Belonging in as You Like It Essays

Belonging in as You Like It Essays Belonging in as You Like It Essay Belonging in as You Like It Essay Essay Topic: As You Like it Belonging can have positive and negative consequences. To belong is to have a secure relationship with a particular facet of society in which one is accepted by those within. The need to feel such a connection with others can often drive us to extreme situations with a varying array of consequences both positive, such as finding one’s place in society, and negative, such as inhibiting one’s sense of self and limiting individuality. Shakespeare’s play As You Like It explores the concepts of traditional notions of belonging by examining filial, fraternal and romantic bonds, the consequences of belonging geographically, and accepted roles of gender. The title itself gives the play to the audience, before any plot is introduced, with the words â€Å"As You Like It† implying the play belongs to those viewing it. In Shakespeare’s context the play was to be seen as meeting his audiences’ expectations and the comedic nature of the plot attempts to ensure this, with a villain the audience collectively hates and a happy ending to ensure comfort and closure. Filial bonds, or family ties, are cemented biologically from birth and form the most primal sense of belonging to human beings. Among all other institutions, that of the family and our relationships within it shape our identities most profoundly and for the longest time. The negative consequences of ostracism from this fundamental unit comprise the core of the plot in As You Like It. Orlando’s pining of his treatment by brother Oliver uses animalistic imagery to illustrate the breakdown of his own family unit. Orlando suggests that Oliver treats his â€Å"animals on dung-hills† better than himself, implying Oliver cares more for his animals than his own brother. The lexical chain used by Orlando of emptiness and nothingness conveys his feelings of ostracism from his family and foreshadows the ultimate fracturing of fraternal bonds in Oliver’s attempts to end his life. This same sense of alienation is repeated in the Court of the Duke Frederick, in which the parallel plot of Rosalind’s excommunication from her usurped father directly correlates to the despair and estrangement felt by Orlando. In Rosalind we also find the character of Celia, a personification of strong congenial bonds, providing an alternative to filial ties in her position as friend and confidante. Rosalind’s connection to the Court shows that a sense of belonging and affiliation can be forged just as easily with place as it can with human beings. The usurping Duke Frederick parallels the malevolent Oliver, with both fracturing family bonds to forward their respective agendas. The cross-over of the first set of parallel plots occurs during Oliver’s attempted murder of Orlando in a wrestling match, with Rosalind meeting Orlando upon his victory. The gifting of Rosalind of a chain to Orlando signifies the symbolic binding of the two, illustrating that said couple belong together. The Forest of Arden and the confines of the Court are constantly juxtaposed as free and liberating verses constrictive and corrupt. The lexical chain of bonds and belonging used by Duke Senior, â€Å"co-mates brothers,† reinforces the notion that feelings of togetherness and mateship are forged and strengthened in the transgressive free space of Arden. These positive connotations imply that the forest engenders such feelings in juxtaposition to the artificiality and malignance of Court. The Forest itself is an allegory for the Garden of Eden, using biblical allusion to associate a paradisical quality to the Forest. Much like Rosalind and Celia to come, Duke Senior reinterprets the coup-de-tat and exile as a positive consequence in which he may educate himself spiritually and find a deeper connection with nature, â€Å"books in brooks, sermons in stones. All characters who come within gradually recognize the Forest’s illuminating and reformative qualities. The tabula rasa allows characters to develop and recognizably change whilst there, re-evaluating their lives and relationships. The isolation from expectations, and providing of ultimate freedom, allows individuals a blank space with which to get in touch with their sense of self. Forced exile from the world she has been within her entire life becomes a turning point for R osalind. The shedding of the restrictive (at the time) women’s gender role conveys the notion that belonging is a societal phenomenon, shaping the way we act and relate to others. Gender dictates the ways that we can belong to society and that society allows us to belong. In the Ganymede guise, Rosalind embodies the ultimate in individual expression by mastering a role she is biologically and socially ill-equipped to take. As Ganymede, Rosalind is free to socialize with Orlando is ways she would be unable to as a woman in Shakespeare’s world. The disguise itself, and associated homoerotic undertones, invite the audience to question their own perception of gender roles and how their constrictive, suffocating structure forces those within to conform to societal expectations and stereotypes. Celia’s aloof view of the women’s exile correlates to her interpretation of the banishment as an opportunity for freedom; â€Å"now we go, content, onto liberty, and not to banishment. † As You Like It shows that consequences for belonging and indeed not belonging can shift from positive to negative and back again depending on interpretation. Indeed, exile and banishment result from a lack of belonging and are seen as negative, however the characters defy the expectation and develop into better people following such negative events. Thus, it is up to the individual to decide for themselves on their view of the consequences; will they be accepted, or will the individual find liberation and enlightenment, allowing for personal rebirth? James Bowers, Line 5 ENA Julieanne Robinson