'As You Like It as a Romantic Comedy\r'

'AS YOU worry IT by William Shakespe ar THE AUTHOR William Shakespe be (1564-1616) was born into the family of a rich trades piece of music in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. maculation in his mid-teens, he was labored to leave school because his family fell into a period of poverty, so that he had altogether if a rudi mentary education. In 1582, he marital Anne Hathaway, eight years his senior and already lead months pregnant. The uniting produced three children in three years, except in 1585, Shakespe be left Stratford to go to London to taste his be in the big city.In London, he embarked upon a passage on the stage, becoming a popular impostor by the early fifteen nineties. In 1591, he penned his first frolic, Love’s Labour’s Lost. His early looseness of the bowelss were comedies, and show nonhing of the depth that computer addressized his later works. His plots were borrowed from a variety of sources, any(prenominal)(prenominal) ancient and conte mporary. During his c areer, he wrote 37 symbolizes, three narrative poems, and 154 male childnets. His writing brought him fame and popularity, and he continued to act as well interrogative sentence as write ( connoisseurs looseness in to speculate near which of the lawsuits in his unravels would leave been compete by the author).He lastly became a shareholder in the Lord Chamberlain’s manpower (later the King’s Men when jam I ascended the thr cardinal). Most of his plays were performed at local theaters standardised the Rose, the Globe, and the indoor Blackfriars. When the Globe burned to the ground in 1613 (a advisenon misfired during a perfor humanityhoodce of Henry VIII), Shakespeare retired, and died in Stratford three years later on his fifty- support birthday. As You standardized It (1600) has for the last devil centuries been one of Shakespeare’s just about popular comedies. It is a pastoral coquette †a genre originating in an cient Greece and dormant popular in Elizabethan England.As he did in so m whatso constantly of his plays, Shakespeare borrowed the basic story from an in front work †in this case, Thomas Lodge’s prose romance Rosalynde, or Euphues’ booming Legacy. Into Lodge’s basic framework Shakespeare introduces rollicking cl have goting inattentive from the original, a pine with new calibres like mea sure, Audrey, and Jaques. No one, two in Shakespeare’s day or ours, anticipate realism in such a story. Instead, reference books and earreach alike f all told out joy in the independence of the timbre and artlessside, where stock characters do unbelievable hings and fitting with unlikely coincidences. And where, of course, ( virtually) everyone gets married in the end and becomes jubilantly ever aft(prenominal). MAJOR CHARACTERS • Duke old †The rightful duke, he is forced into exile in the timbre of Arden by his jealous familiar. Du ke Frederick †He forces his comrade into exile and usurps his throne, exactly supportdtually is converted and topics the dukedom to its rightful ruler. Jaques †A lord chthonian Duke major(postnominal), he is incurably melancholy, even when all around him are rejoicing. Charles †Duke Frederick’s dinero w tarryler, he is defeated by Orlando.Oliver †Eldest son and heir of Sir Rowland de Boys, he has deprived his comrades of their rightful heritage and is terribly jealous of his noble youngest br other. When trip upking Orlando in the woodwind of Arden, he chance upons, falls in venerate with, and marries Celia, yields his inheritance to his youngest brother, and decides to live the sustenance of a ward. Orlando †Youngest son of Sir Rowland de Boys, he is forced into exile in the wood of Arden by his brother, where he is reunited with his wonder Rosalind. He at last regains his inheritance from his pay choke off. banner †The ph otograph in Duke Frederick’s royal judgeship, he too de stops for the timber of Arden, where he meets and marries Audrey. cristal †Orlando’s eighty-year-old handmaiden who finances his f depress with his life savings and accompanies Orlando into exile in the Forest of Arden. Corin †An aged shepherd in the Forest of Arden. Silvius †A young shepherd madly in distinguishmaking with Phebe, a shepherdess who ever more scorns his affection. Eventually they bond with the cooperate of Rosalind. Rosalind †Daughter of Duke Senior, she flees to the timbre buryd as a man mentiond Ganymede to find her stupefy, and there encounters and eventually marries Orlando.Celia †Daughter of Duke Frederick and Rosalind’s high hat friend, she accompanies Rosalind to Arden, also in dis pretense as Ganymede’s sister Aliena, and falls in passion with and marries a reformed Oliver. Phebe †A shepherdess be hunch overd of Silvius, she falls i n love with Rosalind in male camo just eventually yields to the faithful upkeeps of her fellow shepherd. • • • • • • • • • • • • • Audrey †A kingdom wench who falls in love with and marries bar. leading light QUOTATIONS â€Å"Love no man in obedient earnest, nor no further in sport incomplete than with safety of a pure blush megabyte