Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Gabrielle Mc Caffrey
Shakespeare I
Paper 2
During the Renaissance gender roles were clearly defined and often put
males in the dominant position in both social and cultural realms. In As You Like It,
dresses to teach Orlando how to seduce a woman. Rosalind uses her intelligence to
exploit gender roles in order to assist Orlando in upholding them. Even though
Rosalind chooses to disregard gender roles, she helps a male uphold them in order
for her to get what she wants, Orlando, in the manner that she wants. Because of
his brother, Orlando is not intelligent enough to have control over the social
constraints and expectations that he is held to and thus, he cannot express himself
Rosalind. Rosalind functions as a character is who is not only intelligent and witty
enough to understand the social constraints she is surrounded by, but smart enough
lack of material possessions to offer as a dowry and her exile from the city. Rosalind
clings to the power she has when she assumes the role of a man to get what she
wants, as well as what is best for her and Celia, and continues the charade long
actress such as Meg Ryan playing the part of Rosalind. First, the setting of Arden
forest must be portrayed as not only an escape for its inhabitants, but as a complete
opposition from the city. The city would be suffering from a lack of color, gray walls
would surround the city and the scenes in the kingdom would be dreary and
would drag on and weigh down each scene, almost forcing the audience to wish it
were over as soon as possible. The Forest of Arden, however, would be lush with
underscore the audience’s willing suspension of disbelief during the scenes that take
place there. The Forest of Arden represents a theater in which characters such as
Rosalind can attain their goals by dressing up as men to obtain power otherwise
boys how to seduce and love. Arden Forest must express the whimsical nature of
the actions that take place there. The city would be portrayed as confined, busy, and
crowded, leaving little room for its inhabitants to create themselves or subvert the
societal and gender assumptions in place. The forest, however, would leave room
enough for both imagination and physical freedom, allowing the characters to most
easily enter the theater and act freely in order to gain control of themselves.
For example, in the forest, all Rosalind must do is expel her gender by cross-
dressing and acting as a man in order to obtain what she wants—she is easily able
to grasp the power that the city caused to evade her. There would be collections of
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trees surrounding the actors to demonstrate how the characters are surrounded by
the forest, and would mimic a natural stage. In the city, characters would be
confined to small rooms that are cluttered and stuffy, or dark side streets that stifle
each character. Celia underscores the feeling of freedom that is gained from leaving
the city and entering the forest when she says “Now go we in content/ To liberty and
demonstrates the freedom achievable in Arden Forest when he expounds upon his
new life in the forest in Act II when he says “Hath not old custom made this life more
sweet/Than that of painted pomp? Are not these woods/ More free from peril than
the envious court?” (II.i.3). However, Arden Forest cannot be portrayed as too
perfect, as the audience would question why the characters decide to go back to the
city at the end. The forest’s setting must convey a realm of healing, rather than an
Eden on Earth.
At different times in the play, Rosalind must carry herself in different manners.
The director of the play could use the accommodating language and situations
Shakespeare has given them by directing Ryan to act differently when using her
body language when she is cross dressed and when she is not. Rosalind is a strong
character no matter what gender she is masquerading as. However, when Rosalind
is herself, her language must be eloquent and powerful but still feminine in
costume and disguise. The disguise must not be noticeable by Orlando, but must be
dressed in a man’s garb, the transparency of her character must also be apparent
so that the audience may be able to note the flickering shifts from female Rosalind to
male Rosalind.
is exaggerated by her cross dressing and would be overstated by the actors playing
their respective roles in the way they deliver lines and by their body language.
For instance, in the third act during the third scene, Rosalind and Orlando
interact as she, dressed as her male counterpart Ganymede, convinces Orlando that
she will cure him of his love. Because she is parading as a boy in her late teens,
Rosalind must act like one and begin to strut across the stage, portraying
boastfulness and arrogance. The director could instruct Ryan to make these
attempts at manliness seem awkward and contrived in order to remind the audience
that Rosalind is pretending to be a man and that this act is not innate. The comedy
resides in the fact that the audience knows that these awkward actions are a result
of Rosalind’s farce and attempted imitation. The characters in the play, such as
Orlando, who are confused by Rosalind’s mishaps, attribute her awkwardness to the
fact that she is portrayed as a young boy attempting a charade as an adult male. As
long as the director ensures that Rosalind’s mistakes are accidental and a result of
her overzealous performance, the audience will find humor in the way that other
immediate attraction he feels towards Rosalind and, much like his predecessor
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the state of love. Those who do not truly understand love do everything in their
power to exploit it in hopes of convincing both themselves and anyone who will listen
ignorant as Orlando and recognizes both of their hopeless devotion as both a vice
and a virtue. Without Rosalind’s astuteness and wit, they both could have very well
ended up dead having followed their juvenile intuitions without any consideration for
mitigating factors, such as Romeo and Juliet. But, Rosalind is educated enough to
take this blind devotion of Orlando and nurture it into an actual relationship that
When staging this play, the director can expound upon Shakespeare’s
staging an overly effeminate Orlando and displaying his evolution into manhood by
changing the way the actor carries him across the stage and delivers his lines
throughout his lessons with Ganymede, As You Like It can lend itself to demonstrate
women’s ability to gain power at the sacrifice of her gender and how gender roles
expectations.