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[CHAPTER FOUR
THE MIDDLE COMEDIES (II)
Much Ado about Nothing
and
As You Like It]
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- - - II - - -
The sophistications of Messina life found in Much Ado about Nothing, the machinations of Don John and the courtly intrigues and deceptions practised by the central group of characters, find their parallels in the opening scenes of Shakespeare's next comedy, As You Like It. However, the conflicts associated with the artifice of court life serve entirely different functions in the two plays, and while the characters in Much Ado about Nothing settle their disagreements without leaving Messina, those in As You Like It escape from the evils of court life into the green world of the forest of Arden, where they are reputed to 'fleet the time carelessly as they did in the golden world' (I.i.118-119). 4.42 In fact, those who make their way to the forest find that they are confronted there with other problems, and the major concern of the play is not so much the resolving of conflicts (although some are resolved),
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as the bringing about of a realisation that in this imperfect world, conflict, and even death, must be accepted as a part of life. The fecundity and regeneration of the forest are shot through with dissension and death, recalling the ironical epitaph, et in Arcadia ego.
The two central conflicts of the play, one between Oliver and Orlando, the other between Duke Frederick and Duke Senior, seem unrelated on the surface. However, the concept of an ordered society in Elizabethan England was such that any disorder at the head of the state would be reflected in the lower echelons of the community, as had been the case in the fairy world of A Midsummer Night's Dream, where Titania's denial of male domination in insisting on her right to the Indian boy was the cause of the bad weather, resulting in the failure of crops and death of animals. In As You Like It the disagreement between the two dukes finds its parallel in that between Oliver and Orlando: Duke Frederick has upset natural order by seizing the dukedom from his brother, setting himself at the head of the state; Oliver, in turn, wishes to deny Orlando his rightful part in the estate of their father, and Shakespeare is careful to emphasise that this, too, is contrary to natural order:
... for call you that keeping for a gentleman of my birth, that differs not from the stalling of an Oxe? ... the something that nature gaue mee, his countenance seemes to take from me: hee lets mee feede with his Hindes, barres mee the place of a brother, and as much as in him lies, mines my gentility with my education.
(I.i.8-10 and 17-21)
The two usurping brothers are thus responsible for the disordered state of the community at the beginning of the play.
Such disorder has associated with it a considerable degree of conflict and violence. Duke Senior's expulsion is an accomplished fact when the play opens, and no clue is given as to how it was achieved; Orlando and Oliver, on the other hand, are openly hostile, and although there are no stage directions to confirm it, violence is implied in their dialogue:
Oli.
What Boy.
Orl.
Come, come elder brother, you are too yong in this.
Oli.
Wilt thou lay hands on me villaine?
Orl.
I am no villaine: I am the yongest sonne of Sir Rowland de Boys, he was my father, and he is thrice a villaine that saies such a father begot villaines: wert thou not my brother, I would not take this hand from thy throat, till this other had puld out thy tongue for saying so, thou hast raild on thy selfe.
Adam.
Sweet Masters bee patient, for your Fathers rememberance, be at accord.
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Oli.
Let me goe I say.
Orl.
I will not till I please: you shall heare me.
(I.i.52-66)
Orlando's display of violence serves to underline the consequences of disrupting natural order, and while Duke Senior's expulsion is not seen on the stage, the argument between Orlando and his brother creates the atmosphere of violence associated with such a deed. Before the tension generated by the brothers' quarrel has subsided, 'Charles the Dukes Wrastler' (I.i.89) enters to discuss his forthcoming bout with Oliver.
His first topic of conversation is the banishment of Duke Senior, which is sandwiched between the violence of Orlando's reaction to his brother's tyranny and the anticipated violence of the wrestling bout, where broken limbs are the least to be expected. In fact, we soon see that Oliver, by misrepresenting Orlando to Charles, hopes the wrestling match will be the fatal means whereby he rids himself of his troublesome brother. The first scene is a continuum of violence, with the wrestling providing a link between the violence in the court and that in the lives of its subjects: we are presented with a situation in which violence and disorder prevail at all levels in the dominions of the exiled duke, and our interest is engaged immediately in the conflicts, for we know that in a comedy the wronged brother must finally regain his possessions, but as yet it is uncertain how this will be brought about.
When we first meet Rosalind, she is in low spirits because of her father's enforced exile. Celia comforts her, making it clear that she need not worry about any property she may have lost through Duke Frederick's actions:
You know my Father hath no childe, but I, nor none is like to haue; and truely when he dies, thou shalt be his heire; for what hee hath taken away from thy father perforce, I will render thee againe in affection.
(I.ii.16-19)
Celia's reference to her father's death and succession continues the theme of usurpation introduced in the opening scene. Her intention is to give Rosalind her rightful inheritance, thus restoring in some measure the order which her father has destroyed. The issue of rightful succession and inheritance is deliberately introduced to provide common ground between Orlando and Rosalind, both victims of tyrannical disruption of order. Celia's solution, her plan for restoring order by handing all back to Rosalind when the usurping duke dies, is amusingly simple, ignoring the dire consequences which are likely to result from
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the perpetuation of disorder in the intervening years. Her suggestion, that to pass the time they
sit and mocke the good houswife Fortune from her wheele, that her gifts may henceforth bee bestowed equally,
(I.ii.30-32)
is also unhelpful, but serves to introduce the notion of the conflicting roles Nature and Fortune play in the lives of men, a significant theme in the play.
Its first application is to Touchstone, who is presented as a natural fool who earns his place in the court by exercising his natural wit (or lack of it): Celia comments that Nature
hath sent this Naturall for our whetstone. for alwaies the dulnesse of the foole, is the whetstone of the wits.
