As You Like It was written sometime in the 1590s, and so is often grouped with the other comedies of that era: Twelfth Night and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Analysis of The Play
Although there are very humorous elements to the play it is also quite dark. However, unlike many other plays, in As You Like It all of the ‘bad’ characters are changed for the better by the end of the play. There really is an entirely happy ending, which makes it quite different from Shakespeare’s other comedies.
This play, like Twelfth Night, contains a lot of music. This aids in the jovial atmosphere of the play and the magical feeling within the forest. It is thought that Shakespeare’s acting company had hired an outstanding singer named Robert Armin, and therefore much of the music is designed to showcase his talent.
The play is of the ‘pastoral’ writing tradition. In other words it uproots characters from an urban lifestyle and places them in a rural landscape. The characters are transformed by their experience in the countryside. Particularly in the case of As You Like It the rural setting is a very magical environment. The Forest of Arden is a place where only good things occur.
To a London-based Elizabethan audience the countryside was a refuge for criminals and outlaws. Instead of playing to this preconception, Shakespeare is illustrating an entirely different view of rural life.
Synopsis of As You Like It
The Duke, known as Duke Senior, is usurped by his younger brother, Frederick, and takes refuge in the Forest of Arden. His daughter, Rosalind, is left behind in the city with her cousin and life-long companion, Celia.
Meanwhile, the young Orlando is having similar family problems. Orlando is mistreated by his brother Oliver and is being denied his father’s inheritance. When he discovers that Oliver intends to murder him, he too flees to the forest. He has fallen in love with Rosalind, and, like her father, is torn from her side.
Rosalind, however, is a girl of action and she and Celia venture into the forest in search of her father, the Duke. But in order to make their escape they most don a disguise.
- Read the entire play at shakespeare.mit.edu/asyoulikeit/full.html
Rosalind
The character of Rosalind is a big reason for the play’s success. She is witty, intelligent and confident. Shakespeare has written other female characters who possess these qualities, such as Kate in The Taming of The Shrew and Lady Macbeth in Macbeth. However, unlike these characters, Rosalind is an unequivocally positive view of woman.
One of the more unusual aspects of the play is that Rosalind is given the epilogue. As she states in that speech it is very unusual for a female character to be given that privilege. This again points to her importance in the play and the way in which her whole character breaks with the conventions of femininity of the era.
She has remained popular, and many famous actresses have coveted the role of Rosalind, including Katherine Hepburn and Gwyneth Paltrow. The most recent adaptation of the play is the 2006 Kenneth Branagh film, which stars Brian Blessed, Bryce Dallas Howard, Kevin Kline and Alfred Molina.
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