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

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AS YOU LIKE IT

Play Commentary

Act 1

Scene 1
Orlando opens the play with a long speech addressed to Adam. It is a
clumsy way of giving information to an audience, but the information
is essential, not only for understanding the plot. Orlando introduces
one of the playÆs important themes, the nature of a gentleman. As the
son of Sir Rowland de Bois, Orlando is a gentleman by birth, but he
has been deprived of a gentlemanÆs education by his brother. When
Orlando and Oliver confront each other, there is no doubt about
which is the true heir to Sir Rowland. Oliver possesses his fatherÆs
lands, but there is no trace of Sir RowlandÆs honourable nature in his
character. When he slanders Orlando to Charles, the dukeÆs wrestler,
and urges Charles to kill him in the wrestling match, Oliver shows
how malicious and unnatural he is. At the end of the scene he admits
that he has no cause to hate his brother, and then reveals his motive
for wanting Orlando to be killed: Orlando has many virtues, and is
very popular,

    and, indeed, so much in the heart of the world, and especially
of     my own people, who best know him, that I am altogether
    misprized.
                        (1, 1, 158û60)

Shakespeare is very interested in jealousy arising out of such a
situation; he studies it again in this play, and in a later play, King
Lear, he shows how it can help bring about a tragic catastrophe.
    Another theme is introduced in this scene when Charles tells
Oliver that the outlawed Duke Senior and his loyal supporters have
gone into the Forest of Arden,

and fleet the time carelessly, as they did in the golden world.
                            (1, 1, 112û13)

The Golden Age (or ôworldö) was created by Greek and Latin poets.
They claimed that it existed many thousands of years ago, before men
lived in cities and were cruel. It was a pastoral existence: people lived
in the country, and found their food growing around them. There was
no need to work for a living; no animals were slaughtered for meat;
people spent their time singing, dancing, and writing poetry. Many
English writers at the time of Shakespeare found the pastoral
conventions very attractive. Some poets, such as Sir Philip Sidney,
wrote of shepherds whose entire existence was given to worshipping
the shepherdesses whom they loved: in the play, Silvius is typical of
such shepherd-poets. Other poets, like Edmund Spenser, made their
shepherds speak social criticism, often comparing court or city life,
full of envy and ambition, with the peace and contentment of country
life: Duke Senior, in Act 2, Scene 1, utters such conventional remarks.
    The first scene of the play, then, starts off one of the two
central actions of the complex plot. It also introduces three themes:
the nature of a gentleman; the envy that is provoked by goodness; and
the ôgolden worldö of pastoral convention. Each of these topics will
be examined again ù perhaps more than once ù in the course of the
play.

Scene 2
The second scene introduces new characters and begins the second
main action of the play. When we first see Rosalind, in this scene, she
is unhappy, and we are never allowed to forget this for very long.
Rosalind is usually gay and witty, not because she is light-hearted
and carefree, but because she has courage and can hide her sorrows.
She decides that she will play at falling in love, and Celia warns her
not to fall in love seriously. Later in the play, we remember this
warning.
    Rosalind and Celia are both fond of making puns; many writers
at the time of Shakespeare enjoyed this playing with words. In the
English language, a lot of words have more than one meaning, and
some words, which have different meanings and different spellings,
sound alike (for instance ôpearö, ôpairö, and ôpareö). A pun is made
when someone amuses himself by reacting to one meaning of a word
when the speaker had intended another: for instance

Touchstone    Nay, if I keep not my rank ù
Rosalind    Thou losest thy old smell.
                        (1, 2, 100û1)

The word ôrankö can mean both ôpositionö (which Touchstone
intends), and ôstenchö (which Rosalind pretends to understand).
    Touchstone takes no part in the action of the play, but he is
very valuable for his observations, full of common-sense, on the
ridiculous aspects of the other characters. When Le Beau tells
Rosalind and Celia that they have ôlost much good sportö (1, 2, 94)
because they have not seen a wrestling match in which a young man
broke three ribs, Touchstone pretends to be glad that he has learned
something new:

