Imagine that you have the Opportunity to Direct a Production of As You Like It.
Imagine that you have the Opportunity to Direct a Production of As You Like It Write an Analysis of Act IV Scene iii of the Play Commenting on Performance Issues, Arising in this Scene. Relate These Issues to the play as a Whole, Discussing where relevant Any Social, Historical or Cultural Matters I am writing an analysis on act IV scene iii. I am setting it in the 21st century, modern. However, they will all speak in the language of Shakespeare. I have set it in the modern times, so it appeals to more of the younger generations. The theme of this play is based around love, betrayal, peace, rivalry, enmity and court versus country. Examples of these, love, it is all around the play, Orlando and Rosalind and ultimately characters like Oliver and Celia. Betrayal, Duke Fredrick kicked his own brother out of the court. Rivalry, there is major sibling rivalry between Orlando and Oliver. Peace, when Orlando seen his brother in trouble, he helps him, despite the past. The parts, which are set in the forest in the original play, will now be set in a huge meadow, with long grass and 500 foot trees surrounding it. The meadow will have a very "hippie" feel to it. The parts in the palace will be set in a huge mansion off the coast of the English Channel. The huge mansion instead of having the conventional acres of greenery will have a beachside equivalent. It will be a
Discuss how successfully the dramatic device of disguise is used in ‘As You Like It.’
Discuss how successfully the dramatic device of disguise is used in 'As You Like It.' In 'As You Like It', the dramatic device of disguise is very important, because of the dramatic opportunities it presents. Shakespeare opens two opportunities: the characters can say what they would otherwise be unable to say, and hear what they would otherwise be unable to hear. The main character who uses disguise is Rosalind, although Celia does too, to a lesser extent. We first see these two characters in Act I Scene 2. In this scene, we find out background information of the characters, for example that Rosalind's father, the Duke, was banished. We also see Orlando and Rosalind fall in love, after they meet for the first time at the wrestling match in the gardens of the palace. Rosalind gives Orlando her necklace, giving him a sign that she has fallen in love with him. Rosalind: Wear this for me, Rosalind: Sir, you have wrestled well, and overthrown More than your enemies. Orlando also admits to himself that he has fallen in love with her, but gives no indication of such to Rosalind, as he remained silent. Orlando: What passion hangs these weights upon my tongue? I cannot speak to her, yet she urg'd conference. O poor Orlando, thou art overthrown! In Act I Scene 3, Rosalind admits to Celia how much she loves Orlando, and that she is not merely 'playing' at falling in
In What Ways is 'As You Like It' a Typical Shakespearean Comedy?
In What Ways is 'As You Like It' a Typical Shakespearean Comedy? Shakespeare is famous for his great comedies and tragedies. Comedy and tragedy are two different viewpoints on the same situation. A scenario may be viewed as either comic or tragic, depending on how the person dictating the situation wants the audience to see it, and how successful they are. Shakespeare wanted his audiences to view As You Like It as a comedy, and therefore has interwoven elements of Shakespearean comedy throughout this play. These elements included the use of a jesting clown, songs, masques, tension and surprise, disguise, verbal/visual humour and, of course, a happy ending. Touchstone, the clown, never fully develops as a character and tends to remain a comical theatrical convenience. He is intriguing and puzzling because his occasional shrewdness and his professional skills, which consist largely of putting up a façade of pseudo-scholarship, seems to contradict his simplicity. He is ignorant of what marriage is, but he knows about 'honest Ovid' being expelled to be 'among the Goths' in Act 3 Scene 3. His satire on duelling delights Jacques by its aptness and provokes the Duke to observe that he uses his folly as a stalking horse and under cover of it shoots his wit. His successes are the 'squandering glances of the fool' or, as Rosalind puts it, he speaks wiser than he is ware of.