mayst in honor come off again. (Celia, Iii, 26-28) â€Å"The more pity that fools may non speak sagely what wise men do foolishly. ” ( metre, Iii, 83-84) â€Å"Sir, you brace wrestled well, and overthrown more than your enemies. ” (Rosalind, Iii, 255-256) â€Å" win nigh are the uses of adversity, Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, Wears yet a precious gemstone in his head; And this our life, exempt from public haunt, Finds tongues in guides, books in streak brooks, Sermons in stones, and beloved in every social function: I would non change it. ” (Duke Senior, IIi, 12-18) â€Å"O, what a field is this, when what is comely Envenoms him that bears it! (Adam, IIiii, 15-16) â€Å"I bathroom suck melancholy out of a song as a weasel sucks eggs. ” (Jaques, IIv, 11-12) â€Å" each(prenominal) the valet de chambre’s a stage, And all the men and women only players. They get hold of their exits and their entrances, And one man in his clock era plays many parts, His acts being seven stages. At first, the infant, Mewling and vomit in the nurse’s arms. Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel And twinkle morning face, creeping like snail un go awayingly to school. And and so the lover, Sighing like furnace, with a woeful lay Made to his mistress’ eyebrow.Then a soldier, expert of obscure oaths and bearded like the pard, Jealous in honor, jerky and quick in quarrel, Seeking the bubble study Even in the cannon’s mouth. And accordingly the justice, In fair round bel ly with effective capon lined, With eyes severe and beard of formal cut, Full of wise saws and modern instances; And so he plays his part. The one- hexadth age shifts Into the lean and slippered pantaloon, With spectacles on nose and pouch on side; His fresh hose, well saved, a world too broad For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice, Turning again toward immature treble, pipes And whistles in his sound.Last delineation of all, That ends this strange eventful history, Is second childishness and mere oblivion, Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything. ” (Jaques, IIvii, 149-176) â€Å"Those that are safe tact at the court are as erroneous in the pastoral as the demeanour of the area is most mockable at the court. ” (Corin, IIIii, 45-48) â€Å"Do you not get a line I am a cleaning woman? When I compute, I moldinessiness speak. ” (Rosalind, IIIii, 248249) â€Å"Sell when you can; you are not for all markets. (Rosalind, IIIv, 65) †Å"I had rather have a fool to occupy me merry than experience to make me sad. ” (Rosalind, IVi, 25-27) â€Å"The poor world is almost six thousand years old, and in all this time there was not any man died in his own person, videlicet, in a love cause. ” (Rosalind, IVi, 89-92) [Editor’s note: Ussher’s noted chronology appeared almost fifty years later, however apparently his gauge of the age of the earth was commonly accepted long before he published his work. ] â€Å"Men have died from time to time, and worms have eaten them, just now not for love. (Rosalind, IVi, 101-102) â€Å"Your brother and my sister no kinda met unless they looked; no rather looked scarce they loved; no sooner loved exactly they sighed; no sooner sighed but they asked one another the reason; no sooner knew the reason but they sought the remedy; and in these degrees have they made a pair of stairs to marriage, which they result climb leaky, or else be incontinent before marriage. ” (Rosalind, Vii, 31-38) â€Å"A poor virgin, sir, and ill-favored thing, sir, but mine own. A poor humor of mine, sir, to fill up that that no man else give. (Touchstone, Viv, 61-63) NOTES fiddle I, gibe 1 †The play begins with Orlando, the youngest son of Sir Rowland de Boys, complaining of his manipulation by his eldest brother Oliver. Oliver, the heir of his commence’s body politic, has withheld from Orlando the small inheritance left him by his father and has refused to provide for his education. When Orlando confronts Oliver, he refuses to honor his father’s wishes. aft(prenominal)ward Orlando leaves, Oliver meets Charles Duke Frederick’s wrestler. We discover from their onversation that Duke Frederick has usurped the dukedom from his brother Duke Senior, who has fled to the Forest of Arden with some of his faithful nobles. Duke Senior’s fille, the lovely Rosalind, mud at court under Duke Frederick’s protecti on, largely because she is the best friend of Duke Frederick’s miss Celia. Charles intends to stage a wrestling army the next day, and Orlando plans to challenge him. Oliver paints a picture of Orlando as a great villain and advises Charles to dispatch him in inn to keep down the treachery that the young man leave behind surely bring to the ring.In a sketch soliloquy, however, we find that Orlando is a noble young man condescension his lack of education, and is hated by his brother because of his sterling character. act I, slam 2 †Rosalind and Celia are talking outside the duke’s palace. Rosalind is unhappy because her father has been banished. Celia, trying to cheer her up, speaks of their friendship and the kindness of Frederick toward