Thus men may grow wiser every day. It is the first time that
ever I heard breaking of ribs was sport for ladies.
                                (1, 2, 127û9)

Touchstone is not stupid; he is a professional comedian. For hundreds
of years before the time of Shakespeare, the kings of England
employed such fools, whose duties were to entertain the monarch at
mealtimes, and at any other time when the king wished to be amused.
Fools were permitted to speak freely, and to comment on current
affairs and prominent personalities. They were the first English
satirists. The foolÆs position had its dangers; if the fool gave offence,
he was likely to be whipped (see 1, 2, 80). The fool wore a distinctive
costume of green and yellow, called his ômotleyö. Comments made
by Jaques (for instance in Act 2, Scene 7, line 13) tell us that
Touchstone wears this professional dress all the time that he is in the
Forest of Arden. CeliaÆs description of Touchstone as ôour
whetstoneö (1, 2, 53) points to another of the foolÆs functions. By
appearing stupid, the fool gave other men a chance to make fun of
him and show how witty they could be. He was what we now call a
ôstoogeö.
    When Le Beau comes on to the stage, Celia greets him in
French. This was the language used in the English court after the
Norman conquest of England in 1066. Some people thought that to be
able to speak French was a sign of good education, but there were
other people, especially at the time of Shakespeare, who thought it
was a ridiculous affectation. Celia makes fun of Le Beau and his
formal speech. By calling the wrestling ôsportö, and suggesting that
the ladies would have liked to see the deaths of three fine young men,
Le Beau shows the inhumanity of court life. His callousness contrasts
with the tenderness and care that Rosalind and Celia show when they
try to dissuade Orlando from fighting.
    RosalindÆs remarks to Orlando, and about him, reveal how
quickly she is falling in love. At the end of the scene Orlando too
admits to himself that he is overcome with a new emotion. Both
Rosalind and Orlando have demonstrated an ability to use words well
and wittily, but at this moment neither of them is able to express these
new feelings. Rosalind can only tell Orlando, obliquely,

you have wrestled well, and overthrown
More than your enemies.
                                (1, 2, 243û4)

Orlando cannot speak at all until Rosalind has left the stage, and then
he is amazed to find himself so tongue-tied:

What passion hangs these weights upon my tongue?
I cannot speak to her, yet she urged conference.
                                (1, 2, 247û8)

After the wrestling match, we should have a good opinion of
OrlandoÆs strength. He showed moral courage when he defied his
brother, and again when he politely refused to change his mind about
fighting Charles. The fight has proved his physical strength. We must
remember this when Orlando is love-sick in the Forest, because he is
in danger of appearing weakly romantic.
    When Le Beau returns to warn Orlando that he must leave the
court, he is not the same as the affected courtier that he appeared to
be when he first came on to the stage. What he says about Duke
Frederick shows that he is aware of danger in the court, and knows he
must be cautious about speaking his mind:

The duke is humorous. What he is indeed
More suits you to conceive than I to speak of.
                                (1, 2, 256û7)

He prepares us for the dukeÆs anger with Rosalind, and renews one of
the playÆs main themes when he tells us that the anger is

Grounded upon no other argument
But that the people praise her for her virtues.
                                (1, 2, 269û70)

Scene 3
Although Celia and Rosalind are laughing about RosalindÆs love for
Orlando, they are really very serious about it. Their light-hearted play
with words is only superficial, but even this fun disappears when
Duke Frederick orders Rosalind to leave his court. Rosalind defends
both herself and her father from the dukeÆs accusations of treachery,
and Celia comes to the defence of her cousin. We learn from this
defence that RosalindÆs father was banished many years ago ù yet in
an earlier scene we were told that the news at court is that ôthe old
Duke is banished by his younger brother, the new Dukeö (1, 1, 95û6).
This contradiction is never satisfactorily resolved, and we have to
accept that in As You Like It there is no real time scale, only
ôdramatic timeö, which can be lengthened or shortened as
Shakespeare pleases.
The most powerful motive affecting the dukeÆs action in banishing
Rosalind is not a suspicion that she may be a traitor; he has the same
reason for hating Rosalind as Oliver has for hating his brother. The
duke tells Celia,

