What’s it about? A large number of people have been driven to the forest for a variety of reasons and we see their interactions. This includes our main character, Rosalind, when she meets her crush (Orlando) in the forest and pretends to teach him how to woo women (while assuming the guise of a young man). Our other characters have similarly hilarious scenarios and the play closes with a massive quadruple wedding.
What is it really about? An excess of tomfoolery (including crossdressing) occurs in the Forest of Arden, culminating in what has to be an all-time record: a quadruple wedding.
No, really. What’s it ACTUALLY about? This play is about identity–how it changes, how it is viewed, and what it actually is.
My thoughts:
Crossdressing and questions of identity are common throughout Shakespeare’s work, but in none quite like As You Like It. More than any of his other plays, it asks what identity actually is, and whether or not anyone can ever actually truly know another person. It’s so ironic to me that Orlando is so convinced that he is in love with Rosalind, and yet he does not recognize her when he meets her, simply because of her apparel. How much of Orlando’s love was for Rosalind herself, versus something tied up with her gender? How much of Rosalind’s identity was her gender? Can the two be separated? If Orlando didn’t fall in love with Rosalind-as-a-man, does that mean his love is any more or less genuine?
And questions of identity extend beyond gender in the play, too. Rosalind’s father had been the Duke before being unseated by his brother. How did this affect his identity? In the forest, he plays a different role, but one that parallels who he was before. Did that do anything to change who he was, or simply reinforce it?
The forest seems to be almost synonymous with creating a new identity for yourself. But to what extent is that even possible? Rosalind even chose an alternate gender for her new forest-self, but she still can’t escape who she has always been. We’re led and then left to wonder how much of our identity is inherent and inescapable, and how much is left up to us.
As you can see, even though comedies are generally considered lighter, I was left with more questions at the end of this play than any other I’ve read so far. Part of what I love about Shakespeare is that he gives me and other readers the opportunity to think about them and find my own answers.
Highlights:
Favorite character – Rosalind is one of Shakespeare’s great characters. She is up there with Lady Macbeth in sheer determination and grit, Falstaff in her sense of humor, and Iago in a love of mischief (albeit on the lighter side). She is proactive, clever, and orchestrates much of the play’s events.
Favorite speech – Basically anything that Jacques says. He almost beats out Rosalind for favorite character. He is brilliant and hilarious and yet quite heartbreaking at the same time. There is a reason that some of the play’s most memorable lines come from him.