(I.ii.51-53)
There has been some debate as to exactly when Kemp left the Chamberlain's Men and when Armin replaced him, and the arguments are summarised by Latham. 4.43 We know that Kemp played Dogberry in Much Ado about Nothing because his name appears in the speech headings of that play. 4.44 Baldwin has noted that 'As soon as Kemp leaves the company in 1599, the clown changes notably into the sly, roguish, jesting fool of the court', 4.45 and I think it likely that Touchstone was the first part Shakespeare wrote with Armin in mind. The contradictions in Celia's description of him as a 'Naturall', but yet 'the whetstone of the wits' - the implications of wisdom and simple-mindedness - do not apply to Shakespeare's earlier clowns: as Latham remarks, 'Dogberry has no idea that he is comical. Touchstone intends to be'. 4.46 The distinction between the two types of clown is important because it leads to a difference in their dramatic functions. The clowns of the earlier plays, who are often servants, generally provide comic commentaries on the actions of their superiors without initiating conflicts of their own. The Dromios, Grumio, Launce, Speed, Launcelot Gobbo and Dogberry typify Shakespeare's servant-clowns. Touchstone and those who follow him, although they are described as fools or naturals, display high degrees of intelligence and are usually dissenting voices, comic centres of conflict. Although such characters are, to some extent, a literary convention, their existence may be attributed to the Elizabethan attitude to simple-mindedness which can be readily grasped from Armin's Foole vpon Foole, or Six Sortes of Sottes. Will Summers was the court jester to Henry VIII, and there is a conscious
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attempt by Armin to give the stage fool credibility when he recounts how Summers
to make the King merry asked him three questions [such as] are for mirth inserted into Stage playes ... [and] that Will Sommers asked them of the King it is certaine. 4.47
The role of the licensed fool at court was fraught with danger, as can be seen from Celia's words to Touchstone: the entrance of the fool is followed by a playful episode of conflict centred on the shifting meanings of words, which comes to a close with a few serious thoughts reflecting on the state of Duke Frederick's court:
[Cel.]
... speake no more of him, you'l be whipt for taxation one of these daies.
Clo.
The more pittie that fooles may not speak wisely, what Wisemen do foolishly.
Cel.
By my troth thou saiest true: For, since the little wit that fooles haue was silenced, the little foolerie that wise men haue makes a great shew.
(I.ii.78-84) 4.48
The violence suggested in the whipping of a fool would not have caused any surprise: it was an accepted form of discipline, regarded as mildly comic. The indifference to the suffering of fools, and the notion that their chastisement was a source of amusement, is well illustrated in Armin's account of how Jack Miller, with whom Armin was personally acquainted, was beaten by the players:
... knowing faults should be punished, he entreated Crumball the clowne whom he deerely loued to whip him but with rosemary, for that he thought wold not smart: but the Players in iest breecht him til the bloud came ... that this is true, my eyes were witnesses being then by. 4.49
This sadistic humour is present in the whipping promised Touchstone, but it is accompanied by more serious undertones suggested in the fact that 'the little wit that fooles haue [is] silenced'. This indicates a level of intolerance which is notably higher than that found in Duke Senior's company in the forest, where Jaques plays the role of an allowed fool without any hindrance from his superiors. 4.50 Touchtone is not deterred from his wonted criticisms by such threats, and shortly makes another telling observation on courtly standards:
Clo.
But what is the sport Monsieur, that the Ladies haue lost?
Le Beu.
Why this that I speake of.
Clo.
Thus men may grow wiser euery day. It is the first time that euer I heard breaking of ribbes was sport for Ladies.
(I.ii.124-129)
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The sport referred to is the wrestling undertaken by Charles, and Le Beau has just given a graphic description of the grief of a father who has seen his three sons so beaten 'that there is little hope of life' (I.ii.117-118) left in them. This pitiful account reflects on what has become an acceptable level of violence at court, and Touchstone's sarcastic observation on 'sport for Ladies' makes the same point: the disorder at the head of the state has led to a change in standards of behaviour. The impression this gives is that the odds against Orlando's successfully encountering Charles are being steadily increased, and tension mounts when Rosalind and Celia, and even Duke Frederick himself, all attempt to dissuade him from the fight.
Knowles has remarked that the wrestling match 'is the catalyst that begins the action proper of As You Like It': 4.51 it results in the arousal of Duke Frederick's suspicion and anger, and the further plotting by Oliver, which in turn causes Orlando, Rosalind and Celia to flee to the forest. More than this, however, can be said of the dramatic function of the fight: it was prefigured in the brief, inconclusive struggle between Oliver and Orlando in the first scene, and in the match itself Charles represents Oliver and the evil associated with him; and so the outcome of the fight foreshadows Orlando's attainment of the rights he demands from Oliver. 4.52 I have already noted some parallels in the conflicts between the two pairs of brothers; Iser sees them as doubles, suggesting 'that the whole comedy is based on the principle of doubling': 4.53 Oliver is doubled by Orlando, Duke Frederick by Duke Senior, and 'in both cases the presence of the double is regarded as a threat which can be removed only by means of separation'. 4.54 On a broader level, then, the wrestling match is an image of the hostility between the two dukes as well, a fact which becomes clearer as the play progresses. The association of Charles with Duke Frederick is never in question, but the relationship between Orlando and Duke Senior is revealed only after the bout, when Duke Frederick dismisses Orlando:
The world esteem'd thy father honourable,
But I did finde him still mine enemie:
(I.ii.214-215)
and Rosalind says 'My Father lou'd Sir Roland as his soule' (I.ii.224), which links Orlando, through his father, with Duke Senior. The fight is a stage representation of the conflict and violence attendant on the violation of order: Duke Frederick disrupts the government of the state,
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while Oliver denies familial succession. The fact that Orlando wins the fight suggests the probable outcome of the play, that the government of the state will be returned to its rightful administrator, and order restored.
