As You Like It 2

1. Sundry: miscellaneous, various. -Merriam-Webster Online.


2. Phoebe becomes enamored with Rosalind, who is still disguised as Ganymede. Rosalind chides Phoebe and rejects her quite openly, and Phoebe asks Silvius to deliver a letter to her (him). Meanwhile, Jove meets William, an admirer of Audrey's, and scares him off. Orlando shows up to his "lesson" with Rosalind (Ganymede) an hour late and after some banter they get "married." Orlando leaves and finds his brother on the ground, bloodied and about to be attacked by a lion. Orlando saves Oliver but is hurt in the process. Oliver runs to get help and meets Celia, who is disguised as Aliena, and they instantly fall in love. Oliver and Orlando make up and Oliver decides to marry Aliena and live in the woods with her, giving Orlando all of his possessions and money. Rosalind, as Ganymede, tells Orlando that she knows a magician and that she can bring Rosalind to him to be married as well. She then also tells Phoebe to marry Silvius and Jove to marry Audrey. Rosalind shows up at the wedding as Rosalind, not Ganymede, and after reuniting with her father she marries Orlando. At the wedding, Orlando and Oliver's other brother shows up and tells the party how Celia's father went mad and came to the woods. He abdicated all of his power in order to pursue a religious life, probably based on guilt of driving his daughter away, so Rosalind's father may have his power back.


3. I found the use of Deux ex Machina to be prominent throughout this play. There were so many "convenient" things that had to fall into place for the story to work, yet would never have happened in real life. For example, are we supposed to forget that the servant, who was near death when Orlando stole food for him, would not have been strong enough to frolic back to Court after the wedding? Are we supposed to accept the fact that in the entire forest, which would have been quite vast, everyone just happens to run into each other in a timely manner? Also, I was confused by Jaques, the melancholy man. After discussing it post-film I have a somewhat better grasp on his role, but I'm still not positive. I think he exists as an attempt to balance the humor and provide some weight to counteract the levity of the plot. However, I hope that this was more apparant in the actual play, because in the movie it did not come across well. I found the fool to be an interesting character because of the irony of his situation. Often he is the character who makes the most sense, but he is supposed to be the fool. This reversal of expected roles is an example of inversion and is used extremely well in my opinion. Jove, the fool, although arrogant and not very respectful toward women, is undoubtedly wise. Compared to the other characters who are supposed to be wise but are fools in the face of love, Jove provides a complex and unexpected character. A final quality in this play that I would like to explore is the pastoral element. The image of happy, bouncing peasants was prevalent in this movie especially, with the characters remaining jovial and healthy despite their banishment into the woods from Court. They do not complain of hunger or of weariness; they may bicker but it is all in good spirit. At the end of the wedding the entire crowd skips and sings their way back to Court, which is pastoral at its best.


4. My first question is regarding the commentary on women. I understand that Shakespeare was trying to make a point with Rosalind, but I cannot grasp what point this is. Is it relevant that she felt she had to dress as a man? Is it regarding her foolishness in love?

My second question is whether the lion was actually a lion or if it was simply a symbol. It seems far-fetched that a lion appeared out of nowhere to attack Oliver, and especially that Orlando was able to fight it off, but many of Shakespeare's plays deal with fantasy.

My third question is regarding when Oliver had his change of heart and decided to not kill his brother. Did this happen before or after the lion? Did it happen when Orlando saved him? Or when he saw Celia and fell in love?