AS YOU LIKE IT by William Shakespeare ( )

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 setting Play’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 Match A 19 th 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 world Play 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 up Rosalind 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 Globe Theatre Production, 2010

Celia and Rosalind As 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 couples Rosalind and Orlando Marriage offers a different kind of ending, as well as a different kind of beginning for four couples

Four couples Celia and Oliver

Four couples Audrey and Touchstone

Four couples Phebe 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 lover Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad Made to his mistress’ eyebrow Jacques (and Adam) help to put the marriages into perspective

First printed edition Folio edition, 1623 Production 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 BlessedDuke Senior & Duke Frederick Bryce Dallas HowardRosalind David OyelowoOrlando De Boys Richard BriersAdam Patrick DoyleAmiens Romola GaraiCelia Adrian LesterOliver De Boys Alfred MolinaTouchstone Kevin KlineJaques Janet McTeerAudrey

1936 Film Director: Paul Czinner Writers: 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 QuartermaineJacques

As You Like It ( BBC) Director: Basil Coleman Helen MirrenRosalind Brian StirnerOrlando Richard PascoJaques Angharad ReesCelia James BolamTouchstone Clive FrancisOliver Richard EastonDuke Frederick Tony ChurchDuke Senior

'As You Like It' at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre (2010) 149 min Directed by Thea Sharrock Michael BenzSilvius Philip BirdDuke Senior Sophie DuvalAudrey Naomi FrederickRosalind Brendan HughesDuke Frederick Jack LaskeyOrlando de Boys Trevor MartinAdam Tim McMullanJacques Jamie ParkerOliver de Boys Laura RogersCelia Dominic RowanTouchstone