Orlando and Rosalind are depicted as people of particular charm, attractive to all but those who are jealous of their special qualities. In fact, their χαρισματα underlie the hostile feelings of Oliver and Duke Frederick, so that when the latter banishes Rosalind, Celia pleads for her friend, and is answered:
Her verie silence, and her patience,
Speake to the people, and they pittie her:
Thou art a foole, she robs thee of thy name,
And thou wilt show more bright, & seem more vertuous
When she is gone ....
(I.iii.74-78)
Similar reasoning supplies Oliver with his motive for quarrelling with Orlando, who, he says, is
full of noble deuise, of all sorts enchantingly beloued, and indeed so much in the heart of the world, and especially of my owne people, who best know him, that I am altogether misprised.
(I.i.165-169)
Both instances of jealous hatred look forward to Iago's intense dislike of Cassio, who, according to Iago,
... hath a dayly beauty in his life,
That makes me vgly ....
(Othello V.i.19-20) 4.55
In all three cases malicious envy leads to violence of some sort: Iago arranges the murder of Cassio; Oliver similarly tries to have Orlando killed; and Duke Frederick banishes Rosalind, on pain of death if she is found at court. Duke Frederick's actions are those of a tyrant, ruling his court and dominions with absolute and awful authority, and so Celia's couplet which closes the first act takes a justifiably optimistic view in anticipation of their flight to Arden: 'now goe we in content | To liberty, and not to banishment' (F2 I.iii.133-134). These sentiments are echoed in Duke Senior's speech which opens the second act, introducing us to the forest:
Hath not old custome made this life more sweete
Then that of painted pompe? Are not these woods
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More free from perill then the enuious Court?
(II.i.2-4)
This is a statement of the conventional view of Arcadia, that a return to Nature will repair the damage suffered at the hands of Fortune, because in Nature's realm the sophistries of life at court will not be found, and so can be forgotten. We find similar sentiments in Lyly's Euphues and His England, where the dying Cassander advises his son Callimachus that life in the court is sterile, and he advocates instead a life in the fertile country:
Liue in the Countrey, not in the Court: where neither Grasse will growe, nor Mosse cleaue to thy heeles. 4.56
Arden is no conventional Arcadia, however: despite Charles' likening it to 'the golden world', 'the penaltie of Adam' (II.i.5) is felt only too keenly in the 'Icie phange | And churlish chiding of the winters winde' (II.i.6-7). 4.57 Furthermore, Duke Senior and his company are fully aware that their position in the forest is an equivocal one, and the fact that they are usurpers, killing the rightful dwellers of the forest for their food, is mentioned twice in this short scene. 4.58 Those who flee to the forest cannot escape from the facts of life, its physical discomforts and death.
After this concise and somewhat disillusioning introduction to the forest of Arden, the 'golden world', we are returned to the city and the court, firstly to witness the angry reaction of Duke Frederick to the news that his daughter and Touchstone have left with Rosalind; and then to be shown why Orlando also decides to run away. He, like Duke Senior, is the victim of a tyrannical brother, and we learn that Oliver, having failed to dispose of Orlando by means of Charles, is now devising other methods, so violent that Adam can say 'this house is but a butcherie' (II.iii.27). Indeed, Adam is quite out of his element in the disordered, violent household run by Oliver; he is a relic of the old, ordered world governed by Duke Senior, who, as we have noted, was a friend of Sir Rowland's. Adam does not know how to deal with Oliver's violence and hostility:
Oli.
Get you with him, you olde dogge.
Adam.
Is old dogge my reward: most true, I haue lost my teeth in your seruice: God be with my olde master, he would not haue spoke such a word.
(I.i.81-84)
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Orlando recognises these qualities in Adam, as can be seen by his reaction to Adam's generous offer of his life's savings to sustain them in their flight:
Oh good old man, how well in thee appeares
The constant seruice of the antique world,
When seruice sweate for dutie, not for meede:
Thou art not for the fashion of these times,
Where none will sweate, but for promotion.
(II.iii.56-60)
The only course open to Orlando, if he is to avoid a violent confrontation with 'a diuerted blood, and bloudie brother' (II.iii.36), is to flee. In doing so, however, he does not escape the harsh realities of the world, for in taking Adam, he takes with him old age and approaching death, albeit 'Frostie, but kindely' (II.iii.53).
The presence of death in the play can be observed on two levels, the natural and the unnatural. The threats of death which Orlando, Rosalind, and also probably Duke Senior, have escaped by coming to the forest are unnatural, associated with an upsetting of natural order. There is no coming to terms with death of this sort, and the only alternative to it is flight. Jaques sees the death of the hunted deer as unnatural, and he is disturbed by the necessity of killing for food, as are Duke Senior and the rest of his company. What is of more concern, however, is the acceptance of natural death. Staebler suggests that the 'most important physical fact of life is growth followed by decay and dissolution, or death; and to this the characters of As You Like It are reconciled genially and compassionately'. 4.59 Staebler sees this reconciliation even in the early forest scenes, thus denying that the final state of acceptance reached by the fugitives has been a result of the benign influence of the forest. On the contrary, I find the attitude to death in the earlier scenes ambiguous: there is regret over the need to kill for food, but along with this, and principally voiced through Jaques, there is a cynical resentment of the fact of death, even natural death. Jaques gives this version of Touchstone's view, of which he thoroughly approves:
... how the world wagges:
'Tis but an houre agoe, since it was nine,
And after one houre more, 'twill be eleuen,
And so from houre to houre, we ripe, and ripe,
And then from houre to houre, we rot and rot,
And thereby hangs a tale.
