Shakespeare often exploits the semantic range of a word to achieve crude humor; it has been said – all the world’s a dick joke. In most cases, there are many layers to the word or phrase in question, but the variable meaning is often brought to light at first by an underlying dirty joke. That was the case while reading As You Like It. “The horn, the horn, the lustful horn” (4.2.19) seemed clearly to be a pun on a male’s certain lusty horn. As with all things Shakespeare, there is more underlying than the two most obvious meanings. Continue reading
Category Archives: Keywords
The Gentlefolk of “As You Like It”
Despite a clear emphasis on the “gentleness” of high ranking characters, As You Like It is primarily set in the undeveloped depths of the Forest of Arden. Strange events unfold in the Forest where the gentry are loosened from their honorable roots to explore their innermost desires. And yet, the “gentle” title never quite subsides. In the natural world where wealth lacks meaning, titles and roles are maintained in order to establish the inevitable socioeconomic differences while the “gentle” upper class takes on multiple dimensions of the word. Continue reading
The Only Peacemaker
If one embarks on a quixotic quest for Shakespearean know-how, one must prepare for strange fall-out. And with this ‘if’ I draw you into my realm of possibilities. Who knows what will happen *if* you continue to read…
The virtue in “If”
Nothing makes for a motivational quote quite like a good conditional.
“If life gives you lemons, make lemonade.”
“If you can’t handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don’t deserve me at my best.” -Marilyn Monroe (?)
“If you can’t get rid of the skeleton in your closet, you’d best teach it to dance.” -Bernard Shaw
Rosalind’s Irish Beasts
Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone
In As You Like It, Rosalind mentions Ireland twice in critiquing Orlando’s incessant overtures of love. These two references use England’s discomfort towards Ireland to emphasize the abstract quality of Orlando’s language that Rosalind sees as problematic.
Liking and Likeness in As You Like It
The title of Shakespeare’s play As You Like It, immediately suggests that the notion of liking and likeness will be a central theme. We find that who we like is based on a person’s similarity to other people we like. Identifying a likeness of qualities between people helps us establish who we like. Continue reading
Why So Angsty? Jaques and the Four Temperaments
Ever hear someone call you “sanguine” to compliment your bubbly personality? Maybe people worry that you become a bit too “melancholic?”
Jaques, one of Duke Senior’s lords In Shakespeare’s “As You Like It,” spends his time as a merry-sad follower. He exudes a presence of depression and resignation while chilling in solitude. When characters talk to him, they quickly realize he’s a pretty dismal guy with little ambition in life. Continue reading
Mr. Melancholy
Shakespeare’s As You Like It is a comedy with much cause for melancholy. Orlando rightly resents the problems he incurs because of primogeniture. Despite being born into nobility, Orlando is left penniless and uneducated as he is not the eldest son of his father, Sir Rowland de Boys. Duke Senior, who shows no signs of distress at his situation throughout the play, has been banished by his younger brother who usurped Senior’s birthright to the family wealth, land, and power. Rosalind, as Duke Senior’s daughter, is also banished from her home and left hapless. These characters all have due reason to lament their fortunes, however, none are quite so melancholy as Jacques. Continue reading
Foul Intentions
As You Like It, by Shakespeare uses the word foul in many different contexts. There are three different versions of foul utilized that will be the focus of this discussion. Continue reading
The Motley Fool
“Motley” arises in As You Like It precisely eight times, half of which appear within twenty-two lines of each other, and the majority of which are spoken in the same act, the same scene, and by the same character. To no surprise, this character so seemingly infatuated with “motley” is none other than Jacques.