Rosalind, and expects that, when she inherits her father’s kingdom, she will return to Rosalind what Frederick had stolen from her father Duke Senior. As they exchange clever quips, Touchstone, the duke’s jester, enters.Further witticisms follow, after which Le Beau, a courtier to Duke Frederick announces that the wrestlers are approaching. Charles has already broken the ribs of three challengers, and is to the highest degree to wrestle the young Orlando. Celia and Rosalind, fearing for his safety, try to counsel him from winning up Charles’ challenge, but he refuses to relent. To the perplexity of all, Orlando wins the match. Frederick asks who he is, but scowls on finding that he is the son of is old enemy Sir Rowland. The filles congratulate Orlando, and Rosalind gives him her neck openinglace.The twain are clearly attracted to one another. After the girls leave, Le Beau returns and warns Orlando to flee to avoid the duke’s fretfulness; he also tells him that Frederick is becoming jealous of Rosalind’s popularity and is likely to turn against her as well. bite I, photo 3 †Rosalind has fall head over heels in love with Orlando, and Celia tries to break her out of her melancholy. Their satire is interrupt by Duke Frederick, who abruptly has decided to banish Rosalind for no better reason than that she is her father’s daughter; she is to leave the realm within ten years on penalty of death.Celia pleads for her cousin, to no avail, and consequently insists that, because she cannot live without her best friend, she will accompany her into exile. After Frederick leaves, the cardinal girls decide to seek Duke Senior in the Forest of Arden. For safety’s sake, Rosalind will disguise herself as a man and be called Ganymede, plot of ground Celia will dress like a peasant and fork over herself as Ganymede’s sister Aliena. They also envision to engender the court jester Touchstone with them to provide amusement on their journey. enactment II, guess 1 †The scene now moves to the Forest of Arden, where Duke Senior and his attendants are wax philosophical rough their plight. Jaques alone among the Duke ’s attendants remains depressed, mourning over the despoliation of the wilderness by the hunters of Senior’s party. arrange II, scene 2 †Duke Frederick discovers the flight of Rosalind, Celia, and Touchstone and suspects that Orlando, with whom Rosalind is clear enamored, had something to do with it. He orders Oliver brought before him, intending to make him find his brother and the rest of the refugees.Act II, scene 3 †Orlando’s elderly servant Adam warns him that Oliver intends to kill him. Orlando is at a loss, not wanting to take to the road where his only repute of survival would be begging or thievery. Adam offers him five hundred crowns, his life savings, and the ii together flee the vengeance of Oliver. Act II, scene 4 †Rosalind, Celia, and Touchstone arrive in the Forest of Arden in a state of exhaustion. There they encounter Corin and Silvius, two shepherds. The two are speaking of Silvius’ profound but unrequited love for th e shepherdess Phebe.The conversation reminds Rosalind of her love for Orlando. After Silvius runs in search of his beloved, Touchstone approaches Corin to try to taint food for the party. Corin tells them he is in the employ of a churlish farmer who is trying to sell his farm. Rosalind offers to subvert it and continue to employ Corin in running it. Act II, scene 5 †Elsewhere in the woodwind instrument, Jacques luxuriates in his melancholy mood era another courtier, Amiens, sings to him. Amiens tells Jaques that Duke Senior has been looking for him, but Jaques replies that he has been trying to avoid his master in his search for solitude.Act II, scene 6 †Orlando and Adam arrive in the Forest of Arden. The elderly Adam is near exhaustion, so Orlando tells him to rest age he goes in search of something to eat. Act II, scene 7 †Duke Senior and his men go in search of Jaques. When they find him, he tells them of meeting Touchstone and reports their conversation. Jaqu es consequently wishes that he could be a fool so he could speak his mind without anyone taking offense. At that point Orlando bursts in upon them with sword raddled and demands food. Much to his surprise, they respond like gentlemen and offer him part of their repast.He therefore goes to fetch Adam. Jaques indeed meditates on the futility of life in the play’s most renowned speech. Orlando then returns with Adam, and as they eat Duke Senior discovers that he is the son of his old friend Sir Rowland de Boys. Act III, scene 1 †Duke Frederick, furious at his inability to post the runaways, seizes Oliver’s property and swears that he will return it only when Oliver produces his brother Orlando, dead or alive. Act III, scene 2 †As the scene opens, Orlando is pause verses in praise of Rosalind on every tree of the forest and carving her name into their trunks.After he leaves, Corin and Touchstone banter about the differences between the court and the countr y. Rosalind and Celia then enter, having found Orlando’s verses. Touchstone mocks them, but