(II.vii.23-28)
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The frequent repetition of words - 'houre' six times in four lines, and four consecutive lines starting with 'and' - gives the impression of tedium and also expresses hostility to the natural process of decay. I have quoted only a few lines of this speech, but must point out that there is a good deal of bawdy humour earlier on, which is continued in the extract quoted, 4.60 and its presence alongside the bitterness points to an inability to reconcile death and decay with the fecundity of nature. A similar refusal to accept the natural cycle of growth and dissolution is found in Jaques' 'All the world's a stage' (II.vii.139) speech, in which every stage of man's life is presented in jaundiced terms, ending in
... second childishnesse, and meere obliuion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans euery thing.
(II.vii.165-166)
The only person who has come to terms with death is Adam. He is determined 'to die well, and not [his] Masters debter' (II.iv.76), and indeed, when, as he thinks, the moment has come, he faces it with equanimity:
Deere Master, I can go no further: O I die for food. Heere lie I downe, And measure out my graue. Farwel kinde master.
(II.vi.1-3)
Orlando's determination not to let Adam die is motivated partly by his natural affection for the old man, but it may also be seen as symptomatic of his inability to accept death.
For most of the characters the conflict with death, the reluctance to accept it, is never clearly resolved. Instead it is replaced by a complete faith in the regeneration and fecundity found in the green forest, with the pursuit of love, openly undertaken by so many of those in Arden, being a manifestation of this trust. Characteristically, Touchstone expresses most clearly, at a fundamental level, the desire to 'presse in heere sir, amongst the rest of the Country copulatiues to sweare, and to forsweare, according as marriage binds and blood breakes' (V.iv.54-57). He is driven by a desire to fulfil a basic human need, one shared with animals:
As the Oxe hath his bow sir, the horse his curb, and the Falcon her bels, so man hath his desires, and as Pigeons bill, so wedlocke would be nibling.
(III.iii.71-73)
Ironically, the urge to conquer death through generation is so strong
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that to achieve the desired result, even death may be contemplated. Once again, it is Touchstone who furnishes the example:
I remember when I was in loue, I broke my sword vpon a stone, and bid him take that for coming a night to Iane Smile ... wee that are true Louers, runne into strange capers; but as all is mortall in nature, so is all nature in loue, mortall in folly.
(II.iv.43-45 and 51-53)
Furthermore, the violence Touchstone used in pursuit of Jane Smile threatens to break out again on behalf of Audrey, although it is comically modified in its over-statement:
... abandon the society of this Female, or Clowne thou perishest: or to thy better vnderstanding, dyest; or (to wit) I kill thee, make thee away, translate thy life into death, thy libertie into bondage; I will deale poyson with thee ... I will kill thee a hundred and fifty wayes, therefore tremble and depart.
(V.i.49-57)
On the other hand, the romantic notion of death through unrequited love is roughly dismissed by Rosalind:
... the poore world is almost six thousand yeares old, and in all this time there was not anie man died in his owne person (videlicet) in a loue cause ... men haue died from time to time, and wormes haue eaten them, but not for loue.
(IV.i.89-92 and 101-103)
It is the generation and fecundity associated with love that make it possible for death to be accepted.
Despite the pursuit of love being the principal occupation of many of the characters in the wood, Berry has noted that 'Virtually all the relationships are governed by a sense of unease, irritation, or hostility', 4.61 with three reasons suggested for this: 'an underlying recognition that other people's qualities parallel and subtly menace one's own; an open clash of temperament and of values; and a simple will to dominate'. 4.62 Hayles sees the wrestling match as a 'ritualistic expression of male rivalry', 4.63 and this must be closely linked in several cases with the causes of conflict noted by Berry: the two dukes, and Oliver and Orlando, are typical examples of male rivalry, which must be associated with 'a simple will to dominate'. Two of the characters, Touchstone and Jaques, are naturally abrasive and seem to engender conflict in all their relationships. This is not to be pinpointed in any single incident with any obvious cause, but may be observed as a continuing thrust and counter-thrust, often humorous, as in this exchange with Rosalind, in which her enthusiastic announcement of arrival is
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countered by Touchstone:
Ros.
Well, this is the Forrest of Arden.
Clo.
I, now am I in Arden, the more foole I, when I was at home I was in a better place, but Trauellers must be content.
Ros.
I, be so good Touchstone.
(II.iv.12-16)
Priest conveniently divides the main characters in the play into two groups:
First we note the voices of accommodation - such characters as Corin, Orlando, and Duke Senior, who represent a spirit of inclusiveness in the play, and who function generally to promote integration and community. Other voices in the forest appear to be pitted against that spirit - chiefly those of Jaques, Touchstone, and Rosalind .... 4.64
Although Touchstone and Jaques are both classified by Priest as voices of dissension, it should be noted that they function in quite different ways. Touchstone, despite being described as a 'Naturall' and 'foole', does not lack intelligence, and his name gives some clue as to his role: his witty and often cutting comments are the touchstone of reality, and result from his simple, or 'Naturall', view of life. Jaques, on the other hand, is a man of postures, and, as Priest observes, 'His scornful aloofness from the world is so practiced and extreme that it becomes an actual identity or fixity'. 4.65 His long confrontation with Orlando (who is a romantic 'voice of accommodation') is typical of his contrived criticism:
Iaq.
