'As You Like It' Context

Shakespeare's plays are very different to those that are written today. His works were divided into Comedies, Tragedies, Histories and Romances. 'As You Like It' is one of his Comedies, the plays are categorized not by their humour but instead by how they have a happy ending. Shakespeare's comedies typically ended in a marriage, or as with 'As You Like It' four.

The play is believed to have been written in 1599 or 1600 in reaction to the growing popularity of the Pastoral Comedy, a style that showed the benefits of the countryside over city life, hence the play being called 'As You Like It'. Shakespeare could be said to be subverting the style by showing the not so glamorous aspects of the country. Characters from the country are portrayed as unintelligent and lacking in their manners, furthermore the characters of Jaques and Touchstone are given speeches that paint country life in a more negative light, one example of this is Touchstone's speech 'Truly, shepherd...' in Act 3 Scene 2. The play uses a feature common among Shakespeare's comedies, 'The Green World'. The action starts in a court and quickly moves to the forest where it remains for the play, except for one quick scene back at the court. 'The Green World' is a place where the characters can escape the rules of the court and general society, in this play 'The Green World' is both negative and positive, it allows for four couples to be formed but no one hesitates to leave it for court and it's more comfortable lifestyle once they are able besides Jaques. Shakespeare was trying to show the audience of the time that the countryside isn't as perfect as this vision that is presented in other Pastoral Comedies, not presenting it as negative but instead as flawed. To a modern audience these themes are still very relevant, a lot of people still hold this romanticised view of the countryside and there is very little to show the other side of this argument. A modern attempt at this argument could be seen in Jez Butterworth's play 'Jerusalem'. Both plays feature an imperfect view of nature; the caravan and rubbish filled clearing in the forest fighting Wiltshire Council is comparable to the banished duke against the duke in the court. Neither side is presented as flawless, the court/ council is authoritarian whereas the countryside is dangerous and anarchic.

Globe Theatre Performance

The play would have been performed in the Globe Theatre, there was minimal, if any set used which explains lines such as 'Are not these woods' because dialogue would be the only way to explain where the play is taking place. The Globe also dictates the style of the performance, performers would have to act to a wide arc of people because of how the stage works, and try to attract attention over the rowdy nature of the crowd. All performances were done in the daytime due to a lack of lighting, nowadays Globe Performances are done at day and night but lights are used to simulate daytime. Costume was used but props were used minimally, if something is specifically mentioned in the script then it would be used but otherwise it would be ignored. There are three entrances onto the Globe Theatre stage: a trapdoor in the floor to represent Hell; a trapdoor in the ceiling to represent Heaven; and a normal entrance in the back to represent our martial world. The trapdoor in the floor can be used to surprise an audience, I saw it used in a production of 'Macbeth' where it was used for the porter, this was a shock but it was to show a break in the play from a tragic story into a comedic interlude. Characters entering from the ceiling would be lowered, this would likely be very impressive for an audience of the time because special effects were lacking beyond this. Actors can also enter from the groundlings, through the audience, this creates an effect that the Globe is famous for: bringing the audience into the play, making them feel like they are a part of the action, not just a group of people watching a play.

'As You Like it' as with most of Shakespeare's plays features a mixture of verse and prose. Verse is often used for matters of love and philosophical or political statements, this makes them stand out from the other lines, giving them more impact. An example of the use of verse is the famous speech 'All the world's a stage...' delivered by the character Jaques. The verse gives it a structure and pace that highlights specific words, mostly those on the end of a line. Reading the speech as it is on the page allows the story to be conveyed without any excessive embellishment from the actor, each stressed word summarises a little part of the story that the passage is telling. The speech uses two half lines, one at the beginning and one in the middle to provide a structure to the speech. The first line allows a strong introduction to the monologue and the middle one gives a longer pause to mark the half-way point in order to regulate the pace of the reader. The passage ends with some powerful repetition of 'Sans' that gives a very clearly marked ending to the speech for the audience and sums up the passage. The use of French also gives the point a sense of finesse and grim grace.

Shakespeare's writings are often given a feminist reading and Shakespeare is commonly considered an early supporter of women's rights, while not being vocal about this it is inferred from the portrayal of women in many of his plays. The presentation of women in 'As You Like It' is mostly positive. Rosalind is able to successfully trick others into thinking she is a man, perhaps to show a blur in gender lines. Rosalind is also the mastermind of the play, her schemes and plots bring about the happy ending that there is. Despite this she does abuse her position as a woman dressed as a man which incites the response 'You have misused our sex in your love-prate' from Celia. Despite the positive portrayal of women there are also the characters of Phebe and Audrey who are unintelligent and lustful. This could be a presentation of the sex or it could be a presentation of people from the country as Silvius is also not very clever but lacks the lustful aspect. However portraying Phebe and Audrey as they are could be a way of shedding light on those characteristics, furthermore at the end of the play they are both wed to husbands that are either not so good for them, Touchstone, or who they don't really want, Silvius.

'As You Like It' has survived as a favourite despite a lack of action because of it's striking speeches and memorable characters. It reacted against the common views of the day in it's portrayal of the country and of women. As such, the play has not suffered the problem of many classical plays, being weighed down by archaic values, and as such still bears relevance today.