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As You Like It (Shakespeare Project Lecture) (Patreon)

Published:
2023-10-07 20:06:03
Imported:
2026-06
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  • Shakespeare As You Like It.mp3

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Content

'All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players...'

Our thrilling adventure through the works of William Shakespeare continues with As You Like It.

We’re discussing the inexhaustible Rosalind, the Forest of Arden, comedy as festive celebration, returning to the natural world, the seven ages of man, and much more.

Timestamps:

  • 0:00 the rise of the Globe Theatre
  • 3:00 how to read As You Like It
  • 4:00 character appreciation for Rosalind
  • 5:00 my personal connection to this play
  • 7:00 on adaptations & closet drama
  • 9:00 falling in love with Rosalind
  • 11:00 ‘men have died from time to time’
  • 13:00 Rosalind as inexhaustible protagonist
  • 15:00 curing Orlando’s love-sickness
  • 17:00 rehearsing love in the imagination
  • 18:00 ‘men are April when they woo…’
  • 19:00 Rosalind & Celia’s relationship
  • 21:00 ‘to liberty and not to banishment’
  • 23:00 from society to the natural world
  • 25:00 identity & cross-dressing motif
  • 27:00 on this play’s biblical allusions
  • 28:00 rib-breaking as sport for ladies?
  • 30:00 journeying to the Forest of Arden
  • 33:00 ‘from hour to hour, we rot and rot’
  • 35:00 comedy as festive celebration
  • 36:00 the real social utility of drama
  • 39:00 appreciating my one-passage
  • 41:00 first performance of iconic lines
  • 42:00 ‘all the world’s a stage…’
  • 43:00 how Shakespeare saw the world
  • 45:00 on the seven ages of man
  • 52:00 what did you make of this play?

Recommended Resources:

  • Recommended Edition: The Arden edition continues to make a superb choice as the introduction and footnotes are often incredibly illuminating.
  • Film Adaptations: Helen Mirren delivers a great performance as Rosalind in the BBC 1978 production here. You may also wish to check out the Laurence Olivier 1937 film here or Kenneth Branagh's 2006 adaptation here. I personally prefer to put As You Like It on in the theatre of my mind.
  • Audio Dramatisation: Helena Bonham Carter is wonderful in the role of Rosalind in the BBC Radio dramatisation of the play.
  • The Meaning of Shakespeare: We've spoken about Harold Goddard's aesthetic criticism before, but I highly recommend specifically reading his essay on As You Like It. Harold Bloom also writes powerfully about Rosalind and the play in Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human. 
  • Festive Comedy: C. L. Barber continues to inform our understanding of comedy as festive celebration. This book is incredibly illuminating when it comes to this play.
  • Our Journey Thus Far: If you want to jump into any specific play, you can check out the works we've enjoyed thus far as part of our read-through here.

Questions for You:

1) What do you make of Rosalind? And have you ever wished a character existed in reality?

2) How can we become more connected to the natural world?

3) What line, passage, idea, or character most resonated with you? And what is your personal grading for As You Like It?

Happy reading, Bardolators!

Files

Previews only

Comments

Jessica

My love of redemptive stories makes the throwaway line "t'was I; but tis not I" my personal favorite. Following with: I do not shame To tell you what I was, since my conversion So sweetly tastes, being the thing I am. So beautiful. The language in this one is getting sharper and it's been completely enjoyable to watch Shakespeare become Shakespeare. The difficult thing for me with studying Shakespeare is that I haven't had anything to hook my learning onto. But framing it as reading his works in chronological order has made ALL the difference. The linear aspect of the project has given me the framework I've needed to gain an understanding of why some plays are better than others. I've said it before and I'll say it every time, Ben's lectures have been out of this world when it comes to Shakespeare. Just transcribe the lectures and you'll have a book in no time.

Gem Esprey

I really enjoyed this one. 7 points/ B for me. I watched a good adaptation on Marquee TV from a performance at The Globe. ‘The whining schoolboy’ caused lots of hilarity in the audience as the actor playing Jaques pointed at a teenager in the crowd (clearly part of a school visit). What a wonderful speech. Definitely one to commit to memory for me.

Jaye Cee

I enjoyed this a lot, and one of the things I notice about this compared to earlier lighter plays is the pacing. For me the pacing of earlier plays was quite jarring; deaths without warning, deciding everything was ok in an instant after complete confusion and chaos, even how much time was given to different scenes. I have felt for the last plays and now this one that there is more balance. I watched the BBC version with Helen Mirren . She is excellent, and I have to say I really liked the character Jacques based on the lines and how they were delived by actor Richard Pasco.

Ylva

B- for this one. I love the play’s atmosphere and its poetry while the characters didn’t grip me quite as much as those from other plays. I even remember first reading As You Like It 20+ years ago and being similarly un-charmed and confused about the very same, something I entirely forgot until listening to this lecture and Bloom’s interpretation tickled the memory to the surface again. It makes me wonder about myself and my reception of humour again, as so many other books within the last year did. Interesting trail of thoughts there. Something that sticks around after listening too is the question regarding our modern sense of friendship and bonds. If Rosalind and Celia are intensely close on a mere platonic level, what does it say about our interpretation of it seeming otherwise? In fact: what is a healthy friendship? Can it extend to physicalities even when it’s otherwise platonic? Where’s the line here? And what is loyalty? You don’t seriously turn from your parent easily, not without profound reasons concerning your healthy survival, so Celia’s decision here too offers the question if true friendship rules over family or if it should be the other way around…and either way: why? I believe this is a snarl of questions that easily could turn my B- rating into a B+. Quite a profound topic to think about. “Men are April when they woo, December when they wed. Maids are May when they are maids, but the sky changes when they are wives.”

Ylva
>>177699967

Actually, the question on friendship reminds me of Moby Dick where we also can’t help but wonder about Ishmael and Queequeg. And then I wonder about other duos in literature, including Catherine and Heathcliff who seem so obviously a couple but I’m not so sure whether it entirely fits as the only descriptor.