Thou art a fool. She robs thee of thy name,
And thou wilt show more bright and seem more virtuous
When she is gone.
                                (1, 3, 79û81)

Le Beau told Orlando in the previous scene that Celia was quite
unlike her father (1, 2, 261), and now Celia can demonstrate the truth
of this.
    The decision that Rosalind should dress herself ôall points like
a manö (1, 3, 115) would not come as a surprise to ShakespeareÆs
audience. The boy actors who played the womenÆs parts were always
ready to get back into their own clothes. Dramatists welcomed this,
and enjoyed writing scenes for boys, who were women in disguise ù
who were boys in womenÆs costumes !

Act 2

Scene 1
The first Act of the play was an Act of dispersal, bringing to our
attention characters who had good reason for being unhappy in the
court. This new Act is set in the Forest of Arden (although Scene 2
takes place at court, and Scene 3 outside OliverÆs house). The first
Scene shows us the ôgolden worldö of pastoral convention, referred to
by Charles in Act 1, Scene 1. Duke Senior utters the proper
sentiments, claiming to find country life much superior to life in ôthe
envious courtö (2, I, 4). But his suggestion, ôshall we go and kill us
venisonö (2, I, 2I), makes us aware that this life is not, as we had first
supposed, the pastoral existence imagined by poets; in real life, men
must eat meat, and they cannot do this without slaughtering the
animals.
    Jaques, it seems, finds life in the forest much the same as life in
town, and we are told of his philosophizing over the wounded deer.
But the account is given to us at second hand, not by Jaques himself.
By this means Shakespeare lets us know, through the amusement of
the duke and his followers, that we are not to take Jaques seriously.
When we examine his ideas, we can see that they are not very
original, and not very profound. He is guilty of sentimentality in his
reaction to the stag, and the excessive emotion renders the scene
almost comical, with Jaques

weeping and commenting
Upon the sobbing deer.
                    (2, I, 65û6)

Scene 2
In Scene 2 we return to the court, to learn that Rosalind and Celia
have been successful in their plan to run away from the court with
Touchstone.

Scene 3
Now Adam takes up the theme of the envy that is aroused in one man
at the sight of another manÆs virtues. His statement of this theme is
clear and unmistakable:

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!
                                (2, 3, 10û15)

By using the words ôsanctifiedö and ôholyö, Adam adds a new
dimension to the theme, making it spiritual; perhaps we ought to
remember that Envy is one of the Seven Deadly Sins.
    Adam also, by offering his savings to help Orlando, introduces
a new theme into the play, and Orlando is quick to state this theme in
language as clear as Adam used:

O good old man, how well in thee appears
The constant service of the antique world,
When service sweat for duty, not for meed !
Thou art not for the fashion of these times,
Where none will sweat but for promotion,
And having that do choke their service up
Even with the having.
                                (2, 3, 57û63)

Adam is not really a ôcharacterö at all; he is too symbolic to be life-
like. His name immediately suggests the Adam of the Bible, and this
suggestion is reinforced by AdamÆs speeches, which are full of
biblical phrases and allusions (2, 3, 44û6, for instance). He is a device
which Shakespeare uses to expound certain themes; and he is also
necessary to bring out OrlandoÆs tenderness and sense of
responsibility later in this Act.

Scene 4
Now Shakespeare begins his exploration of the two sides, male and
female, of RosalindÆs character. In public, and in all outward
appearances, she is masculine ù able to take responsibility and to
carry the burdens of weaker people, brave and cheerful. Privately, and
inside the doublet and hose, she is feminine ù needing herself the
support that she must give to Celia. Some dramatists contemporary
with Shakespeare (such as John Fletcher) disguise their female
characters as boys, and then appear to forget that they were first
intended to be women. Shakespeare never forgets. Here in As You
Like It RosalindÆs disguise is not only a source of comedy (as we
shall see in Act 3), but a means by which Shakespeare can present the
richness and complexity of RosalindÆs character. Conventions of
social behaviour in ShakespeareÆs time (and perhaps even today)
forbade a woman to behave naturally ù as an equal ù in the
company of men. Wit and intelligence were not considered desirable
in a lady. As Ganymede, Rosalind is free from social restraint: a
theatrical convention of disguise releases her from societyÆs
conventions of behaviour.
    The sixteen lines of naturalistic prose conversation at the
beginning of Act 2, Scene 4 are followed by an episode of very
formal verse, spoken by the least life-like of all the characters,
Silvius. Silvius is taken from literature, not from life. He is typical of
the shepherds in romantic pastoral poetry, who live only to love. For
an instant, Rosalind joins in SilviusÆs poetic dream of love:

Alas, poor shepherd, searching of thy wound,
I have by hard adventure found my own.
                                (2, 4, 41û2)

His patterned verse and her rhyming couplet are both artificial,
remote from everyday speech, and we are made aware that there is
something comical about this love when Touchstone joins in with a
prose account of his own ludicrous love for Jane Smile.
    A number of themes have been introduced in the first part of
the play, but this scene brings the most important theme, love, which
we are to contemplate in various aspects throughout the rest of the
play.

Scene 5
A break in the action, similar to the ôintervalö in the theatre today, is
given by AmiensÆ song in Act 2, Scene 5. The scene is also useful as
an introduction to Jaques. We heard about him in Act 2, Scene 1; and
in Act 2, Scene 7 he will be called upon to perform a serious function.
Here he is relaxed, as if he were ôoff-dutyö.

Scene 6
Since we saw the lords preparing food for the duke in Act 2, Scene 5,
we are not alarmed in Act 2, Scene 6 by the condition of Adam when
he and Orlando appear in the Forest. This scene shows us another
aspect of Orlando, as he tries to cheer and comfort his old servant.

Scene 7
The intellectual discussion between Jaques and Duke Senior on the
nature of the satirist and his role in society is one that has no solution:
the subject is always topical. It is a matter of opinion, endlessly
debatable, whether the satirist should be personally free from
reproach, and whether his attack should be directed at a general vice
(such as pride) or at an individual instance (one particular proud
person).
    When Orlando rushes on to the stage, with his sword drawn,
the argument stops. Duke Senior reproves Orlando for his
unmannerly behaviour, and the mood of the play changes. Once
again, in the conversation between Orlando and the duke, court and
country life are compared, but this time it is to the advantage of court
life. Orlando is proud to say that he is

inland bred,
And know some nurture.
                                (2, 7, 96û7)

Now it seems that the duke is not so happy as he claimed to be in Act
2, Scene 1; he admits that he and his followers ôhave seen better
daysö (2, 7, 120). Amiensö song tries to re-assert the superiority of
country life:

Blow, blow, thou winter wind,
Thou art not so unkind
As manÆs ingratitude.
                                (2, 7, 175û7)

But the pastoral ideal of the poets has been questioned.

Act 3

Scene 1
It is odd to hear Duke Frederick, in this short scene, rebuke Oliver for
his lack of brotherly affection; this is precisely Duke FrederickÆs
fault. The function of this scene becomes apparent at the end of the
play, when Oliver has entered the Forest, and Duke Frederick returns
the title to his brother. Shakespeare cared little for surprises and last-
minute revelations in his play, and always prepares his audience for
what is to happen later.

Scene 2
The comedy is now at its height. Corin and Touchstone resume the
debate on the relative merits of court life and country life. Touchstone
is more obviously clever in his debating techniques, but Corin is not
much inferior. OrlandoÆs brief appearance, at the beginning of the
scene, as the poetic lover, obsessed with his mistressÆs beauty,
prepares us for the comedy when Rosalind and Celia read aloud the
poems he has hung upon the trees. They are very bad poems, as
Touchstone remarks. More comedy arises out of CeliaÆs description
of her meeting with Orlando, and RosalindÆs reactions to the news.
Rosalind once again draws attention to her femininity:

Dost thou think, though I am caparisoned like a man, I have a
doublet and hose in my disposition?
                                (3, 2, 190û2)

When it is time for her to speak to Orlando, she can quickly adopt a
boyish impertinence and ôspeak to him like a saucy lackeyö (3, 2,
289). She draws a picture in words of the conventional poetic lover
(3, 2, 361û71), and also of the changeable woman in love (394û408).
However, at the end of the scene her anxiety that Orlando ôwould but
call me Rosalindö (3, 2, 410û11) betrays how deeply she is affected
by him.

