Moulfair 1
Robin E. Moulfair
Rachel Givan
ENG-450
18 December 2014
A Magical World of Transformations
We are free to decide our own lives, Shakespeare tells us in As You Like It. The
play contends that not only can people change, it also maintains that they are capable of changing
for the better. Those who spend time in the Forest of Ardenne are forever altered in tangible and
striking ways.
These transformations are due to the therapeutic and mystical nature of life in the
forest and they have real-world consequences, creating nearly unlimited prospects.
As You Like It participates in the rich traditional of pastoral literature by playing an
elaborate game of “Let’s pretend”. Through this game, characters who are exiled from court are
given a unique opportunity to see their own world more clearly and become completely
transformed (Greenblatt, Cohen, Howard & Maus 1615). Shakespeare once again crafts a setting
where characters who are cut off from family, thrown out of society, and deprived of their own
identity take refuge in unfamiliar land. The Forest of Ardenne becomes a place where one can
not only escape one’s enemies but dream of becoming someone new, often through role-playing
and disguise, and it offers the audience a chance to come into that dream and escape their own
reality for a time as well (Greenblatt 166). In As You Like It, disguise, like puns and wit,
stimulates increased dimension in both the characters and the audience. Audiences typically
derive entertainment at the expensive of the poor schmuck who falls victim to the disguise or
alternatively when the disguise is revealed. However, in Shakespearean comedy a higher degree
Moulfair 2
of pleasure springs from the preponderance of viewpoints made possible by the disguise and the
resulting fervor and turmoil (Bracher 11).
One such experience develops as Rosalind disguised as Ganymede plays Rosalind while
Orlando plays himself. The numerous and complex perspectives intertwined at this instance
keep the audience on the edge of their seat rather than languishing in the inertia of any single
emotion. This becomes obvious when Rosalind is seen in disguise along with Celia and
Touchstone. She is exhausted and ready to burst into tears. Nevertheless, due to the guise she
has assumed, she is able to see the situation from another point of view and thereby defy the urge
to give in to her immediate emotion: “I could find in my heart to disgrace my man’s apparel and
cry like a woman,” she declares, “but I must comfort the weaker vessel, as doublet and hose
ought to show itself courageous to petticoat. Therefore, courage, good Aliena!” (2.4.4-8). By
immersing herself in her role as Ganymede, Rosalind is able to break free of her customary
nature, attaining an all-encompassing identity that at once loves Orlando even while
acknowledging the foolishness of romantic dreams. Consequently, her affections have become
more genuine, for ultimately she calmly and deliberately relinquishes herself to love rather than
being overpowered by it as she originally. (Bracher 11-12).
Orlando goes through a similar exercise in achieving a more inclusive self. It may seem
that in his meetings with Ganymede, Orlando is simply being himself. In reality, he is in fact
playing the part of Orlando and there is a vital distinction between the two viewpoints. Orlando
is compelled to get out of his own head and look at himself as a mere role he must play as
opposed to his own definitive self. This playacting, like Rosalind’s, opens him up to new ideas
and views, creating a personality that is more disposed to pleasing the other than expecting to be
pleased (Bracher 12).
Moulfair 3
While some transformations seem to happen instantaneously others take the fullness of
time. Rosalind and Orlando seize moments opportune for their growth as lovers worthy of each
other (Hunt 2). Shakespeare metaphorically establishes the forest as a place of ripening for
Orlando and his love by having Celia tell Rosalind that she “found him under a tree like a
dropped acorn” (3.2.230-231). Throughout the pastoral scenes, Shakespeare counterpoints the
lover’s eagerness to fulfill or memorialize their love instantaneously with references to the time
required for its growth. After a period of dark inner rottenness (his rotten poetry) caused
prematurely by Oliver’s neglect and abuse, Orlando romantically blooms under Rosalind’s
cultivation (Hunt 12-13).
However, Orlando breaks his promise to Rosalind when seizing a redemptive moment
takes precedence over courting her, After twice resolving to leave his betraying brother to his
death, Orlando turns back to battle and kill the lioness to save Oliver’s life . Orlando
courageously seizes an opportune moment in the passage of time’s natural ripening and rotting to
express his brotherly love. Orlando has triumphed over rage. This moment of completeness
stimulates Oliver’s spiritual conversion, restores the rottenness of time, signified by Oliver’s
well-worn appearance and the oak’s dead boughs. In a moment, even now, Orlando crystallizes
Oliver’s latent virtue – and his own, as he comes to learn. Contrary to the spirit of Rosalind’s
claim that no lover ever died for love, he almost loses his life for love – not he romantic love she
characterizes but brotherly love, a more ideal affection. This conclusively demonstrates the
ripeness of his ethical character (Hunt 15-17).
While other characters also change during the course of the play, Rosalind and Orlando
undergo the most significant transformations. The Forest of Ardenne is a magical place where
sojourners and the ideal of carpe diem come together, bringing changes to their ordinary
Moulfair 4
everyday world. At the end the audience is left, not with a sense that all is now right with the
world, but a sense that identities are still fluid and ever-changing as Rosalind addresses the
audience and reminds them that even now she is still not what she seems (5.4. 14-16).
Moulfair 5
Works Cited
Bracher, M. (1984). Contrary Notions of Identity in As You like It. Studies in English Literature,
1500-1900, (2). 225.
http://library.gcu.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com.library.gcu.edu:2048/lo
gin.aspx?direct=true&db=edsjsr&AN=edsjsr.10.2307.450525&site=eds-live&scope=site
Greenblatt, S., Cohen, W, Howard, J. E., & Maus, K. E. (Eds.). (2008). The Norton Shakespeare:
Based on the Oxford edition (2nd ed.). New York, NY: W. W. Norton. ISBN-13:
9780393929911 (Available as print text only)
Greenblatt, S. (2004). Will in the world: How Shakespeare became Shakespeare. New York, NY:
W. W. Norton. ISBN-13: 9780393327373 (Available as print text only)
Hunt, Maurice. "Kairos And The Ripeness Of Time In As You Like It." Modern Language
Quarterly 52.2 (1991): 113. Literary Reference Center. Web. 19 Dec. 2014.
http://library.gcu.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com.library.gcu.edu:2048/lo
gin.aspx?direct=true&db=lfh&AN=9211300541&site=eds-live&scope=site
Priest, Dale G. "Oratio And Negotium: Manipulative Modes In As You Like It." Studies In
English Literature (Rice) 28.2 (1988): 273.Literary Reference Center. Web. 18 Dec.
2014.
http://library.gcu.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com.library.gcu.edu:2048/lo
gin.aspx?direct=true&db=lfh&AN=4723207&site=eds-live&scope=site