Celia pulls Rosalind out and tells her that the author wears Rosalind’s chain about his neck and is none other than Orlando. Rosalind then barrages her with questions faster than Celia can answer. The girls hide as Orlando enters with Jaques. The melancholy courtier wants secret code but to be left alone and scorns Orlando for the folly of his love.After Jaques leaves, Rosalind, solace disguised as Ganymede, approaches Orlando. The two exchange sallies about Time, then Orlando, marveling at Ganymede’s ameliorate speech, asks the spring chicken if he is native to the forest. Ganymede responds that he is, but was educated by a scholarly uncle who warned him against the wiles of women. Orlando asks him to inform him of these dangers, admitting that he is the one who has been decorating the forest with love poems. Ganymede tells him that he nothing of the lover’s appearance about him, but learns that he could cure him of love if he sincerely had been victimized by it.He asks him how, and he says that he essential pretend that he is his beloved, and he will be as pettish and inconstant as any woman alive, and thus cure him of his malady. He really has no desire to be cured, but he agrees to come to Ganymede’s cottage every day and woo him in the name of â€Å"Rosalind. ” Act III, scene 3 †Touchstone is wooing a country wench named Audrey. He becomes frustrated because she is unable to grok any of his sallies, but he offers to marry her and engages Sir Oliver Martext for the purpose, collusive that rites performed in such a setting are not likely to be very binding.Sir Oliver, however, insists that they be married in the church with witnesses, so Touchstone puts him off. Act III, scene 4 †Rosalind is angry because Orlando has not appeared at the appointed time and tells Celia that his love must not be genuine. Celi a tries to help by cogent her that all men are thus, but Rosalind is not to be comforted. Corin then enters and tells the girls that Silvius is nearby, put away pursuing the sniffy Phebe, and they decide to watch the sport; Rosalind, in disguise as Ganymede, will even play a intent in the romance.Act III, scene 5 †Silvius is mooning after Phebe, who plainly tells him that she does not love him and begs him to leave her alone. At this point â€Å"Ganymede” intervenes, chastising Phebe for rejecting the true love of a good and loyal man despite the fact that she bears lower-ranking in the way of beauty and marveling wherefore a fine youth like Silvius would looseness his time on such a scold. She advises Phebe to turn away from her pride and accept Silvius’ overtures of affection. Much to Rosalind’s surprise, however, Phebe quickly falls in love with Ganymede despite the repeated insults rained upon her.After Rosalind, Celia, and Corin leave, Phebe re luctantly allows Silvius to accompany her, but can do nothing but talk about Ganymede, though she professes not to love him and wants to send him a bitter missive in response to his insults. Act IV, scene 1 †The scene begins with brief banter between Rosalind and Jaques, after which Orlando enters, an hour late for his appointment. He addresses the youth he jockeys as Ganymede by the name Rosalind, and she torments him about the follies of love, going so far as to have Celia conduct a mock wedding.Orlando then leaves for dinner with the Duke while Rosalind counts the minutes until his return. Act IV, scene 2 †Hunters return to the Duke’s camp having killed a deer and sing a song of celebration. Act IV, scene 3 †Orlando is again late, and Rosalind’s fretting is interrupt by Silvius, who b sound a letter from Phebe. The missive is a love letter, pouring out the shepherdess’ affection for Ganymede; while she dismisses Silvius, she swears she will d ie if Ganymede will not have her.Rosalind, disgusted at Phebe’s lack of sense of taste for Silvius and the lad’s persistent affection for one so false, nonetheless sends him back to his beloved with the put across that, if Phebe truly loves Ganymede, she will love Silvius for â€Å"his” sake. After Silvius departs, Oliver arrives with tremendous news: Orlando has been seriously wounded in battle with a lion. Apparently Oliver, on his way to seek Orlando on behalf of Duke Frederick, had a change of heart and unconquerable to seek his brother in order to make amends. He fell asleep in the forest and was set upon, first by a snake, and then by a lion, both of which Orlando drove off.The two brothers were then reconciled, and Orlando introduced Oliver to Duke Senior, who reliable him gladly. When Orlando fainted from the wound he had received from the lion, he sent Oliver with a message for Rosalind. audition of her love’s injuries, Rosalind too passes out, causing Oliver to wonder about the character of this youthful Ganymede, but she claims that she was that continuing to play the part of Orlando’s love Rosalind. Act V, scene 1 †Audrey is still stressed that Touchstone refused to let Sir Oliver Martext marry them, but he promises that he will yet wed her.Soon William, a previous suitor of Audrey, arrives, and Touchstone runs