Language of Love in Shakespeare's As You Like It Essay

Disguise is one of Shakespeare's favorite ploys found in varying degrees in each of the mentioned works. Through it he alters the identity of an individual (frequently female character, though not always) and uses this disguise to heighten irony, develop theme, and enhance subtle comic innuendo. In As You Like It, Shakespeare develops specific ironies where the dialogue takes on new meaning when the true identity of the speaker (or hearer) is placed over the dialogue. By having characters in disguise, Shakespeare opens the door for all kinds of comic twists from the shepherdess in love with the "shepherd" Ganymede who is really a girl (Rosalind) to Orlando sharing feelings of love to Ganymede who is really Orlando's love Rosalind in disguise. The difficulty in maintaining a disguise or hidden identity is shown in the desire to say and experience things in the one identity than can only be accomplished by the alter identity which compounds the verbal comedy in the mistaken meanings of what is being said. In Measure for Measure, the Duke uses disguise and mistaken identity to reveal the truth about Angelo's character. At the same time this disguise provides comic moments as Lucio speaks of the Duke to the Duke while unaware of the Duke's identity.

Love is an important theme in most of Shakespeare’s play, including in Romeo and Juliet because love is a stronger force than all the animosity and forces of fate in Romeo and Juliet. In Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare’s play, Shakespeare explores Romeo’s change in attitude to love between Rosaline and Juliet. In Act 1 Scene 1 Shakespeare introduces us to Romeo’s passionate desire towards Rosaline through the use of oxymoron, monologues and vivid imagery. In contrast, in Act 2 Scene 2, when Romeo is addressing Juliet, his language shifts through the use of light, religious and mythical imagery to reflect his newly found romantic love to Juliet.

In the play, As You Like It written by William Shakespeare, as well as the short story “Let Me Promise You” by Morley Callaghan, both playwright, and author are trying to convey the idea of a strong emotional bond between certain characters. In Shakespeare’s play, we see how Celia and Rosalind, two cousins, have been inseparable ever since a young age and will do anything for one another. In Callaghan’s short story, Alice has strong feelings towards George, waits restlessly by the window, and despite their differences, she still tries to please him. The theme that these two works show is unconditional love. The playwright and author are trying to illustrate what one will do for another even though the situation and conditions might be though.

Romantic comedies are one of many exuberantly entertaining genres of fine arts. Romantic comedies typically follow identical plot line structures, but they do not have to follow the same plot line. All romantic comedies differ in some sort of form or fashion. The play As You Like It by Shakespeare and the movie Just Go With It staring Adam Sandler, Brooklyn Decker, and Jennifer Anniston are both romantic comedies that differ dramatically in terms of their build up until the main characters are wedded. In Just Go With It there is a love triangle where the main character doesn’t realize his true love until he is about to marry the wrong woman. In As You Like It the main characters fall in love at first sight and get married in their second “official” encounter with each other. Although the build up in each movie varies dramatically, the uniqueness of the female heroine, Rosalind, in As You Like It is the main difference between the two romantic comedies. This causes an uncommon romance plot in As You Like It.

In this essay I will be looking at how Shakespeare presents love in Act 2 Scene 2 of Romeo and Juliet from lines 18 through to 127. After reading the majority of act 2 scene 2 we are now able to understand and interpret Shakespeare’s language and language devices further. Act 2 Scene two is set in the shadow beneath Juliet’s bedroom window, with Romeo hiding in the darkness. Romeo listens on as Juliet speaks of her love for Romeo to what she thought was the darkness however as we as the audience know Romeo is able to hear everything she is saying. Once Romeo has revealed he is below Juliet in the garden the two begin to exchange expressions of devotion for one another, this is what we will be unravelling in this essay to understand and

Inherent within humanity is the need to belong, in which an individual must accept one another in order to achieve a greater sense of connectedness and identity. This is firstly evident in Shakespeare's As You Like It whereby the ideas of love are used to reveal how relationships are fundamental to one's sense of belonging. Act 1 Scene 3 explores belonging and not belonging through love and nature as it establishes the plot at the mark of separation from court and country by Rosalind and Celia breaking the sense of belonging to place. Celia and Rosalind convey a strong bond evident in Celia’s plea to her father, Duke Frederick, to keep Rosalind at court rather than banishing her to the Forest of Arden. Conventions of love are evident