Scene 3
Another aspect of love is seen when Touchstone attempts to marry
Audrey in the Forest. This is comedy of another sort, the very
opposite of OrlandoÆs idealistic emotion. Audrey has never heard the
word ôpoeticalö before, and Touchstone wants to be married in this
improper fashion so that,

not being well married, it will be a good excuse for me
hereafter to leave my wife.
                                (3, 3, 83û4)

Scene 4
Alone with Celia, Rosalind does not pretend to be Ganymede; she is a
woman, and in love. Celia teases her, and makes fun of Orlando; real
love, like RosalindÆs, is not afraid of being laughed at.

Scene 5
The love that is now depicted cannot bear laughter. Silvius is the type
of lover found only in poetry, who is wholly devoted to his mistress,
no matter how cruel she is. Phoebe is probably reading a poem he has
written when she says ôThou tellÆst meö (3, 5, 10). It was very
common for such lover-poets to speak of the killing glances that
came from the ladyÆs cruel eyes. Phoebe examines the metaphor
(called a ôconceitö) and shows how ridiculous it is when taken
literally. In doing this, however, she is not showing common sense
but behaving like another conventional poetic figure, the cruel
mistress. RosalindÆs speech (3, 5, 36û64) makes this clear, and it is
fitting punishment for Phoebe that she should herself fall in love with
Ganymede. who will never return her love.

Act 4

Scene 1
The comedy increases in Act 4 when Orlando, playing the part of a
romantic lover, pleads with Rosalind; she, as Ganymede, adopts an
amusingly cynical attitude to love. Suddenly the tone becomes
serious, when Rosalind decides that they will ôplayö at getting
married. This is not all game, and Celia is unwilling to join in ù ôI
cannot say the wordsö (4, 1, 120). A court of law, in Elizabethan
England, would accept this ceremony as a binding contract,
committing the lovers to each other, although not permitting them to
consummate their union without the blessing of the church. The
solemn moment soon passes, and Orlando is not aware of it; but when
the teasing and laughter are over, and Orlando has left the stage,
Rosalind speaks of her love, with few words and much feeling:

O coz, coz, coz, my pretty little coz, that thou didst know how
many fathom deep I am in love.
                                (4, 1, 195û6)

Scene 2
Time passes, with a song; and the comedy is renewed for a moment
when Silvius brings a letter to Rosalind from Phoebe ù

Scene 3
a letter in which Phoebe makes use of the same poetic devices that
she had scorned in Act 3, Scene 5. It is a mark of SilviusÆs love for
Phoebe that he is willing to carry a letter to his rival, but Rosalind
despises him, because love has turned him into a ôtame snakeö (4, 3,
71).
    A more serious note is introduced by Oliver, telling of his
rescue from death by Orlando. The episode shows OrlandoÆs courage
and, even more important, his generosity. He had an opportunity to
repay his brother for OliverÆs unnatural hatred of him,

But kindness, nobler ever than revenge,
And nature, stronger than his just occasion,
Made him give battle to the lioness.
                                (4, 3, 129û31)

RosalindÆs reaction to OliverÆs speech once again forces us to think
of the contrast between her outward appearance as Ganymede, and
her real nature. Oliver does not suspect the truth, but the audience can
enjoy the irony in the words to cheer ôGanymedeö:

Be of good cheer, youth. You a man? You lack a manÆs heart.
                                (4, 3, 165û6)

Act 5

Scene 1
When Touchstone finds the country lad, William, it is inevitable that
he should make fun of him:

we that have good wits have much to answer for. We shall be
flouting; we cannot hold.
                                (5, 1, 11û12)

This scene is necessary, not for anything that it tells us about the plot,
themes, or characters, but to make a natural break between Act 4,

Scene 3,
and the meeting of Rosalind and Orlando. Also, Robert Armin (and
the actors who have played the part of Touchstone after him) would
enjoy this opportunity to show their wit.