God buy you, let's meet as little as we can.
Orl.
I do desire we may be better strangers.
Iaq.
I pray you marre no more trees with Writing Loue-songs in their barkes.
Orl.
I pray you marre no moe of my verses with reading them ill-fauouredly.
Iaq.
Rosalinde is your loues name?
Orl.
Yes, Iust.
Iaq.
I do not like her name.
Orl.
There was no thought of pleasing you when she was christen'd.
(III.ii.253-263)
In both the exchange between Jaques and Orlando, and that between Rosalind and Touchstone, quoted above, the abrasive character is the one put down. Rosalind's view of Arden on arrival is romantic, whereas Touchstone sees only the hardships and discomforts, but he is told to be content; Jaques makes three anti-romantic thrusts at Orlando (and there are others not quoted), and in each case he is effectively silenced by the counter-thrust.
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Phebe is another centre of hostility and conflict. Her name is aptly chosen for its association with the moon goddess, cold and chaste. Silvius is passionately in love with her, in the romantic vein, but she, an anti-romantic figure, rejects him and his ideas of 'the wou[n]ds inuisible | That loues keene arrows make' (III.v.31-32). 4.66 She maintains that the fact that she does not love Silvius does not mean she is hurting him, an opinion conveyed in her sarcasm:
Now I doe frowne on thee with all my heart,
And if mine eyes can wound, now let them kill thee.
(III.v.15-16)
This shows a woman quite unfamiliar with love itself: never having felt the violent emotions resulting from unrequited love, she cannot understand them in another, hence her heartless rejection of Silvius. The conflict between Phebe and Silvius contains all the symptoms of hostility and irritability characteristic of relationships in this play, and because Phebe's anti-romantic stance parallels Rosalind's, there is inevitably friction between these two women as well. As in the case of Phebe and Silvius, the aggression is one-sided, with Phebe in this case on the defensive; for, just as Silvius blindly loves Phebe, so Phebe falls in love with Ganymede, Rosalind's male disguise. The effect on Phebe is most salutary, since she now becomes the unrequited lover, and Rosalind's aim is to teach her to love Silvius:
... it is my studie
To seeme despightfull and vngentle to you:
you are there followed by a faithful shepheard,
Looke vpon him, loue him: he worships you.
(V.ii.78-81)
That Phebe is tricked into accepting Silvius by agreeing to Rosalind's conditions before the revelation of her true identity should not be seen as diminishing the effectiveness of her cure. Rosalind's hostility to Phebe achieves its aim, as seen in her final acceptance of Silvius, 'Thy faith, my fancie to thee doth combine' (V.iv.149), which is in keeping with the conventional promise of happiness we expect in a comedy.
Dover Wilson observes that the forest of Arden 'takes a good deal of getting to'. 4.67 This is because it is where characters who have fled the wiles of the court and town come to terms with life, death and each other, and so the difficulties encountered in arriving at the forest are a testing to ensure that those concerned are worthy of reparation. The
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journey to the forest is an initiation into its rites of regeneration and fecundity. Rosalind, Celia and Touchstone arrive exhausted and irritable: they 'faint almost to death' (II.iv.61), and Rosalind describes the forest as 'this desert place' (II.iv.70). Adam and Orlando arrive in a similar plight; Adam, resigned to die for lack of food, says 'Heere lie I down, And measure out my graue. Farwel kinde master', and Orlando is little better off: 'I almost die for food' (II.vii.104). They, too, see the forest as hostile: it is an 'vncouth Forrest' (II.vi.6), 'this Desert' (II.vi.17), and again, 'this desert inaccessible' (II.vii.110) with 'the shade of melancholly boughes' (II.vii.111). This view is conventional in romances: in Dekker's The Pleasant Comedy of Old Fortunatus, Andelocia transports Agripyne to what she terms a 'sauage wildernesse' (Old Fortunatus IV.i), 4.68 but we find that it has growing in it nut trees and magic apples, and it is later referred to as 'this wood' (Old Fortunatus IV.i). Ralph parodies this and other conventions in The Knight of the Burning Pestle:
... never call any Female by the name of a Woman or Wench, but fair Lady, if she have [her] desires; if not, Distressed Damsel; ... call all Forests and Heaths, Desarts, and all Horses Palfreys.
(Knight of the Burning Pestle I.iii) 4.69
Despite the various descriptions of the forest of Arden in As You Like It which contradict our conception of it as a green world of reparation, no parody of romantic conventions is intended by Shakespeare: what those entering the forest face on arrival is intense hunger in an apparently barren and hostile environment. Food is a basic human need, part of the cycle of generation and dissolution, and it seems that the beneficial effect of the forest relies for its working on an acceptance of this natural cycle. Despite its appearance, the forest is benign and does provide food and shelter for those who enter it. This ties in with the concern expressed by Duke Senior and Jaques over the conflicting facts that food is required to sustain life, but death of the prey is a necessary preliminary to producing food. Acceptance of the sustenance provided by the forest also implies an acceptance of its powers of healing and restoration: on arrival, Celia's group offers gold in exchange for food and regeneration, a trading of the values of the court for those of Arden.
The entry of Orlando and Adam into Arden takes place over three scenes. In the first a banquet is being laid under the trees for Duke Senior, and Amiens sings a song, 'Vnder the greene wood tree' (II.v.1).
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This feast, like those in Shakespeare's earlier comedies, is associated with order, and here it signifies that Duke Senior and his company are at one with Nature in the forest. The song supports this notion, echoing what had been established in the first forest scene:
Come hither, come hither, come hither:
Heere shall he see
no enemie,
But Winter and rough Weather.
