The Character of Rosalind in William Shakespeare’s As You Like It
The title of William Shakespeare’s romantic comedy As You Like It, is indicative of the maladjusted perceptions of the characters in the play. Each character in one way or another holds true to off-base viewpoints regarding relationships concerned with love that stir up conflict and strife amongst the characters. This disharmony that plagues the play is only ultimately resolved through the initiative of the character Rosalind. Rosalind is the only balanced character in the play in regards to the fact that she isn’t blinded by the emotions of lust and hate which are the main operatives in obscuring the other characters’ perceptions. Rosalind’s actions, coupled with the imposed predicament of her banishment, directly and indirectly bring about the balancing of the other characters previously jostled perceptions.
The main concern and ordeal that Rosalind deals with in the play is her genuine love for Orlando and her consequential fear that he is just a love-diseased youth who is in a state of mere infatuation with her. In their first encounter, Orlando is unable to even speak to Rosalind due to his acute feelings of desire and awkwardness: "What passion hangs these weights upon my tongue? I cannot speak to her, yet she urged conference. O poor Orlando, though art overthrown"(I.II.249-251). Rosalind is likewise enamored with Orlando but is cautious due to the fact that she barely knows him. This sentiment is illuminated by her cousin Celia: "Is it possible, on such a sudden, you should fall into so strong a liking with old Sir Rowland’s youngest son"(I.III.26-28). It is here where Rosalind’s main predicament of the play is born. She is even-keeled enough t...
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...d in the first place? One can only infer that the common feelings amongst those of the 16th century, much like they are in this present day, looked down upon the fracturing of family bonds and unrequited love. The sense of balance that resounds in As You Like It corrects such unattractive anomalies and gives the audience a nice, warm, fuzzy feeling inside that there is some good in the world and things will work out for the better.
Work Cited
Bloom, Harold, ed. Modern Critical Interpretations : William Shakespeare's As You Like It. New York : Chelsea House Publishers, 1987.
Harris, Laurie Lamzen, ed. Shakespearean Criticism : Volume 5. Detroit : Gale Research Company Book Tower, 1994.
Shakespeare, William. As You Like It, in The Complete Works of Shakespeare, ed. David Bevington, 4th ed. New York: Longman, Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers, 1997.
The Dred Scott decision of the Supreme Court in March 1857 was one of the major steps
Charlotte Bronte utilizes the character of Bertha Rochester to interrupt Jane’s potential happy ending with Mr. Edward Rochester. Bertha is announced by Mr. Briggs as a way to stop the wedding and it also shows how hopeless Jane’s situation is. “That is my wife “said he. ‘Such is the sole conjugal embrace I am ever to know—such are the endearments which are to solace my leisure hours! And this is what I wished to have,’” (312) and “’I wanted her just as a change after that fierce ragout,’” (312) are quotes that express Mr. Rochester’s reasons for trying to remarry while he already has a wife, meanwhile showing his disposition towards said wife. Had Mr. Briggs and Mr. Mason not been present for the ceremony, Jane may have lived happily in ignorance. Due to Bertha’s involvement however, Jane could never truly call herself Mr. Rochester’s wife. She says, “’Sir, your wife is living: that is a fact acknowledged this morning by yourself. If I lived with you as you desire—I should then be your mistress: to say otherwise is sophistical—is false.’” (323) This quote shows that as a result of Bertha’s exposure, Jane refuses to marry Mr. Rochester. The influence that Bertha’s brief debut had on Jane’s life was significant enough to hinder the growth of her relationship with Mr. Rochester.
Following the exploration of the Spanish and French, in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Oregon was mapped by the Lewis and Clark expedition in their search for the Nortwest Passage. Starting in the 1830s, manygroups of pioneers travelled in their search to the state on the famous Oregon Trail, and the United States began joint settlement of the area with the United Kingdom. In 1846, the border between the United States and British territory that was formally established at the forty-ninth parallel-the part ofthe territory that was given to Britain would ultimately become part of Canada. Oregon was officially admitted to the Union as a state on February 14,1859.
Barsh, R. 2005. Aboriginal peoples and the justice system: Report of the national round table on Aboriginal justice issues (Book Review). Great Plains Research, 359-362.