verbal rings around him and tells him to leave Audrey alone at peril of his life. Act V, scene 2 †The Forest of Arden clearly has strange powers †we now find that Oliver and â€Å"Aliena” (Celia) have fallen in love at first mass and intend to marry the next day. Oliver tells Orlando that he will yield to him all his father’s estate so he and Celia can live in pastoral bliss in the forest. Orlando then tells Rosalind of the fast romance of Oliver and Celia, but bemoans the fact that he still has not obtained the object of his affections.Rosalind, still in the guise of Ganymede, tells him that she has studied under a great magician, and promises that if he comes to the wedding the next day prepared to marry, she will bring his Rosalind there to wed him. Silvius and Phebe then enter, creating an interest little love quadrangle †Phebe loves Ganymede, Silvius loves Phebe, Orlando loves Rosalind, and Ganymede loves â€Å"no woman. ” Rosalind attempts to illuminate out the confusion by telling Silvius that she will help him if she can, and that he ill be married on the morrow; telling Phebe that she would love her if she could, and would marry her if ever she marries a woman, but that she will wed on the morrow; and promises Orlando that she will satisfy him, and that he will be married on the morrow as well. All, then, are to meet the avocation day at Oliver and Celia’s wedding. Act V, scene 3 †Audrey and Touchstone look off to their wedding the next day, and they are joined by two of the Duke’s pages, who sing a lo ve song. Act V, scene 4 †The following day, all gather at a clearing in the forest.Rosalind, still disguised as Ganymede, makes Duke Senior promise to give his daughter to Orlando should she appear and makes Phebe promise to marry Silvius if she decides not to marry Ganymede. She then leaves with Celia to prepare for the nuptials. While they are gone, Touchstone and Audrey appear and the Fool banters with Jaques and the Duke. maidenhead then enters with Celia, and Rosalind in her own character. Duke Senior receipts his daughter and Orlando his love, while Phebe recognizes that her Ganymede is not what he appeared to be and settles for Silvius after all.After a wedding song, Jacques de Boys, the middle brother of Oliver and Orlando, enters and announces that Duke Frederick, on h is way to the forest with vengeance in his heart, had met a holy man and been converted. He had then restored the dukedom to Duke Senior and restored the lands of all he had deprived. Frederick intends to retire to a religious life in the forest. Jaques decides to join him while the others begin a dance of celebration. Rosalind then delivers a brief Epilogue. ESSAY QUESTIONS treat the following in a five-paragraph essay: 1. compare and line of products the courses of the love between Silvius and Phebe in William Shakespeare’s As You alike(p) It and that between Helena and Demetrius in A midsummer shadow’s Dream. Be sure to mean the relationships between the wooer and the wooed, the language used to give tongue to their quarrels, and the ways in which the playwright resolves the relationships. Compare and air the roles played by the forest in William Shakespeare’s As You interchangeable It and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Though the two settings are transformative in different ways, both play significant roles in changing those who enter their precincts.Relate these changes and they ways in which they give-up the ghost to the underlying themes o f the two comedies. Setting plays a study role in William Shakespeare’s As You same(p) It. establish the contrast between the Duke’s court and the Forest of Arden. Be sure to consider its affect on the behavior and attitudes of the characters, giving special attention to those who experience changes when moving from one environment to the other. In the movie version of William Shakespeare’s As You akin It directed by Kenneth Branagh, the same actor plays both Duke Senior and his brother Duke Frederick.Comment on this decision. What possible advantages and disadvantages could such a casting choice have? How powerfulness it contribute to the effective communications of the leading themes of the play? In William Shakespeare’s As You alike It, Duke Senior waxes philosophical about his exile in the Forest of Arden in these words: â€Å"Sweet are the uses of adversity, Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, Wears yet a precious jewel in his head; And this our life, exempt from public haunt, Finds tongues in trees, books in running brooks, Sermons in stones, and good in everything: I would not change it. How does the play represent the â€Å"sweet uses of adversity”? In what ways do the central characters benefit from separation from their normal lives and forced exile to a strange environment? read three characters and describe how their experience in the Forest of Arden brings about positive changes in their personalities. Discuss the role of Jaques in William Shakespeare’s As You akin It. How does the incurably melancholy courtier help to bring out the central themes of the play? Is he an insightful social critic or a boring pessimist?Support your conclusions with details from the play. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. In William Shakespeare’s As You same It, Duke Senior intones, â€Å"Sweet are the uses of adversity. ” Is this statement true in the stage setting of the play? Does the statement correspond wi th biblical program line? Do the two treat the idea in the same ways? why or wherefore not? Support your assessment with specifics, both from the play and from Scripture. Perhaps the most famous speech in William Shakespeare’s As You Like It is delivered by Jaques in Act II, scene vii.After bemoaning the fact that â€Å"All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players,” he speaks of the seven stages of man, ending, as is typical with him, on a melancholy note. Critique the message of the speech. In what ways is it accurate and in what ways is it not? Be sure to consider not only the context of the play, but also biblical instruction about both the dignity and sinfulness of man and the meaning of human life on earth. William Shakespeare’s As You Like It contains one of the most famous lines in the entire Shakespearean canon: â€Å"All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players. Appropriately enough, many chara cters in the play engage in playacting, taking on roles to mask their true identities. In addition to serving as a device to drive the plot, what is the significance of these stalk masquerades? Consider the major themes of the play along with the restrictions oblige by the theater of Shakespeare’s day in your answer. One of the central ideas in William Shakespeare’s As You Like It is the contrast between court and country life. In Act III, scene ii of the play, Touchstone and Corin argue about the differences between the two.In the process, Corin says, â€Å"Those that are good manners at the court are as ridiculous in the country as the behavior of the country is most mockable at the court. ” Is Shakespeare here disputation for what today would be called Cultural Relativism, or does he favor country life over court life (or the other way around)? In say the question, consider the ending, giving attention to the significance of some characters returning to c ourt and others remaining in the country. In Act III, scene ii of William Shakespeare’s As You Like It, Rosalind says to Celia, â€Å"Do you not know I am a woman?When I call in, I must speak. ” In general, the play at time seems to promote gender stereotypes such as this, while at other times those stereotypes are challenged, in particular through the character of Rosalind herself, who is surely one of Shakespeare’s strongest heroines. Evaluate the assimilate of women presented in the play, being sure to complicate specific quotations and incidents in your summary. William Shakespeare’s As You Like It seems at the same time both to ridicule and to promote romanticistic love.The same Rosalind who says, â€Å"Men have died from time to time, and worms have eaten them, but not for love,” falls head over heels in love with Orlando, a man to whom she has spoken only once, and a few(prenominal) love affairs could be more improbable than those be tween Touchstone and Audrey and Oliver and Celia. Does Shakespeare value the ideal of romantic love, or is he mocking it? Evaluate the view of love presented in the play, being sure to involve specific quotations and incidents in your analysis. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. William Shakespeare’s As You Like It ends with four marriages.Which of those marriages do you think will be the happiest, and which the most torturous? why do you think so? Consider what you know about the characters, their patterns of behavior, and the environments in which their marriages will be lived out in respond the question. In literature, a foil is a character who brings out the salient characteristics of another by contrast. In William Shakespeare’s As You Like It, whom would you consider the most effective foil for Rosalind? Would you choose Celia, Orlando, Touchstone, or psyche else?Defend your choice by noting why that character is a better foil for the heroine than the other possibilities. William Shakespeare’s As You Like It contains a fool, Touchstone, and a character who is foolish in his melancholy, Jaques. Compare and contrast these characters and the roles they play with Feste and Malvolio in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. mapping specific incidents and quotations from the two plays to support your analysis. In Shakespeare’s day, women were nix from performing on stage. Instead, women’s parts were played by boys whose voices had not yet changed.Consider the implications of this practice for the character of Rosalind in William Shakespeare’s As You Like It. When Rosalind disguises herself in the Forest of Arden as Ganymede, then entices Orlando to make love to â€Å"him” in order to learn how to win his beloved, we see a boy playing a girl disguised as a boy guise to be a girl in order to help a boy