemiesö); lines 11û12, (ôyour . . . to youö); lines 13û14, (ôwhat . . .
bears itö).
(iii) What do these lines show of the character of Adam?
(iv) How are past and present contrasted in this passage?

E3    Rosalind
No, faith, proud mistress, hope not after it.
ÆTis not your inky brows, your black silk hair,
Your bugle eyeballs, nor your cheek of cream,
That can entame my spirits to your worship.
You, foolish shepherd, wherefore do you follow her
Like foggy south, puffing with wind and rain?
You are a thousand times a properer man
Than she a woman. ÆTis such fools as you
That make the world full of ill-favoured children.
ÆTis not her glass but you that flatters her,
And out of you she sees herself more proper
Than any of her lineaments can show her.
But, mistress, know yourself; down on your knees,
And thank heaven, fasting, for a good manÆs love;
Give the meaning of ôbugleö (line 3); ôentameö (line 4); ôill-
favoured (line 9); ôproperö (line 11).

(ii) Express in your own words the sense of line 6, (ôLike . . . rainö);
lines 11û12, (ôout of you . . . herö); 13û14 (ôdown . . . loveö).
(iii) How is the character of the speaker expressed in these lines?

F Essays

These will usually give you a specific topic to discuss, or perhaps a
question that must be answered, in writing, with a reasoned argument.
They never want you to tell the story of the play ù so donÆt! Your
examiner ù or teacher ù has read the play, and does not need to be
reminded of it. Relevant quotations will always help you to make
your points more strongly.

F1 Compare the relationship between Oliver and Orlando with that of
Duke Senior and Duke Frederick.

F2 What impressions of life at the court do we gain from Charles and
Le Beau?

F3 Show how RosalindÆs wit and humour conceal an inner sadness.

F4 By comparing her behaviour towards Orlando at court and in the
Forest, show what freedom Rosalind gained by changing her
costume.

F5 Describe in detail your reaction to the character of Rosalind.

F6 Do you agree that Celia is completely over-shadowed by
Rosalind? How would you describe the character of Celia?

F7 Show how several characters reveal their natures by their
comments on Sir Rowland de Bois.

F8 In As You Like It, nothing very much happens. What do you
consider to be the most important way (or ways) in which
Shakespeare compensates for this lack of action?

F9 ôTheir graces serve them but as enemiesö: discuss the themes of
virtue, and the envy of virtue, in As You Like It.

F10 ôTouchstone and Jaques are extraneous to the plot but essential
to the play.ö With reference to either Touchstone or Jaques, explain
this statement. Do you agree with it?

F11 ôBoth Rosalind and Phoebe try to bring their lovers to a better
understanding of love; their methods are the same, but the audience
must react differently.ö Why do you think this might have been said?

F12 ôDuke Senior and his followers escape to the Forest of Arden;
but this does not mean that they are escapists.ö Can you explain this
statement?

G Projects

In some schools, students are asked to do more ôfree-rangingö work,
which takes them outside the text ù but which should always be
relevant to the play. Such Projects may demand skills other than
reading and writing: design and artwork, for instance, may be
involved. Sometimes a ôportfolioö of work is assembled over a
considerable period of time; and this can be presented to the examiner
as part of the studentÆs work for assessment.
    The availability of resources will, obviously, do much to
determine the nature of the Projects; but this is something that only
the local teachers will understand. However, there is always help to
be found in libraries, museums, and art galleries.

Suggestions

G1 The Good Life.

G2 The court fool.

G3 Great actresses in As You Like It.

G4 Rural Retreats.

G5 Pastoral Literature.