'As You Like It' By William Shakespeare - Research and Context

In Today's society, Shakespeare is very well known as an extraordinary writer, many people will have heard of him, and his plays have been kept alive through means of education and theatre; surviving up until present day. 'As You Like It' being one of his more famous plays, believed to have been written in 1599 or 1600, strikes us as one that focuses on female roles, something that wasn't common in Shakespeare's day and age (due to the rule of females not being allowed to perform on the stage). It is a comedy play based around issues of love and marriage (or in this plays case, four marriages) that has room for extremely funny and some melancholy characters, which makes the play balanced and extremely interesting to watch.

An Insight to 'As You Like It'

Performing 'As You Like It' at the Globe Theatre

'As You Like It' is a magnificent piece that revolves around the story of two cousins - Rosalind and Celia, who have grown up together under the rulings of Duke Senior and then Duke Frederick when he overthrows his brother, Senior, to become the new duke. The story starts with Orlando, who defeats Duke Frederick's servant "Charles the Wrestler" - which is unheard of as he even says that "he that escapes me without some broken limb shall acquit him well." (Act 1 Scene 1) a proof of his confidence and strength - and then flees into the Forest of Arden after falling in love with Rosalind after she cheers him on in the fight. Because Rosalind supported Orlando, she is banished as the final straw, Celia goes along with her to support her beloved cousin and is accompanied by the court's clown Touchstone. Rosalind decides to disguise herself as a farmer's boy named Ganymede to stop suspicion. They come to the Forest of Arden and settle in, Rosalind's banished father Duke Senior and his loyal men reside here. Orlando has been leaving love poems and songs around the forest for Rosalind, and this is discovered by her and her cousin. This delights Rosalind and she uses her disguise - Ganymede - to "help" Orlando into wooing Rosalind. While this is happening, Touchstone, the fool, is trying to woo a shepherdess named Audrey and hopefully have her in marriage so he can sleep with her. Phoebe, another shepherdess, falls in love with Rosalind as Ganymede, but has a lover following her named Silvius. While this is going on Orlando's brother Oliver is attacked by a lioness on his way to get Celia and Rosalind back, but is saved by Orlando. He then tells the tale of it to Celia and Rosalind, and falls in love with Celia and she falls in love back. Eventually the play ends with Hymen marrying Celia to Oliver, Rosalind to Orlando, Audrey to Touchstone and Phoebe to Silvius.

Characters

1. Duke Senior, the banished Duke. Father to Rosalind, uncle to Celia and Brother of Duke Frederick. His servants, the Amiens and a titled follower of his Jaques, all live in the Forest of Arden as a means of survival and well being, to escape the court of his brother Duke Frederick.
2. Duke Frederick, the current Duke who has overthrown Senior. Father to Celia, Uncle to Rosalind and brother of Senior. Currently at top of the court with his loyal servants such as Charles the Wrestler and Le Beau, a courtier.
3. Oliver, brother of Orlando and Jaques de Boys and son of Sir Rowland de Boys. Current owner of a fortune that his father left for his sons.
4. Orlando, brother of Oliver and Jaques de Boys and son of Sir Rowland de Boys. He wants part of the fortune that Oliver has, the one his father left for his sons, but Oliver disagrees and does not want to give it to him.
5. Jaques (separate from Jaques de Boys), a melancholy courtier and loyal follower of Duke Senior and is mocked by the other lords for his seemingly depressing ways and philosophical manners.
6. Touchstone, the clown of the court who accompanies Celia and Rosalind in their escape of the court, he takes Audrey - a shepherdess - as his wife so he can have his wicked way with her.
7. Adam, servant of Oliver and servant and friend of Orlando. Also a servant to their father.
8. Dennis, a servant of Oliver.
9. Audrey, a country wench who eventually marries Touchstone, unaware of his wicked plans. She is uneducated and doesn't understand his witty talk.
10. Corin, a farmer who sells a farm to Rosalind and Celia to live in. A friend of Silvius.
11. Silvius, a shepherd living in the Forest of Arden. He is in love with a shepherdess named Phoebe. He eventually marries her.
12. Rosalind, daughter of Duke Senior, niece of Duke Frederick and cousin and friend to Celia. She is banished from the court after rooting for Orlando in a fight. She takes on a male disguise called Ganymede. She falls in love with Orlando and he with she.
13. Celia, the daughter of Duke Frederick, niece of Duke Senior and cousin and friend to Rosalind. She accompanies Rosalind after her banishment from the court, but doesn't have a disguise. She falls in love with Oliver and he with she.
14. Phoebe, a shepherdess who falls in love with Rosalind as Ganymede. She eventually marries Silvius after Ganymede declines her love.
15. Hymen, a goddess who comes down from the heavens and marries four couples at the end of the play to resolve all of the trouble in the Forest of Arden.

