Literary Analysis Of Shakespeare's As You Like It

As You Like It Literary Analysis As You Like It is a typical Elizabethan comedy. There are puns galore, and plenty of dramatic irony to drive the plot forward. The title is even a reference to how the play ends – with a giant wedding uniting three couples the way an audience would like it. While on the surface Shakespeare’s As You Like It may seem like a straightforward play, there are a few different examples of power dynamics strung throughout: the most obvious being the power struggle between Dukes Ferdinand and Senior. More interestingly, the play dives into social and cultural norms at the time to display the power dynamic. This is displayed in the familial ties between Orlando and Oliver, as well as with Rosalind and Celia. It is also

In the opening scene, Oliver and Orlando have a physical confrontation and Shakespeare establishes that their hate for each other is unjustified. However, a couple of scenes later, Celia sacrifices her current life with Duke Ferdinand in order to follow Rosalind and live with her in the forest. Shakespeare represents masculinity as being competitive and, in Oliver’s case, being better than his brother. Additionally, it includes sudden reconciliation, like Orlando and Oliver in the play. Orlando saves his brother from a lioness even though, “Twice did he turn his back and purposed so; / But kindness, nobler ever than revenger, / And nature, stronger than his just occasion,” (4.3.128-30). By contrast, Shakespeare defines femininity as being self-sacrificing and loving. However, it does not include the dimensions that the masculinity includes. This overall contributes to the Elizabethan ideal that masculinity, and males in general, are of more value than femininity and women. Women are to remain passive and to stick together, while men are encouraged to succeed in life and work to get what they