Scene 2
Now it is time for all the lovers to be collected together: the first Act
of this play was an Act of dispersal, and it is balanced here by an Act
of union. With a little surprise, we find that Oliver has joined the
band of lovers, because he and Celia, on very short acquaintance,
have developed a mutual passion. When Rosalind sees Orlando, for
the first time after the fight with the lioness, she tries to laugh at her
feelings, and Orlando replies to her with the ôconceitö that has been
ridiculed so much in this play:

Rosalind    O, my dear Orlando, how it grieves me to see thee wear
thy     heart in a scarf.
Orlando    It is my arm.
Rosalind    I thought thy heart had been wounded with the claws of a
    lion.
Orlando    Wounded it is, but with the eyes of a lady.
                                (5, 2, 19û24)

Now the conceit does not seem absurd; there is so much true feeling
in RosalindÆs relationship with Orlando that it is a relief for both of
them to hide behind a conventional form of speech. Silvius speaks for
all the lovers when he begins a definition of love; the others join in
the chorus.

Scene 3
Touchstone and Audrey were absent from this meeting, but they have
heard of the wedding-day, and Touchstone tells Audrey

Tomorrow is the joyful day, Audrey. Tomorrow will we be
married.
                                (5, 3, 1û2)

Once more, a song marks the passage of time.

Scene 4
The final scene of As You Like It evokes a mixture of laughter and
tears ù tears of happiness. After a ritual repetition of the loversÆ
promises, Touchstone holds the stage, keeping the audience, as well
as the other characters, amused while Rosalind changes out of her
doublet and hose, with CeliaÆs help. When the two girls return to the
stage, they are accompanied by Hymen, the classical god of marriage.
There have been many references to the Greek and Roman gods
throughout the play, so it is appropriate for Hymen to appear now.
    When the play is performed, the director must decide whether
one of the playÆs characters (such as Amiens, who is not needed in
this scene) should impersonate the god, or whether a completely new
actor should take this part. If the director chooses the second
alternative, he is bringing an element of mystery and magic to the
play. There is, certainly, a magical atmosphere in the Forest of Arden:
good people have found their happiness within its bounds, and one
bad character, Oliver, has been converted from his former nature. In
Act 4, Scene 3, Rosalind asked if he was the man who had tried to kill
Orlando, and she received the answer

ÆTwas I, but ôtis not I. I do not shame
To tell you what I was, since my conversion
So sweetly tastes, being the thing I am.
                                (4, 3, 136û8)

With the arrival of Jaques de Bois, we hear what has happened to the
other wicked character, the usurping Duke Frederick:

to the skirts of this wild wood he came
Where, meeting with an old religious man,
After some question with hi was converted
Both from his enterprise and from the world.
                                (5, 4, 157û60)

The ôold religious manö belongs to no identifiable religion. The
characters in As You Like It refer to classical gods and use phrases
taken from the Bible. The playÆs action belongs to no particular
period, before or after Christ. And the Forest of Arden, despite its
English name, is not in England: palm-trees (3, 2, 171û2) and
lionesses (4, 3, 115) are not found there. Neither time nor place is
important in this play: Shakespeare does not make any special effort
to be realistic, for mere verisimilitude is inferior to the truth of As You
Like It. The play presents life not as it is, but as we would like it to
be.
    The achievement of the play, as we look back from RosalindÆs
Epilogue, is not simply its creation of an ideal world where the good
characters are promised that they will ôlive happily ever afterö, and
where bad characters repent of their wickedness and reform their
lives. This is what the plot achieves, but As You Like It is greater than
its plot. The plot provided Shakespeare with a framework, inside
which he could arrange themes, points of view, and contrasting
attitudes. The final triumph of the play is to have reconciled so many
different aspects, so that none dominates at the expense of the others.
The various interests, like themes in music, occur and recur through
the five Acts, until at the end they, like the characters, have achieved
some form of unity within the playÆs structure and ôAtone togetherö
(5, 4, 108).