(II.v.5-8)
Also of significance are the lines,
Seeking the food he eates,
and pleas'd with what he gets,
(II.v.37-38)
which emphasise the fact that the hunting of food is part of life, not to be seen as conflicting with natural order. The one dissenting voice throughout this section of the play is Jaques, who still regards the Duke and his company as usurpers - a view taken by Kott in his assessment of the forest scenes:
The kingdom of nature is equally ruthless and egotistical as the world of civilization. There is no return to primeval harmony. It is the dispossessed who dispossess here, and they kill who have themselves escaped with their lives. 4.70
Kott places too great a stress on the violence of Nature in Arden: Shakespeare's intention was not to render Arden the impossible alternative to court life which Kott's insistence on its violence makes it. The hardships, according to the song, are 'no enemie', and the violence needed to obtain food is an essential part of life which must be accepted. The 'greene wood tree' stands for fertility and regeneration, and to be under it one has to submit to its standards and code of ethics; being under it implies an acceptance of all Jaques finds distasteful in the forest.
The banquet laid under the trees is in progress when Orlando interrupts it, which indicates that he is not yet in harmony with life in the forest. He threatens the company with violence in order to obtain the food he needs for Adam and himself:
He dies that touches any of this fruite;
Till I, and my affaires are answered.
(II.vii.99-100)
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Orlando's behaviour here is conditioned by his experiences in Duke Frederick's court, where violence was necessary for self-preservation. To some extent the stage direction at the start of the scene excuses Orlando's behaviour, for Duke Senior and his men enter 'like Out-lawes' (II.vii.0) in appearance. Orlando mistakes appearance for reality, not only in his assessment of the people at the banquet, who he assumes will respond to violence rather than civil requests, but also in his reaction to the forest itself. He soon discovers his error and settles down to take advantage of Arden's restoring powers, like those who have entered it before him. His eating of the food at the banquet suggests that harmony is established between himself and the forest dwellers, indicating a move towards the acceptance of forest life and the rejection of court values.
The forest exerts a benign influence over all those who seek its protection. Even Jaques makes some advances along the road to regeneration, although for him the struggle is a bitter one: in the earlier scenes he rejects both the life at court and that in the forest. He is 'compact of iarres' (II.vii.5), finding relief from his inner conflicts by projecting them on the world. For him the life of the licensed fool offers an obvious way to contentment, since from behind his motley the fool can rail against the world with impunity. For Jaques, the wearing of motley is an escape from the necessity of coming to terms with the problems which his companions in the forest are facing. Unlike Touchstone, he is not a 'Naturall', and his critical, negative approach to life is therefore a sincere reflection of misanthropy rather than the amusing display of the wisdom of a fool which we see in Touchstone. I have already mentioned the role played by fertility in coming to terms with death, and Jaques' interruption of Touchstone's marriage to Audrey is indicative of his rejection of regeneration. Notwithstanding this, there is evidence that Jaques makes some progress in the forest: Duke Senior tells him that if he intends to criticise the world from behind the cover of his motley, he will commit
Most mischeeuous foule sin, in chiding sin:
For thou thy selfe hast bene a Libertine,
As sensuall as the brutish sting it selfe,
And all th' imbossed sores, and headed euils,
That thou with license of free foot hast caught,
Would'st thou disgorge into the generall world.
(II.vii.64-69)
It would seem that Jaques in the past had led a most profligate life,
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indulging all his worldly desires; but this is not the Jaques we see in the forest. In addition, we may note that he takes part in the traditional hunting celebration of the death of the deer, which comes in the latter part of the play, and surely hints at his acceptance of this aspect of forest life. Ultimately, however, Jaques does not leave the forest like the others who fled to it: he is 'for other, then for dancing meazures' (V.iv.192), and decides to join Duke Frederick, perhaps to continue his process of regeneration.
The forest has the most profound influence on the lives of Orlando and Rosalind: once there, they are freed from the threatening and destructive aspects of court life and can devote their attention to matters of love, associated with fertility and regeneration. Rosalind's double disguise, as Ganymede in turn playing the role of Rosalind, creates its own set of conflicts, not the least of which revolve around the complex identity of Rosalind, a boy actor playing a woman, disguised as a boy in turn adopting the role of a woman. To add to our delight and the comic possibilities in this nexus of identity, Rosalind, disguised as Ganymede, is pretending to be herself. As the male Ganymede, Rosalind is able to receive attention from Orlando, since the agreement is that Ganymede will play the part of Rosalind; this does not allow her, however, to reciprocate meaningfully any of his advances. On the contrary, her role is supposed to be to relieve Orlando of his love-melancholy, 'curing it by counsel' (III.ii.392-393), which she does by rejecting his advances. This creates a playful conflict between Ganymede and Orlando, and our interest is sustained not only as a result of the tensions inherent in this relationship, but also by the fact that Orlando proves quite incurable. In rejecting her lover, the Rosalind played by Ganymede resembles Phebe, as Hayles has observed:
Rosalind's self-indulgence in demanding Orlando's devoted service without admitting anything in return could become a variation of the perversity that is anatomized for us in the relationship between Phebe and Silvius. 4.71
The anti-romantic stance adopted by Ganymede when he plays Rosalind creates a good deal of tension, for Orlando continually lays bare his soul, only to have it mocked. His ability to bear such taunts in good humour is finite, and must be expected to reach its limit soon. Rosalind, too, is under stress, for she had the task of keeping her love for Orlando secret while being the means of testing his love for her. Furthermore, the love of Phebe for Ganymede becomes a serious threat to
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order, since Ganymede is in reality a woman. The entanglements created by Rosalind's disguise cannot be allowed to degenerate into further disorder for fear of souring the comedy, and it is at this point that Oliver makes his entrance into Arden, precipitating the denouement.
