As You Like It (Folger Shakespeare Library Series)

Great Book--A Centuries Old Version of "Tootsie"

Granted, I know Shakespeare is dense and most times we want to just turn our pages when we read. But this play is really ahead of its time.<BR/><BR/>Before I give you the synopsis, I want to say that the Folger series of Shakespeare makes it easy for us who don't normally read Shakespeare. There are notes everywhere for those obsolete Elizabethan words and obscure allusions. My advice for this and all of Shakespeare's works is to take your time with it. Read a passage over if you need to and use a dictionary. <BR/><BR/>I had to read this book for school. At first I groaned just like everyone else did. Once I completed my reading, however, I ended up writing a paper on it. Shakespeare was really ahead of his time with this play. <BR/><BR/>The play begins with the usual Royal intrigue--brother pitted against brother, seizure of power, all that sort of thing. The play gets interesting once Rosalind, the daughter of exiled Duke Senior, is banished from the kingdom and decides to live as a man in the enchanted forest because it would be dangerous to live in exile as a woman. By this time, she has already met Oliver (another exile) and they fall in love. <BR/><BR/>When Oliver and Rosalind reunite in the forest, Rosalind is Ganymede--her male alter ego. Oliver is still smitten with Rosalind. He writes lame poems and hangs them all over the trees. As Ganymede, Rosalind convinces Oliver to woo "him" so that Orlando might get the feeling for Rosalind out of his system. Oliver agrees. <BR/><BR/>What is interesting about this play is the homoeroticism. Oliver agrees to this role-playing game with Ganymede and at one point gets so swept away he wants to "kiss him." Not only that, Pheobe, the shepherdess in the Forest of Arden also falls in love with Ganymede. Ganymede is clearly portrayed in the play as beautiful and effeminate, yet the sexual power that he possesses seems irresistible. <BR/><BR/>That this subject matter is introduced to an audience centuries ago boggles my mind. Rosalind is even given the epilogue at the end--a monologue usually delivered by the male hero. Indeed, Shakespeare blurs gender and sexual roles in this play at a time when there were no such thing as Women or Gay Rights, much less Queer Theory. Shakespeare is ambiguous as to what his message actually is. He allows us interpret for ourselves. <BR/><BR/>It's a fascinating play and well worth reading. As a gender-bending comedy, it's a centuries old version of Tootsie.

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One Day Read!

I really liked this play! I read it all the way through in a day. It is the epitome of a Shakespearean comedy: lovelorn lovers, a cross dressing heroine, a wise-cracking fool, and a lot of confusion. As You Like It chronicles the tale of four couples: Orlando and Rosalind aka Ganymede, Oliver and Celia aka Aliena, Touchstone (fool) and Audrey, and Silvius and Phoebe. There is a fair amount of confusion when Rosalind and Celia flee the dukedom of Celia's father and Rosalind's uncle, Duke Frederick, disguised as a brother and sister pair. Meanwhile, Orlando is frustrated with his older brother Oliver's withholding his inheritance, and enters into a wrestling match at the duke's court, where he meets Rosalind. They all end up in the Forest of Arden, and, much like in A Midsummer Night's Dream, they continually run around deceiving each other, falling in love, and engaging in conversations filled to the brim with typical Shakespearean repartee.

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