“And therefore look you call me Ganymede.” said Rosalind. In William Shakespeare work ‘ As You Like It’ a young woman by the name of Rosalind ends up getting exiled from the dukedom of her uncle who upsured his older brother. Rosalind and her loyal cousin Celia goes into the forest of Arden to look for her exiled father along with the court clown Touchstone. The forest of Arden is a dangerous place for young maidens where thieves and bandits would prefer over gold. Therefore, Rosalind dresses up in a disguise of a man who she names Ganymede to avoid situations like that to occur. Rosalind as a women is an exception to doctrines such as religious texts and laws that pronounces women as weak mentally and has an imbalance amount of wit.William …show more content…
A male was thought to have the “hot” humors of blood and choler that adds to their wit and intelligence compared to a woman who has the “cold” humors of black bile and phlegm which limits their wit and intelligence. This conclusion is based off of medicine and psychology of that time which reflects the tone of how women were looked at. The views were that women were “ inferior spiritually, physically, and intellectually to men” as well as they were dishonest, lustful, and unstable but, in the daily lives of women reflected a completely different light. When Rosalind disguises herself as Ganymede and fools Orlando, her sweetheart, into treating her as if she was Rosalind. This can be seen as a dishonest act of Rosalind by taking advantage of Orlando and his love, but on the other hand Rosalind is using her wit to test Orlando on the amount of love he has for her. Rosalind dressed as Ganymede after repeatedly asks him the question of whether he loves Rosalind as much as he says he does and when she asks him the final time she says to Orlando “ But are you so much in love as your rhymes speak?” and Orlando says “Neither rhyme …show more content…
One, the Forest of Arden and two, and the court. Since, Rosalind father was ushered she have been living with her uncle, Lord Frederick, and her cousin, Celia. Her uncle Lord Frederick after the wrestling match between Orlando and Charles tells Rosalind “ Mistress, dispatch you with your safest haste And get you from our court. Within these ten days if thou be’st found So near our public court as twenty miles, Thou diest for it”( ). This unexpected turn of events would have scared most people but Rosalind and Celia took on a brave front and made a plans to go to the Forest of Arden. This quick reason to a problem shows the sharpness of her mind during a strenuous time. The forest of Aden was very dangerous for women to be out by themselves with the addition of her height being taller than the average women made Rosalind impersonate a man. For Rosalind to pull off that feat without anyone realizing is truly amazing because she confident in her skills to act like a man and not arouse suspicion of being a women. Her speech as a man is different from when she was dressed as a man she takes on the views of men. She says “ Thank God I’m not a woman and afflicted with all the giddiness that troubles that entire sex.” and “ There were none principal. They were all like one another as half-pence are, every
Nora and Mrs. Wright’s social standing when compared to the men in each play is inferior. Both works expose their respective male characters’ sexist view of women diminishing the women’s social standing. Each work features egotistical men who have a severely inflated view of their self-worth when compared to their female counterparts. The men’s actions and words indicate they believe women are not capable of thinking intelligently. This is demonstrated in “Trifles” when Mr. Hale makes the statement about women only worrying about mere trifles. It is also apparent in “A Dollhouse” when Torvalds thinks his wife is not capable of thinking with any complexity (Mazur 17). Another common attribute is of the women’s social standing is displayed as both women finally get tired of feeling like second class citizens and stand up to the repressive people in the women’s lives (Mulry 294). Although both women share much in common in their social standing there subtle differences. Torvald’s sexist view of Nora is more on a personal level in “A Dollhouse” while the male characters’ sexist views in “Trifles” seem to be more of a social view that women are not very smart and their opinions are of little value. This attitude is apparent in “Trifles” as Mr. Hale and Mr. Henderson’s comments about Mrs. Wright’s housekeeping (Mulry 293). As the women in both works reach their emotional
Contrastingly, Mrs. Darling, his wife, is portrayed as a romantic, maternal character. She is a “lovely lady”, who had many suitors yet was “won” by Mr. Darling, who got to her first. However, she is a multifaceted character because her mind is described “like the tiny boxes, one within the other, that come from the puzzling East”, suggesting that she is, to some extent, an enigma to the other characters, especially Mr. Darling. As well as this, she exemplifies the characteristics of a “perfect mother”. She puts everything in order, including her children’s minds, which is a metaphor for the morals and ethics that she instils in them. Although ...
names - ""and I'll no longer be a Capulet" - to be together. Giving up
A closer look, though, should make it evident that this is not the case; as in many of Shakespeare’s plays, appearances can be deceiving. In some cases, the exterior behavior is a deliberate façade to mask the character’s real feelings; in others, it is an acculturated veneer that is burned away as a result of the play’s events. Despite their outward appearances, though, most of these comedic women belong to one of two opposing archetypes. An examination of these archetypes allows the reader to see past such deceptions to the real personality beneath.
