1. The Anxiety of Attire: The Troubling Subtext of As You Like It

2. Question: Did anyone find it odd that Orlando cannot tell Rosalind from a man?

3. A slight historical interlude: Sumptuary laws were enacted in England during this time These made it a crime to wear certain clothes e.g. a woman wearing a man’s clothing. Driving force behind the laws is a fear within society about the role of identity? Do the clothes make the man or the man the clothes? Theaters were often running up against this problem.

4. Basis in Structuralism Symbols signify meaning Order results from an agreed upon meaning for a symbol: signifier = signified Disorder would result from disagreement on what a symbol means: signifier = ?

5. Structuralism and Sumptuary Laws Signifier A DressWoman

6. Structuralism and Sumptuary Laws Signifier pants Signified MAN

7. Structuralism and Sumptuary Laws KING

8. Contradictions However, England was full of problematic symbols

9. As You Like It’s Connection Looking at As You Like It, look carefully throughout the play to find examples or instances of the Renaissance Anxiety about attire and disordering society: Why does Rosalind change her appearance? What characters change appearance? How do these changes negatively or positively impact society?