In Regards To William Shakespeare's As You Like It

Improved Essays
In Regards to As You Like It
William Shakespeare is one of the most influential playwrights of all time; and his stories have been enjoyed by the masses since their conceptions. As You Like It, is an example of one of Shakespeare’s plays that has survived the ages and is still highly popular. The characters of this play and the changes they go through speak to generations of people. The situations that are forced upon them and the emotions they experience relate so closely to the journeys everyone make toward adulthood. As You Like It has remained relevant as an audience we can relate to the characters, emotions and situations Shakespeare crafts.
The characters of the play draw the readers in the force them to care about the individual characters ambitions and stations in society. Rosalind, Celia, and Orlando
…show more content…
Like any good story the characters face challenges and have adapt or overcome them. After being usurped by his brother, Duke Senior copes by gallivanting through the forest of Ardenne with “many merry men...like the old Robin Hood of England” (1.1.100-01). The female cousins are beginning their own journey into the unknown, with Rosalind, “suite at all points like a man” (1.3.110); and Celia makes dirty jokes, and teases Rosalind about how Orlando, “writes verses, speaks brave words, swears braves oaths, and breaks them quite bravely” (3.4.35-36). Even poor Orlando is forced to run away or face “butchery” (2.3.28) at the hands of his brother. The play is the story of people, young, old, male, and female finding their place in the world. They have to face adversity and conquer their troubles. Those types of situations resonate with people because, at its heart, As You Like It is a very funny, very unusual, coming of age tale. The characters are so relevant and relatable because, just like the readers, they are trying to figuring out who they really

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    State a conflict that you see present in Mistaken Identity: A Ten Minute Play (please refer to the list of conflicts). Respond to one of the following, providing examples or quotations from the play to illustrate your ideas: Describe a key conflict in the play and how it corresponds to a character’s development. Describe two key literary techniques and elements and techniques of drama that aid in developing the conflict. Explain how and why the conflict in this comedy is different from and/or similar to the conflict explored in tragedy.…

    • 475 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Just about everyone is guilty of committing a white lie. The reasoning behind white lies will vary. These white lies never seem like a big deal until the white lie turns into catastrophe. The play, The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller is a unique piece of work. Many themes can be found in the work.…

    • 1626 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “As You Like It” starts with a character named Oliver and his brother, Orlando. Their father has passed away and Oliver disobeys his father’s wish, which was to give Orlando a good education. He has denied Orlando any kind of education, all the while giving his other brother, Jacques, an education. The brothers’ differences heighten to a point where Orlando has Oliver’s throat in his hands and demands that he gets either a good education or a fair amount of money from Oliver’s inheritance so that he can pursue an education on his own. After all of this happens, Oliver finds out that Duke Senior has been usurped his younger brother, Duke Frederick.…

    • 1623 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Each act represents a transition, from one stage of life to the next, an opportunity for the audience to see the character grow and develop. In Act I we see a young girl celebrating her youth, while we move later in the play we see her fall in love and eventually get married by Act III. I think this character development resonates with a lot of people in the audience because it lets them reflect on their childhood while at the same time remembering how they eventually grew up and to learn about the world become wiser, just like the…

    • 701 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Greed In Into The Woods

    • 298 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Identify a theme in the play and discuss its expression onstage in the performance and how it’s supported by symbolism or dialogue. Into the woods consistently displayed the theme of greed. Many of the characters made a sacrifice for something they wanted and victimized someone in the process. For example, the witch wanted more than anything to look young again, she sacrificed her powers over others to look that way. The evil step-sisters also were very greedy, they cut up their feet just for a chance to fit in the shoe and marry the prince.…

    • 298 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Only Drunks

    • 1197 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Canadian Drama: Only Drunks and Children Tell the Truth Dramatic Conflict Identify at least two character. What held your attention about these characters? What was their struggle?…

    • 1197 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Annotated Bibliography Bloom, Harold. " Othello." New Haven, US: Yale University Press (2005): 259. ProQuest ebrary. Web.…

    • 1094 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Decent Essays

    In the play you are introduced to many new characters and are given a chance to observe their personality. Many of the characters are good honest people while some select few are evil monstrous people. Among these characters there are some that are complete opposite of each other. The character that would be Macbeth's opposite is most likely Macduff.…

    • 208 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the play “A Free man of Color” by John Guare, Jacques Cornet is an affluent black man living in Louisiana. When you hear a statement like that, most people wouldn't believe it to be true, but yes, Jacques Cornet was the centerpiece of his town and most popular person in Louisiana. He loved clothing, he loved women, he loved money, and so on. In this historical timeframe however, something threatens his freedom and Jacques struggles to save his last bit of dignity when he is faced with the raw and pure truths of the world.…

    • 467 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Though it is a work of fiction based on a legend, many can learn from the lies and damage of corrupting oneself. The main purpose of the play seems to not be about the plot or characters, but of how to relate it to real…

    • 827 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Shakespeare's Rough Draft At Stratford-upon-Avon in April,1564 a little child was born and he was to be forever remembered as “Shakespeare the world's greatest playwright.” He began going to school for free at Stratford in 1571, six years later his father took him out of school and made him a local butcher’s apprentice. Shakespeare fell in love with a girl named Anne Hathaway a few years later and married her in 1582, they had their first child in 1583 and her name was Susanna. Two years later they were blessed with twins, Hamnet and Judith. Right after the twins were born they moved to london, on the note of shakespeare being convicted of poaching deer which was illegal in Stratford.…

    • 381 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Great Essays

    This play is commonly known for its comedy and romance; as it tells a story of love between eight different characters. The main characters are Orlando and Rosalind, while the other six characters in love are Celia and Oliver, Touchstone and Audrey, and Silvius and Phebe. The story focuses on the two main characters which have been in love from the beginning. After Rosalind is banished by Duke Fredericks she decides to dress as a young man to protect herself and she chooses the name Ganymede. In the play, no one recognizes her as a girl as she masterfully manipulates herself to be a boy.…

    • 1389 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    It really made them think about this topic and how people felt about it back then and how it compares to our time period now. The play makes you think. It makes you think about how rumors can ruin how people live their live. What really impacted me was the very end. Karen was left with nothing just because of a stupid rumors some ruthless adolescent came up with and for what?…

    • 706 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Characters are defined by their interactions with others, driving the action forward, therefore, relationships are a key factor in each character’s life, in which it forms the identity of each character. There are diverse ways in which identity is presented in each text for example through the use of: Love, Gender Roles and one's Family influence. Relationships are portrayed in multiple ways throughout each of the texts, whether it’s romantical, friendships or familial. ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ presents mainly romantic relationships as it is a key part of the play and links with the characters identities. Whereas ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ portrays platonic love and affection that characters have for one another.…

    • 869 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    What is a truth? One may derive a multitude of definitions for this vague word and may come up with many different truths; and this is no different from how one perceives what a single or several symbols possibly mean. However, one could make inferences or inductions to what a symbol may indicate due to the symbol's usage and context of a given passage. And as such, one would perceive academia, the games, and the baby in Edward Albee's play Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf as having great symbolic relevance as they can be shown blurring the lines of reality and illusion. Academia symbolism is enveloped in this play has a major relevance to the setting as it establishes a context of which the characters fall under.…

    • 1070 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays

Related Topics