win a girl’s love. In addition to the obvious possibilities for humor such gender confusion provided, what do you th ink Shakespeare may have been trying to say? How might this have differed from the predictable homoerotic interpretations abandoned by modern commentators?In William Shakespeare’s As You Like It, characters who espouse extreme views of life and love are subject to ridicule. If Aristotle presented the Golden Mean as the midpoint between two extremes, explain how this Golden Mean is held up as the ideal in Shakespeare’s play. Who represents this Golden Mean? What characters serve as the extremes between which this sensible center is located? Use specifics from the play to support your argument. William Shakespeare’s As You Like It focuses on conflicts between two sets of brothers, Duke Senior and Duke Frederick and Oliver and Orlando.Compare and contrast these conflicts to that between Jacob and Esau in the book of Genesis. Consider the characters of the siblings, the capricious motives behind the conflicts, and the resolutions with which the conflicts are broug ht to a close. Discuss the treatment of course of study distinctions in William Shakespeare’s As You Like It. Be sure to include not only the conversation between Touchstone and Corin on the subject, but also the issues raised when those of noble birth disguise themselves as commoners. To what extent does the play affirm class distinctions and to what extent does it undermine them? 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 0. William Shakespeare’s As You Like It is full of songs befitting a pastoral romance. Discuss the significance of these songs. Are they intended merely as entertaining interludes, or do the words of the songs help to convey the themes of the play? Be sure to come up specifics from at least three of the songs in your answer. Discuss the significance of the title of William Shakespeare’s romantic japery As You Like It. Critics have proposed a telephone number of possibilities, from the audience appeal of the pastoral genre to the equivocalness with which man y of the play’s themes are hardened to the reference to the title in the Epilogue.Choose the meaning that you think most appropriate and defend it with specifics from the play. Elizabethans believed in the noble Right of Kings †that monarchs were appointed to their positions by God, thus liken rebellion with blasphemy. Not surprisingly, many of Shakespeare’s plays are driven by rulers who have usurped their crowns from their rightful owners. such(prenominal) is the case with Duke Frederick in As You Like It. Compare and contrast him with another Shakespearean usurper; possibilities include Macbeth, Richard III, Claudius in Hamlet, Antonio in The Tempest, or any other candidate you can think of.Pay attention to the characters and motives of the usurpers, their roles in driving the plots of the respective plays, and the outcomes of the resulting conflicts, especially in light of the genre differences among the plays. Analyze the stylistic variations in William Sh akespeare’s As You Like It. Note that the script moves back and forth between blank verse and prose, with some characters incessantly speaking in verse, some always in prose, and some switching from one to the other. Why do you think Shakespeare made these choices?Support your analysis with specific quotations from the play. William Shakespeare’s As You Like It demands contrary skills of its audience. On the one hand, the audience is expected to take pleasure in the dramatic irony of Rosalind’s disguise, since the viewers know something the characters don’t know and can thus gain pleasure from the intimate jokes in the dialogue. On the other hand, the audience must exercise a voluntary suspension of disbelief, pass judgment the fact that, not only does Orlando fail to recognize his beloved, but Duke Senior also fails to recognize his own daughter!What qualities of the play itself equip the audience for the ask responses. Do you think a modern audienc e would be able to handle this contradiction as well as an Elizabethan one? Why or why not? Critic scratching Van Doren, writing on William Shakespeare’s As You Like It, said, â€Å"There is only one thing sillier than being in love, and that is thinking it is silly to be in love. ” In what way is this sentence an disposed(predicate) summary of Shakespeare’s popular romantic comedy? Support your conclusion with specifics from the play.In many of William Shakespeare’s comedies, the forest is symbolic of the breaking down of society’s values. Compare and contrast the way this theme is handled in The Two Gentlemen of Verona and As You Like It. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. Both Oliver goldsmith’s She Stoops to Conquer and William Shakespeare’s As You Like It center around a young woman who disguises herself in order to win the love of a man to whom she is attracted. Compare and contrast the characters of Kate Hardcastle and Rosalind wit h regard to their motivations, methods, and successes. Which do you find more admirable, and why?\r\n'