Shakespeare is always fun to write about for me. I enjoy the reading, and for the most part I can keep up with the language. However, he loses me on occasion. This being said it is sometimes difficult to come up with an intelligible analysis, so bear with me folks. At the risk of treading over the beaten path, I think the gender issues are the most interesting thing about this play. I think the ultimate thing to do would be to have Eddie Izzard play Rosalind. Not a particularly serious attempt at making the play make sense but hey, it's a comedy. That was the main issue for me: is there any way any woman could actually pull this off? I guess it's called a "suspension of disbelief" for a reason. The whole conversation about whether or not Orlando knows that Ganymede is Rosalind, I found to be pretty fascinating. Unfortunately it all depends on who's directing. The themes behind the gender confusion are intriguing as well though. It seems that Rosalind is the heroine of the play and along with her prominent role the forest of Arden also represents the feminine. Consequently Arden is nearly equated with paradise and Rosalind's actions bring about the idealistic ending of the farce. So we have two major feminine forces doing most of the work setting right all of the things that masculinity and the concepts equated with it have messed up. The court life (i.e. society) corrupting Duke Frederick and Oliver for example.
I'm not certain that's the message Shakespeare wanted to get across but it seems a viable interpretation to me. He does make the concession that life in Arden can't go on forever. I guess this is the reconciliation of the to opposing forces, that is instigated on the part of the feminine. That's not really a stretch. Sometimes in a relationship the guy does something inconsiderate and overt and the woman graciously offers to reconcile and the guy then proceeds to feel like an ass for the next couple of days. In the best case scenario he also behaves extra nice to make up for his unseemly behavior. I guess it's a microcosmic example. The whole play deals with relationships in the first place; so saying it's one big allegory for a romantic rapport with many varied and buried asides is an accurate statement. The asides are always more fun in Shakespeare than the main plot to me. Which is why I like Jaques. His "life's a stage" speech is a lot of fun. It is of course a quite melancholy view, but not altogether distorted. No, not distorted just bleak. The part about old age I don't think he does justice though. A second childhood perhaps, but what's so bad about that? Growing up is way more fun than being a grown-up, not only that you have all the acquired wisdom throughout life as well. Sounds like a good deal to me. I plan on being extremely childish in my golden years. I'll pull pranks on my kids and spoil their kids rotten. Speed in front of cops, pretend I'm slower than I really am in the supermarket, things of that nature. It'll be a gas.
First off, I have to say that I definitely think a woman could pull this role off. I see what you're saying, but it seems to me that it is more often the directing than the ability of the actors that keeps us from willingly suspending our disbelief.
ReplyDeleteI like what you are saying here about feminine forces, and would add that Shakespeare seems to be going a bit further than usual in presenting countercultural ideas. If, as you say, the forest of Arden is a representation of paradise, is Shakespeare suggesting that the society in his time is a bit backward when it comes to gender roles? marriage? We see in Phebe the, albeit playfully presented, cruelty of women toward men who love them. I think what you're saying about men having to watch their step at times in relationships is true, but I think Shakespeare may also be hinting that women are far from faultless in bringing about that necessity. It isn't only the masculine that has messed things up. The women, if only in their rsponse to the men, have equal responsibility here. That's what makes Orlando and Rosalind's relationship so interesting, at least to me: perhaps they are both better equipped to love each other after this venture into the woods.