English Shakespeare
Explore Shakespeare's presentation of love in "As You Like It" By Daniel Pears Love has always been a foremost feature of the plays written by William Shakespeare and "As You Like It" is no exception with love regularly being represented throughout the play in a variety of ways. Just like in Shakespeares other works "As You Like It" is also broken down in to a main plot, which is then accompanied by smaller sub-plots that are scattered thorughout the play. Shakerspeare along with the play "As You Like It" skillfully uses these plots well to demonstrate various types of love. One variety of love that Shakespeare anylyses deeply is that of courtly love, whose ideas featured heavily around the fact that love brings suffering and agony to the lover and the theory that the male lover is controlled by his mistress to whom he must adhere to. Courtly Love had become a popular subject to write about during Shakespeare's Elizabethan period and was also strongly evident in english literature for centuries previously. The concept of pastoral romance is also expressed in "As You Like It" , in which characters in rural countryside areas appear to act freely and joyfully , and this causes relationships to revel successfully and contently. In other words Pastoral romance seems to betray the countryside in stories as some sort of catalyst speeding up the progress and success of
As You Like It: The presentation of the theme's of love
As You Like It Coursework Examine the presentation of the theme of Love in 'As You Like It'. 'As You Like It' is written by William Shakespeare and is one of his most well known and successful plays. Love is a central theme and Shakespeare uses many different styles and writing techniques to present it via the characters in the play; form and structure also contribute greatly to the presentation of love. Love comes in a number of different forms. There is the romantic hero-heroine love between Rosalind and Orlando in which they fall in 'love at first sight', woo and then they are married, unrequited love with Silvius and Phoebe, Touchstone and Audrey's seductive love, family ties and love shared between Rosalind and Celia and Adam and Orlando. Rosalind and Orlando's relationship is not a typical hero-heroine love, Shakespeare adds to it with Rosalind's strong personality and with the humour brought on by the relationship between Orlando and Ganymede (Rosalind's Guise). The way that the two meet is traditional to a typical hero-heroine love, Rosalind is won over by Orlando's good looks and masculinity at the wrestling match with the Court's wrestler, Charles, they fall in love at 'first sight', which is shown for the most part through the language used- Sir, you have wrestled well and overthrown more than your enemies' 'what passion hangs these weights upon my tongue?',
Is Rosalind the perfect heroine?
Is Rosalind the perfect heroine? "As You Like It", is yet another Shakespearian play that pities nature against civilisation, masculinity against femininity, idealism against cynicism, youth against age, child against parent, time against timelessness, and love against hate. It's both a gentle, pastoral comedy of love, and a dark and sexually ambiguous comment on gender construction. Rosalind as a character is both a heroine and a portrayal of feminism. The evolution of feminine identity within a patriarchal system of power informs both the setting and characterization of this play. Rosalind dominates the play. As the audience we fully realise the complexity of her character. We understand her emotions, her subtle thoughts, and the fullness of her character that no other character in the play can match. She is successful as a knowledgeable and charming critic of herself and others "I would give him some good counsel for himself, for he seems to have the quotidian of love above him." The definition of a heroine looked up in a dictionary is: a woman possessing heroic qualities or a woman who has performed heroic deeds. This definition can be subjective however depending on the context and the time in which the heroine's character was portrayed. The definition of a heroine changes and evolves over time which is why what a modern audience would class a heroine
Genre Defense of Shakespeare's As You Like It
Christen Hall Fine Art: Theatre Mr. Eric Phillips December 8, 2004 Genre Defense of Shakespeare's As You Like It "As You Like It represents, together with Much Ado About Nothing and Twelfth Night, the summation of Shakespeare's achievement in festive, happy comedy during the years 1598-1601," proclaims David Bevington his The Complete Works of Shakespeare (288). Bevington is obviously not the first editor to have categorized Shakespeare's plays. In fact, part of the plays' popularity might be based upon the fact that audiences know what to expect when they begin viewing the productions. For example, As You Like It's title hints that audiences should expect the play to end happily. This play's name is not, however, all that helps classify it as a comedy. Every element of the play drips with comedic elements, as Shakespeare characteristically critiques love, while highlighting the pastoral motif. The theme of the play is an obvious remark on its classification. Shakespeare exploits literary convention by mocking the foolishness love generates in us all. Kenneth Muir, in Shakespeare's Comic Sequence, declares, "His [Shakespeare's] lovers-Rosalind, Orlando, Celia, Oliver and Phoebe-would all make answer to Marlowe's question 'Who ever loved that loved not at first sight?' with a chorus of 'No one.'(88)" Each of the characters do and say impulsive things based solely
"Compared with Rosalind, all the other figures in As You Like It are just stock dramatic types." How far do you agree with this criticism?