The Dred Scott decision stated that all African Americans, free or enslaved, were not considered citizens of the United States. This strengthened the push for anti-slavery in the North. This decision lead to many events in history to help African Americans gain their civil rights. Although this case expanded slavery and the tension between the Northern and Southern states, it was one of the most influential cases in American history. The Plessy v. Ferguson case established the "separate but equal" principle.The Plessy v. Ferguson doctrine required that any separate facilities were constitutional as long as they were equal . This case made segregation legal but, it was overruled in the Brown v. Board of Education case. The Brown v. Board of Education decision was a major legal victory in the Civil Rights Movement. The Brown v. Board of Education case had challenged the principles of "separate but equal" in 1954. This case resulted in the integration of schools and realization that all forms of segregation are wrong.
Mr. Rochester is irresistibly driven by his feelings. He carries a long history of ignoring sound judgment, including his hasty and unwise marriage to Bertha Mason because he "was dazzled, stimulated...[he] thought [he] loved her"(310), and his ensuing licentious, wandering life in search of pleasure. He has grown so accustomed to burying good sense, that he is able to completely disregard the fact that he still has a living wife with a clear conscience. Swept away by his feelings, he ignores the law, and tries to justify marriage to Jane. His passion often exceeds his control, like when Jane tells him she must leave Thornfield. "‘Jane! Will you hear reason? Because, if you won't, I'll try violence'" (307), he tells Jane desperately. Mr. Rochester deludes himself into the belief that he listens to sound judgment, but in reality, what he calls reason is simply folly born from his uncontrolled passions.
Mr. Rochester pleaded Jane for forgiveness and that they should marry and forget about Bertha Mason and leave with him to France. Jane deceived him by leaving the Thornfield hall in the middle of the night without saying farewell to Mr. Rochester in person.
Cohen, Walter, J.E. Howard, K. Eisaman Maus. The Norton Shakespeare. Vol. 2 Stephen Greenblatt, General Editor. New York, London. 2008. ISBN 978-0-393-92991-1
In Victorian times, women played a very small role when interacting with men. Women held a subservient attitude and did as they were told due to their lower position in society. Two women that significantly went around these rules not only with men but also with anyone around them would be Jane and Bertha Rochester. Throughout the novel they have left their own marks with their actions and words. Her stay at Thornfield has made a tremendous impact on those around her especially Mr. Rochester and Jane. Bertha Rochester has not only left an impact in Jane’s present life but also in her past as well.
"We must see about replacing the diamonds." (De Maupassant) its where he says that that she stressed out so much that she aged five years. Then it turns out even worse for her "Madame Loisel came to know the ghastly life of abject poverty. From the very first she played her part heroically. This fearful debt must be paid ...
In Shakespeare's As You Like It loyalty is dominant theme. Each character possesses either a loyalty or disloyalty towards another. These disloyalties and loyalties are most apparent in the relationships of Celia and Rosalind, Celia and Duke Fredrick, Orlando and Rosalind, Adam and Orlando, and Oliver and Orlando. In these relationships, a conflict of loyalties causes characters to change homes, jobs, identities and families.
Love is the central theme in the play ‘As You Like It’ by William Shakespeare, the author expressed many types of love in the play. Some of them are, brotherly love, lust for love, loyal, friendship love, unrequited love, but of course, romantic love is the focus of this play.
Many characters undergo a change in William Shakespeare’s play, “As You Like It”. Duke Senior goes from being a member of a court to being a member of a forest and Orlando changes from a bitter, younger brother, to a love-struck young man. The most obvious transformation undergone, is undoubtedly that of Rosalind. Her change from a woman to a man, not only alters her mood, candor, and gender, but also allows her to be the master of ceremonies.
...t on earth. I hold myself supremely blest - blest beyond what language can express; because I am my husband's life as fully as he is mine" (Bronte 519). Every hardship and trouble Jane endured, from Gateshead to Morton, amplifies the perfect balance between passion and reason Jane receives at the end of the novel. Jane achieves this balance by being with the one she loves the most without any complications of reasoning. Her internal conflicts between Mr. Rochester and St. John Rivers contained many complications including Mr. Rochester's mad wife Bertha, not being in love with St. John, and her own sense of self-respect. Bronte successfully reveals this balance at the end of the novel by Jane receiving a large amount of money, allowing Jane to be with Mr. Rochester without Bertha, Jane discovering she has family, and Jane starting her own family with Mr. Rochester.
The essentially healthy emotional intelligence of Rosalind and Orlando and their suitability for each other emerge from their separate encounters with Jaques (in some editions Jacques), the melancholy ex-courtier who is part of Duke Senior's troupe in the forest. Both Rosalind and Orlando take an instant dislike to Jaques (which is mutual). And in that dislike we are invited to see something vitally right about the two of them.