Oliver's arrival is described in a passage rich in imagery, the religious aspect of which Armstrong has analysed, concluding that it may have arisen from a sub-conscious idea recalled and integrated into the play at various points. 4.72 Evidently, from the many references quoted by Armstrong, Shakespeare wished to associate Arden with Eden, from which it follows that the 'old Oake, whose bows were moss'd with age' (IV.iii.104) could be taken to represent the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil: age is often associated with wisdom, and the Tree would be an appropriate one to preside over the events which take place under it, the restoration of order and harmony through the reforming of Oliver. The tree is beneficent, having the same feminine and maternal significance as Herne's Oak in The Merry Wives of Windsor, which I have already discussed. 4.73 Perhaps the 'old Oake' should be viewed in more general terms, though: the Tree of Knowledge is usually associated with negative consequences - the Fall of Man. The snake as an image of evil is familiar; 4.74 less well-known is the association of the lion with evil, pointed out by Knowles. 4.75 The connection is made by Peter:
Be sober and watch: for your aduersarie the deuil as a roaring lyon walketh about, seking whome he may deuoure ....
(1 Peter 5:8) 4.76
This means that the snake and lion may be connected with any threats of evil resulting from the disorder and conflict of the outside world; and it is in the forest, under the maternal oak tree, that these evils can be conquered. Even here, though, harmony is not achieved without considerable violence, such as the shedding of Orlando's blood when he meets Oliver in the forest; and this is not all, for 'Twice did he turne his backe' (IV.iii.127), intending to leave Oliver to the lioness, showing that Orlando had inner conflict to contend with as well before deciding that he would forgive Oliver, letting him partake of the forest's regeneration.
The extreme conflict and violence associated with Oliver's arrival in Arden set it apart from the earlier arrivals, and the difference must be attributed to the fact that while the others were fugitives from evil tyranny, Oliver was an evil tyrant himself, intent on bringing evil to
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the forest. There are, however, common factors, showing that Oliver, like the others, is human and vulnerable: initially he sees the forest as hostile, 'that Desert place' (IV.iii.141), and he also requires 'entertainment' (IV.iii.143), that is, food. Although we are told little of Duke Frederick's arrival, the similarity of experience in the first three cases establishes a pattern, lending a mythical quality to Arden, and inviting us to extend our belief to include the events that take place there. This makes the sudden and complete reforming of Oliver more credible, allowing us to accept that he is worthy of Celia - something which has disturbed the critics. 4.77 His marriage to Celia is simply a part of the celebration of fecundity and return to order which constitutes the final scenes of the play. The stylised language which closes V.ii (likened by Rosalind to 'the howling of Irish Wolues against the Moone' (V.ii.110-111), but still used by her in her very next breath) paves the way, by means of its ritual, for the fantastic events of the final scene, in which Hymen arrives to bless the couples about to be wedded. The fertility of marriage with its promise of new life - ''Tis Hymen peoples euerie towne' (V.iv.142) - is the final answer to the presence of death. The song and dancing at the close of the play affirm the establishment of new order and harmony: 4.78
Then there is mirth in heauen,
When earthly things made eauen
attone together.
(V.iv.107-109)
The degree of violence used by Shakespeare in As You Like It is considerably less than that he found in his principal source, Lodge's Rosalynde: Euphues' Golden Legacy. 4.79 The four episodes in As You Like It which involve most violence are the opening struggle between Oliver and Orlando; the wrestling match; Orlando's interruption of Duke Senior's banquet; and Oliver's arrival in Arden, which is only reported. Rosader (Orlando) twice resorts to extreme violence against Saladyne (Oliver) because of the ill-treatment he receives: in the second instance Rosader is bound in chains and starved, eventually escaping with the aid of Adam Spencer, a servant:
... they began in satyrical speaches to raile against Rosader: which Adam Spencer no longer brooking, gave the signe, and Rosader shaking off his chaines got a pollax in his hand, and flew amongst them with such violence and fury, that he
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hurt manie, slew some, and drave his brother and all the rest quite out of the house. 4.80
Shakespeare's main interest in As You Like It lies in the regenerating aspects of the forest and its ability to modify or resolve the differences presented in the opening scenes. A lengthy and violent exposition of the underlying conflicts such as found in Rosalynde would have radically changed the tone of As You Like It, bringing it closer to The Winter's Tale. As it stands, the earlier play makes the audience sufficiently aware of hostility and disorder at the outset to demonstrate the need for reparation in the forest; but it avoids the morbid, tragic tone of the first half of The Winter's Tale.
Wherever violence occurs in the play, a comparison with Rosalynde reveals some nuance in Shakespeare's treatment. The wrestling match is much as Lodge depicted it, except that there is no indication in the play that Charles is actually killed: he simply 'cannot speake' (I.ii.208). The death of the champion in Rosalynde is fitting, adding to Rosader's glory, but, while death is a major concern in As You Like It, it is met with only as an abstract, philosophical concept to serve as the subject of moralising and debate. We do not see Charles conquering the three sons of the old man to the extent that 'there is little hope of life' (I.ii.117-118) in them, but the report creates tension by inspiring awe. Another example of Shakespeare's shift in emphasis is found in Orlando's threats of violence on arriving at Duke Senior's banquet. In Rosalynde Rosader says,
If thou refuse this, as a niggard of thy cates, I will have amongst you with my sword; for rather will I die valiantly, than perish with so cowardly an extreame. 4.81
The tone in As You Like It is different: while Rosader is scrupulously polite in his request, offering violence only if food is refused, Orlando opens his request with threats of violence. The shift of emphasis highlights Orlando's plight, underlining the fact that food is of greatest importance, not only in sustaining life, but also in achieving the regeneration offered by the forest.