The first kind of love shown in the play is teenage love through Romeo. Montague tells us that "Many a morning hath he (Romeo) been seen... adding to the clouds more clouds with his deep sighs." Romeo is often seen sighing showing that he is either depressed or in love. Romeo is both. He says he is "out of her favour where I am in love". He is "in love" with Rosaline but she has sworn herself to a life of chastity and does not return Romeo's love. Shakespeare mocks Romeo's infatuation with the

Shakespeare thus portrays Romeo and his love as an infatuation. This infatuation is evident in how instantaneously Romeo falls out of love with Rosaline and into love with Juliet. At one stage, Rosaline was the “precious treasure of his eyesight”, yet Romeo’s embodiment of perfection was, a few scenes later, his notion of defectiveness. This therefore reveals to the audience the instantaneous and reckless path of the two lovers, as well as the fickleness of adolescent “love”, diminishing at the sight of

“As You Like It” also deals with belonging to relationships. This can be seen between Orlando and Rosalind. After first meeting Rosalind, Orlando instantly falls in love. This is shown in the line “What passion hangs these weights upon my tongue?.” This rhetorical questions is a metaphor to show to us that Orlando becomes somewhat speechless or nervousness in Rosalind’s presence as to not do anything to ruin the image she has of him and he is not quite sure what to say because he has not felt this passionate ever before. This shows he has found a sense of

Once love is found, any obstacle presented will neither diminish nor terminate that love, even when tragedy strikes with the loss of a loved one. Tybalt, the cousin of Juliet is one of the Capulet’s that despises the Montague’s and he will do anything in his power to kill them all, and once he confronted Romeo, he met his fate and died by Romeo’s sword. The Prince arrived to the scene and said “Romeo slew him, he slew Mercutio” (III.i.181), him referring to Tybalt, and once realized, he banished Romeo out of the city. Once Juliet discovered the truth about Tybalt’s death and Romeo’s banishment she said in grief “Romeo is banished- to speak that word is father, mother, Tybalt, Romeo, Juliet, all slain, all dead- Romeo is banished” (III.ii.122-124). Her heartache for Romeo’s banishment more than her cousin Tybalt’s death shows that he is her life, her world, and her breath, and without him she would be nothing and life as she knows is would end, even through tragedy and anguish.

Is love a special connection or is it something more physical? Throughout many centuries the perspective of love has always revolved around an association that the two people have in common. William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, we see how love is diverse; Romeo talked about Rosaline. He mentioned that he was very depressed and even offered her money to marry him. Today, love is a crave, something that people do not take much time to think on.

“The course of true love never did run smooth,” comments Lysander of love’s complications in an exchange with Hermia (Shakespeare I.i.136). Although the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream certainly deals with the difficulty of romance, it is not considered a true love story like Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare, as he unfolds the story, intentionally distances the audience from the emotions of the characters so he can caricature the anguish and burdens endured by the lovers. Through his masterful use of figurative language, Shakespeare examines the theme of the capricious and irrational nature of love.

Another point to make on this matter would be that the character of Rosalind would have been played by a male and the audience would know this. This could mean that the reason Shakespeare included Rosalind’s enjoyment of manly sports was because Rosalind is actually a man in the attire of a woman. There is a large confusion of the gender of Rosalind throughout the play. By confusing the gender, Shakespeare is focusing more on the personality of Rosalind than her appearance. The question of gender is continued at the very end of the play. In many of his plays, Shakespeare ends with an epilogue read by a male character. In As You Like it, the epilogue is performed by Rosalind. The epilogue seems to be outside the play as if the actor was talking but Rosalind is still in character. She says herself;

Shakespeare's plays are full of references to what is now obscure- classical myth, falconry, astrology, or the theory of 'humors' that were thought to determine personality within so many of his characters (?S??Far?). Shakespeare wrote about themes and events we can relate to even now nearly 500 years later. 'He wrote about us-you and me, our friends, our families, the people we work with and play with and argue with and go to bed with, the characters we see on the evening news and elect to public office' often times comparisons are often scary (Seder iii). Shakespeare also liked to make fun of many of his characters. His plays show that he can be funny and has a humorous personality, often times even in his tragedies in which

The movie that is being compared to a story here is one of the all-time best. The main theme portrayed in "Shakespeare in Love" is a love that is never meant to be. "Shakespeare in Love" parallels the play Shakespeare is currently working on, Romeo and Juliet, in which love is not meant to be due to the many obstacles in the way. Shakespeare's life in the film is very comparable to Romeo's life in Romeo and Juliet. William Shakespeare's life in the film and the play he is writing has several similarities and differences. In my opinion, this is one of the best movies and books to compare.