Audrey’s replies to Touchstone’s courtly and witty remarks reveal the nature of pastoral love, “I do not know what ‘poetical’ is. Is it honest in deed and word?” Audrey replies to Touchstone’s remark of how he wishes her to be poetical in a direct and genuine way. She openly tells Touchstone that she does not know what the word ‘poetical’ means, even though it reveals her embarrassing limited vocabulary. This shows us that pastoral love is very innocent and open, showing us a countryside’s lover’s perspective of a romantic ideal.
Shakespeare also uses Touchstone and Audrey’s relationship to develop ideas about romantic ideals by putting in different relationships like Silvius and Phoebe’s, both from the countryside, and Orlando and Rosalind’s, both from the court. Silvius and Phoebe’s love is very direct and raw, as Silvius openly announces his desire for Phoebe, “O dear Phoebe/ (you) shall know the wounds invisible/ that love’s keen arrows make”. Silvius directly tells Phoebe that his heart is wounded by his love for her. This shows us again how the ideal pastoral love is open and sincere. Orlando and Rosalind’s relationship is more subtle and suggested. When Rosalind is confessing her love for Orlando to Celia she says, “O coz, coz, coz….thou didst know how many fathom deep I am in love” The use of the metaphor ‘how many fathom’ shows us yet again that an ideal courtly love is implied and restricted. Touchstone and Audrey’s relationship however, provides a mix of the two, pastoral and courtly love. Touchstone’s flowery verbose confuses Audrey, a simplistic goat herder from the countryside, as courtly love is yet again portrayed as subtle and inferred, whereas pastoral romance is direct and genuine. Shakespeare uses juxtaposition by putting Audrey and Touchstone together, and contrasting them with Orlando and Rosalind and Silvius and Phoebe. By doing this, the contrast between an ideal pastoral romantic and an ideal courtly romantic is easily seen.
Pastoral love is mainly free and open mainly due to the setting, the Forest of Arden. The Forest of Arden is portrayed by Shakespeare as a place of freedom and democracy, whereas the court is represented as a dark place where everyone wants power. As the courtly lovers enter the Forest of Arden, their courtly romance is slowly influenced by the Forest. As Orlando and Rosalind’s relationship begins to grow in the Forest, we can see that Orlando does not become so constrained but becomes more open as can be seen when he carves Rosalind’s name into every tree in the Forest. Touchstone, too becomes affected by the Forest as he openly tells Audrey that he wants to marry her, “But be it as It may be, I will marry thee”. We can see that the ideal courtly romance that has been shown by Orlando, Rosalind and Touchstone has become influenced by the ideal pastoral romance.
In conclusion, the relationship between Touchstone and Audrey is used by Shakespeare to develop ideas of romantic ideals in many ways. The influence of pastoral love on courtly love is portrayed through the Forest of Arden. Shakespeare also uses juxtaposition, by putting a courtly relationship and a pastoral relationship next to each other. He also puts in Touchstone and Audrey, a man from the court and a woman from the countryside to mix the two ideals together and show us how he develops ideas about romantic ideals through Touchstone and Audrey.
By: Marcus Chang 10M