Oliver's arrival in Arden is much like Saladyne's, but the snake was Shakespeare's own, added to enhance the imagery rather than the degree of violence in this episode. Another addition made by the playwright is Touchstone's discourse on the etiquette of duelling, or rather, in this case, of how to avoid a duel. This epitomises Shakespeare's attitude to
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conflict and violence in this play: it is avoided if at all possible. The play's major concern is the restoration of peace and order, and Touchstone's speech heralds the final banishment of conflict and violence, which give way to the harmony and fertility of marriage.
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- - - NOTES: CHAPTER FOUR - - -
4.42 Line numbers are taken from William Shakespeare, As You Like It, ed. Agnes Latham (London: Methuen, 1984). return
4.43 Latham, pp.lii-lv. return
4.44 See, for example, my quotation on p.184. return
4.45 Thomas Whitfield Baldwin, The Organization and Personnel of the Shakespearean Company (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1927), p.244. return
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4.47 E3v (the edition cited is that of Feather). Nashe made Will Summers the presenter of his Summer's Last Will and Testament. return
4.48 Folio gives the first speech to Rosalind; the emendation is Theobald's: see Latham, p.13 col. and n. return
4.49 Fool upon Fool, D4v-E1r. return
4.50 Leggatt, pp.193-194. return
4.51 Richard Knowles, 'Myth and Type in As You Like It', Journal of English Literary History, 33 (1966), 3. return
4.52 Alan C. Dessen, Elizabethan Stage Conventions and Modern Interpreters (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984), p.114, suggests that 'this early confrontation between romantic hero and formidable opponent is designed to prepare us for the major images and oppositions that are to follow ...'. return
4.53 Wolfgang Iser, 'The Dramatization of Double Meaning in Shakespeare's As You Like It', Theatre Journal, 35 (1983), 308. return
4.55 Line numbers are taken from William Shakespeare, Othello, ed. M.R. Ridley (London: Methuen, 1982). return
4.56 The edition cited is that of Arber, p.230. return
4.57 Duke Senior's line 'Heere feele we not the penaltie of Adam' (II.i.5) is capable of various interpretations, but I take the reading offered by Latham, p.29 n., 'we are none the worse for', which allows the exiles to be sensible of their hardships, while recognising that they have left greater evils behind them. return
4.58 II.i.21-28 and 58-63. return
4.59 Warren Staebler, 'Shakespeare's Play of Atonement', Shakespeare Association Bulletin, 24 (1949), 97. return
4.60 See Latham, pp.49-50 nn., for possible bawdy quibbles. return
4.61 R. Berry, Comedies, p.177. return
4.63 Nancy K. Hayles, 'Sexual Disguise in As You Like It and Twelfth Night', Shakespeare Survey, 32 (1979), 64. return
4.64 Dale G. Priest, 'Oratio and Negotium: Manipulative Modes in As You Like It', Studies in English Literature 1500-1900, 28 (1988), 273 return
4.66 All copies of Folio that I have examined have 'wouuds' in line 31, although British Library copy C.39.i.12 has a correction in manuscript. return
4.67 Dover Wilson, Comedies, p.151; Quiller-Couch had reached the same conclusion before him, pp.119-120, and Leggatt after him, p.195. return
4.68 The edition cited is the anonymous edition of 1873, with act and scene divisions taken from the edition of Rhys. return
4.69 The edition cited is the Folio of 1679, with act and scene divisions taken from the edition of Rhys. The Folio has an inverted 'r' in 'her'. return
4.72 Edward A. Armstrong, Shakespeare's Imagination: A Study of the Psychology of Association and Inspiration, 1946; rpt. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1963), pp.125-129. Surprisingly, Armstrong misses the relationship of the oak to
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the Tree of Knowledge, although he does refer to the snake, which could be associated with the serpent of Eden. return
4.73 See p.131 and p.161 n.91. return
4.74 The biblical serpent in Eden is one example; see the snake images in A Midsummer Night's Dream, which I discuss on p.108 and p.157 n.42. return
4.75 Knowles, pp.11-12. return
4.76 There are other references, and Knowles, pp.11-12, cites 'Thou shalt walke vpon the lion and aspe: theh yong lion and the dragon shalt thou tread vnder fete' (Psalms 91:13)). The note h reads 'Thou shalt not onely be preserued from all euill, but ouer doubt it whether it be secret or open' - thus making the association with evil clear. return
4.77 See, for example, Quiller-Couch, pp.129-130; Brooke, pp.150-160. return
4.78 There is no stage direction for a dance, but Duke Senior calls for one in language which points to its dramatic function of emphasising the harmony and order of marriage:
Play Musicke, and you Brides and Bride-groomes all,
With measure heap'd in ioy, to'th Measures fall.
(V.iv.177-178)
In view of this, his final couplet a few moments later signals the start of the dance:
Proceed, proceed: wee'l begin these rights,
As we do trust, they'l end in true delights.
(V.iv.196-197) return
4.79 Leggatt, p.xliv; Bullough, II, 148-149. return
4.80 The edition cited is Bullough, II, 193. return
4.81 Bullough, II, 196. return
Proceed to Twelfth Night