"Compared with Rosalind, all the other figures in As You Like It are just stock dramatic types." How far do you agree with this criticism? In this radiant blend of fantasy, romance, wit and humour, Rosalind stands out as the most robust, multidimensional and lovable character, so much so that she tends to overshadow the other characters in an audience's memory, making them seem, by comparison, just "stock dramatic types" as the question asserts. Yet, As You Like It is not a stock romance that just happens to have Shakespeare's greatest female role. The other members of the cast provide a well-balanced supporting role, and are not just stereotypes. Characters that Shakespeare uses to illustrate his main theme of the variations of love are all more than one-use cardboards, as they must be fully drawn to relate to life. Those characters most easily accused of having a stock one-dimensionality are those inessential to the theme but important to the plot and useful as convenient foils, such as Duke Frederick and Oliver de Boys. The assertion of the question deserves this quote: "You have said; but whether wisely or no, let the forest judge." There is no doubt, either in the critical or play-going mind, that Rosalind is the "grandest of female roles" (Hazlitt). She encompasses a multitude of character brushstrokes, from the love struck maiden to the witty arch tongue to the
"In As You Like It Shakespeare weaves delightful variations on the pattern of romantic love." Illustrate and discuss.
"In As You Like It Shakespeare weaves delightful variations on the pattern of romantic love." Illustrate and discuss. As You Like It is remarkable among Shakespeare's plays for ending with four marriages, something of a record even among comedies. Love is a central theme of the play, although in some of its variations it cannot quite be said to be romantic! The love relationships may, at first glance, appear to be stock types: Rosalind and Orlando representing romantic hero-heroine love, Silvius and Phebe combining love in the lower classes with unrequited love, Audrey and Touchstone a darker attempt to seduce, and Celia and Oliver simple tying up of loose ends. However, Shakespeare makes the theme interesting not just through the sheer variety of relationships that he explores, but also through the unusual elements he brings to each. The Rosalind-Orlando relationship could be stock hero-heroine love, but for the interest Shakespeare adds by way of Rosalind's luminous character and the humour of Orlando encountering and being attracted to Rosalind in her guise as a "saucy lackey", Ganymede. The way in which they meet and fall in love is traditional -- Rosalind is won over by Orlando's manly labours and good looks at his wrestling match with Charles, and performs her feminine office of mercy by trying to dissuade him from what appears to be such a disastrous venture. It is
Forest life changes the characters in As you like it, do you agree?
'Forest life changes the characters in As you like it', do you agree? In Shakespeare's As you like it, we find the characters attempting to escape the court. What they specifically are escaping from are the 'briars' of the 'working day world'. The imagery of briar bushes specifically enacts a form of entanglement; that the world of the court is entrapping and the people in it are reflected as such. What is 'comely envenoms him that bears it', highlighting a reverse polarisation of morality, that what is good is a hindrance in the world of the court. This is paralleled by what Touchstone (who represents the court as a jester, whom were always in the service of the court) says; 'The sweetest nut hath the sourest rind'. Indeed, the usurper is viewed as the rightful ruler of the court whereas the rightful ruler is branded an outlaw. So the characters escape to the forest in order to cleanse themselves of 'th'infected world' (Playing upon the previous mention of 'envenoms' as a form of physical affliction that requires cathartic release). One can argue that the characters do respond to the forest, and their characters change as such. One particularly significant example is how Shakespeare constructs the forest as a place of alternative knowledge; Duke Senior finds that the 'winds are his councillors' and that the 'trees shall be my (his) books', that they find 'sermons in