Research into “As you like it”
William Shakespeare’s play “As you like it” is a pastoral
comedy which presents to the audience the confusion of love, identity, and the
difference between idealistic and realistic life in the forest. Its story follows
the heroine Rosalind as she is banished from her uncle's court and flees
accompanied by her cousin Celia and Touchstone the court jester, to find safety
and eventually, love, in the Forest of Arden. The play is most famous for the
often quoted speech, "All the world's a stage", and is the origin of
the phrase "too much of a good thing". The play’s themes are miss identities,
the delights of love and the confrontation of the human experience combined
with city life versus country life. It finishes with four weddings and the god
of marriage (Hymen) falling from the roof to give its blessing to the many loves.
The play
would have been performed in the round because Shakespeare’s theatre, The
Globe, was built for audiences to see from all sides.
Rufus, this is a good introduction. Next explain in detail how the play may have been staged at the Globe, where different members of the audience would have sat to watch/hear it, what they might have thought about the themes, characters and setting of the play, how it would have been performed in terms of both the style and the actors presenting it.
ReplyDeleteAre there any moments or characters in the play that serve as a commentary on the social and political issues of the time? Is Shakespeare presenting any views about this?
In the library I'm quite certain there are study guides that can help you with this and there are plenty of websites that serve the same purpose.... read, do your research and write about it in your own words.
One last note The Globe was not in fact 'in the round' as the audience could only see from 3 sides; the stage was a 'Thrust' stage. When you have time, you are able to edit this post to amend this and add in further detail.
A very good start though!