The Writing, Inspirations and Theatre of Shakespeare's Time

During Shakespeare's time, an actor was seen as a pretty big low in society. A little higher than prostitution in fact, not as high in today's society where actors are treasured and praised for their outstanding talents and dedication. In the Globe Theatre where Shakespeare eventually resided, (after his rocky road with his previous acting company), it was incredibly tough to keep the attention of all of the audience, Shakespeare had to write plays that would keep the audience into it, as the actors needed help to fight the overcrowded noise of the theatre. What Shakespeare would do to make sure that the audience was interested and to make up for the severe lack of set in most of his plays, he would introduce the scene using the character's description. In Act 2 Scene 1, Duke Senior comes in and states "Are not these woods more free from peril than the envious court?" to show the audience that we have now moved from the court to the woods. It keeps the audience up to where we are, and makes them more interested in the scene and broadens their imagination of the play. I personally love this as a way of exploring a scene's setting, it gives it more imagination and free will to how you want it to look, using nothing but the mind, costume and a small amount of props.

The Globe Theatre - Packed During a Play

This quote can lead onto another part of the historical context, style of writing and in some way, parody, that Shakespeare used in 'As You Like It' that was growing in plays around this time. It's called 'Pastoral', most likely heard of in the forms of Pastoral Poetry or Pastoral Comedy, it was famous around the time of 'As You Like It'. "Pastoral" refers to plays and poems writing about shepherds and rustic life. Pastoral poetry is highly conventionalised; it shows an ideal life in the countryside rather than a realistic view of rustic life. "A common pastoral poetic genre is the eclogue, a dialogue between two shepherds. This conversation may be between a shepherd and the shepherdess he loves, a "singing contest" to see which shepherd is the better poet, or sophisticated banter between two supposedly "rude swains" who discuss a lady, their flocks, or a current event. Laudatory poems, laments upon a death, songs of courtship and the complaints of a lovesick shepherd also occur as pastoral monologues." I used this quote because I love the idea of how people would buy into this lifestyle, in reality a lifestyle such as this would be mocked and downgraded because it seems dirty and poor, especially in today's age. I love how they idolise the countryside, for me personally, I couldn't live without the city, but I suppose that compared to then it has plenty more benefits and there is a more equal society and a balanced way of living. In 'As You Like It' this ideal and the parody of the ideal is shown through many characters, one particular named Jaques. Jaques is a melancholy character with nothing but depressing and incredibly thought views on the world. He is famous for his "All the world's a stage" speech. Shakespeare wrote him into the play to mock the countryside, to say that is does not benefit anyone. While some characters say it is the best way of life, he disagrees, he is heavily pessimistic about everything that he comes across, especially to do with the countryside and puts nothing but philosophical thought and meaning into his life. At the end of his time in the play, he actually decides to go into the countryside whilst everyone else goes back to the more urban way of life provided. I believe that Shakespeare did this to mock the philosophy of people around him in this time, and to also mock this Pastoral lifestyle. He spends a whole play talking down to the countryside and then lives in it, it's a famous contradiction, but many philosophers are believed to do this. The audience had a particular view on Pastoral Comedy depending on their social class, people who couldn't afford to sit I'm the seats of the Globe Theatre had often lived in conditions where they were forced to minimal amounts of food and hard work to keep their means of life satisfactory, they were soul believers of this magical life in the countryside because their life in the city wasn't what they wanted in life. They want to have a fulfilling life like the rich, and this idea of "living off of the land" is something many of them dreamt of. They saw it personified and exaggerated on the stage of the Globe in plays such as As You Like It where it seemed like a beautiful thing to do, even if some characters were against the thought of it. It seemed as if people of the poorer part of London were living in a dream, London was indeed the most city like thing in England at this time and arguably still is today, so of course a different setting would seem refreshing. As for the people who were able to afford seats and even the famous decorated boxes of the Globe (which the Queen of England would usually sit in if she ever came to see a play at the Globe), their life would be richer and they would have a better outlook on city life, the idea of the country seems unsatisfactory to them because they are very fond of their life in the city. London gives a lot of opportunities, and people like the rich have either seized these opportunities or have them handed to themselves on a plate, this is maybe why they don't need the countryside to satisfy, they have everything they need here, and they often see people of the countryside as dumb and mind numbingly stupid. People of today in a modern audience, due to various political changes and the now heavy economy that we have ended up in, the country seems like a lovely get away. You see a lot of people in today's audience going on holidays to places such as the Lake District, other nature reserves and forests for a new holiday. Even though we have these economic situations, money is a lot better than then, and even the poor live with better satisfactory. The nature is a nice get away, and often we emphasise how nice it really is. I'm sure if we were to actually live in the countryside and "live of the land" as it were, we wouldn't like the lifestyle at all. Maybe Pastoral Comedy is fooling us all?