The play ridicules the traditional ideology of mature love. Instead, it follows several different forms of love including requiting love, lust driven love and romantic love. Orlando says in his poems that he should “live and die (Rosalind’s) slave”. The characters fall in love at first sight, which is exaggerated representation of love. As the play progresses, however, the several ridiculed forms of love conclude into more reasonable and mature form. Rosalind proves of herself being a fair judge of love at the end of the play as she concludes who shall marry
First of all, Glaspell largely examines the repression of women in the 1900s. Women were highly looked down upon by men, and were seen mostly as housekeepers and child bearers, and were definitely not seen as intelligent people. The women in this play prove that the stereotypes against them are completely wrong. The men in this story are sent out to discover the details of a murder, while the women come along to gather some things for Mrs. Wright, who was accused of killing her husband. Throughout the play, the men mock the women and claim that they are silly in worrying about the smallest of things. They seem to think that women are not intelligent enough to help solve a murder. For example, towards the beginning of the story Mrs. Peters notices that Mrs. Wright’s fruit froze, and tells the lawyer that Mrs. Wright was always worried about that. The sheriff replies, ...
Despite her feminist critique, in the final paragraph Adelman admits to the limitations of a “patriarchal framework” in The Winter’s Tale that restores personal and political happiness to Leontes. She is also satirical of The Winter’s Tale by exclaiming that its female characters in the end are discovered to be “all good patriarchists all along”. In response, to the imagery of pregnancy that dominated the essay, Adelman stresses the point that Hermione only returns when she is past child bearing age and that the only female character throughout the work who expresses any rage is the “asexual” Paulina. Therefore, Adelman’s final analysis is a very thorough critique from the feminist perspective. Adelman’s work ends by reconnecting The Winter’s Tale to the canon of Shakespeare’s romances highlighting Shakespeare’s continuous paradox of “what it means to be a mother’s son”
...arlots. The sex drive of a man is viewed as "natural desire", wherein women it is an abominable quality. In theory, courtly love remains utopian, but its application to society is where it fails, and where Guinevere fails as well. Medieval thinking insists that women are the only guilty party in adulterous affairs, yet in theory that is all that courtly love is.
It shows how women were thought of in that time period and how there was an isolation between genders. This play explores this insight through the plot of the investigation of the murder of Mr. Wright. Each element of this play emphasize this meaning of gender inequality. By bringing awareness to this concept, Glaspell opens up the conversation about gender equality. Which is still an issue in today’s society and this injustice needs to be righted. As it is time for there to be full gender equality and better gender relations among all
Shakespeare's As You Like It is a good play for anyone to read or see. Some readers would enjoy one aspect of it, some would enjoy another. But all would, in general, enjoy the play. Albert Gilman says that Shakespeare intended to imply that all that people need to live together in harmony is "good sense, love, humor, and a generous disposition." (Gilman lxvii) This play is deeper than the surface, and that is part of its appeal to every kind of person.
Gender norms and stereotypes have never helped anyone. In As You Like It, Shakespeare works to show that women are strong, sometimes just like a male, and have no problem sticking together and helping others. Rosalind is our main heroine who shows the other characters how a woman can truly embrace her masculine traits and become a confident but lovable character at once. Today there are still issues with the belief that a woman can only be completely feminine and a male is only masculine, however, there has never been a rule made that that is the way it is. As You Like It explores the realm of gender roles that Shakespeare shows are not so clear cut, and women, like how Rosalind found herself, need to embrace every aspect to them and not be
reflect the ideas of gender roles in Western society. To the extent that they reflect existing
The androgyne is a strong figure that mentally joins the female and male characteristics together as one (American Heritage). Androgyny does not only refer to the physical senses it also refers to the cultural and social aspects of daily life. There are two main types of androgyny that were applied during the Renaissance which are referred to as mythic and satiric androgyny (Orgel, 38). Satiric androgyny mainly deals with "feminized male figures and unfixed, unstable individual identities, and is essentially negative," (Hermaphrodites, 1). Mythic androgyny consists of "cross-dressers, water imagery and the fluid individual identity, and is essentially positive," (Hermaphrodites, 2).
In this essay I would like to focus on Rosalind's - or rather Ganymede's - preoccupation with the outward show of things. Whether this is a result of her cross-dressing, the reason for the same, or the playwright's way of revealing his presence is not as yet clear to me, but Rosalind's constant insistence on the truth of masks and on the other hand her readiness to doubt this same truth fascinates me.
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.