 

Performing 'As You Like It' at the Globe Theatre

'As You Like it' is a great example of one of Shakespeare's works that used a certain way of stating what the character was talking about in terms of matter, theme and situation. Two clever devices called 'Verse' and 'Prose'. Verse is used to highlight certain words that are to do with certain themes, these themes could be things such as politics or an opinion, or love, maybe even philosophy or an idea that wanted to be expressed by a character. A famous example of this is the speech I mentioned previously, the "All the world's a stage" speech by the character Jaques, Shakespeare was incredibly clever to Incorporated verse into such a philosophical character, to heighten his philosophies this much, I believe this is what made his speech famous, it's incredibly written and one of my favourite Shakespeare speeches. Verse is used in this speech to highlight and in a way, enhance certain words and make it flow. With speeches such as this, Shakespeare helps the actor with them. Such famous and well written speeches you'd think would be a task to master, however the way Shakespeare uses Verse and pace in his writing makes them better to work with and less pressuring for the actor. Prose is used where Verse would seem unnatural or unfitting to use, Celia and Rosalind often talk in Prose to each other. This is a definite come back to the hypothesis that "the rich speak in verse and the poor speak in prose" as some people say about Shakespeare plays. Many other wealthy characters from other plays speak in Prose too, there is no definite assignment of Verse and Prose in association with a character's wealth.

Stage Design and General Staging of the Globe Theatre

The stage design for the Globe Theatre had a lot to do with the staging of 'As You Like It' by Shakespeare alongside the script writing and the blocking of the play, it was like nothing that anyone had ever seen. The Globe Theatre was built from the companionship of James Burbage (who was the manager of the acting company Earl of Leicester's Men) and his brother-in-law, John Brayne. Burbage originally had an idea that would bring more income and profit into the theatre business and for himself, he saw how play performances were incredibly popular, he came up with the idea of showing his plays to a larger audience. John Brayne also had the same idea, so as a result the two men rented a plot of land right outside London, where England's first theatre was created and opened in 1576. It was originally called The Theatre, however after a 25-year agreement, the landlord refused ownership to Brayne and Burbage because of apparent violence going on in the land, this resulted in the Burbages taking down The Theatre during Christmas in 1598, and then carrying the pieces to a different location in London. This is where a new theatre was built, they called it the Globe Theatre.  

"The Globe Theater was a two-story stage tower design, with the stage in the centre of it all. The Globe Theater followed the typical layout of an Elizabethan Theater (see above). The stage was a raised platform, extending out into the pit, where the commoners could stand and watch the play. The tiring house was the backstage area in the Globe Theater. It held ladders, trapdoors and pulleys to create the special effects for the plays. Ladders and trapdoors were used so a player could appear or disappear as needed during a performance. For example, in performances of Hamlet, the Ghost enters the stage through a trapdoor. Pulleys and ropes were used to lower players down onto the stage."http://stagehistory.webs.com/renaissance.htm

 

As you can see, the design of The Globe was incredibly complex, having different levels of seating for different social classes. A trap door for people to exit below stage and a hut up above for things like a band, or an actor who would be coming down from above in character, as it were. They also built an upper stage and main stage. This definitely had an affect on the way 'As You Like It' was staged back then, especially with characters such as Hymen. Although we aren't using the character Hymen in any of our sequences, she would definitely have to use the upper stage or the hut to lower herself down from the heavens to marry the four couples who needed it. She would be lowered from the heavens as a goddess, or she would enter from any two of the doors on the upper stage. This would give her a godly status, a high status, people would have to look up to her in the audience and it definitely gave her that image of being something more than human, a supernatural being, something coming from the clouds. The experience of the staging of 'As You Like It' would have been different for an Elizabethan actor compared to the Elizabethan audience, the actors would have a lot to do because of the new staging, they were probably used to a backstage and a stage alike, with maybe a trap door. But this theatre was different, it had a door up in the heavens as well as a basement, and an upper stage for scenes requiring an upper level, a famous example of using the upper stage in Shakespeare's writing is the famous balcony scene from 'Romeo and Juliet', in 'As You like It' I think a good scene to use the upper staging in the Globe would be the scene where Orlando sings his love for Rosalind, he could sit at the top and sing his heart out. This is something the actors would have to work with though, as projecting would be tougher as its higher up and they would have to work harder to gain the attention of the audience, this was already an obvious task as an Elizabethan audience would treat the theatre as a social call (not like we do today) and would shout and talk all the way through the play.

'As You Like It' continues to wow audiences today with its parody and its extravagant stories of women in Shakespeare's time. Being such a dramatic expression in his time, it has survived throughout the ages and is being performed in present day. It still relates to audiences with the use of feminism and philosophy, and hopefully will carry on further.