In As You Like It, Shakespeare banishes all unhappiness, unless it springs from love.
The play follows a multitude of characters driven from a nobleman’s court to exile in the Forest of Arden, where they find refuge from the ambition, intrigue, envy, and striving of the world.
There a usurped Duke philosophizes on his new freedom; a lord tends his melancholy like a garden; and the clown Touchstone pursues his fooling to the edge of the sublime – but the show belongs to the misery and ecstasy of love and to the superlative Rosalind, mistress of all situations and persons except her own wild heart.
There are familiar Shakespearian tropes in As You Like It. The instantaneous and absolute way love conquers. The woman dressed as a man who hides from her love and is loved by the wrong person in turn. And the character who arranges events to create maximum drama, even as the audience is left wondering what motivates her manipulations.
No matter. The dialogue is superb. Rosalind bewitches men and women, on and off stage, in equal measure. And all ends happy in this most delicate of Shakespeare’s comedies.
Wow, I love this concept of short book reviews! Love Shakespeare; Rosalind is one of my favorite characters of all time.
Thanks. I started the 100 Word review for a couple reasons. The first is practical. Shorter posts are (sort of) easier to write than long ones. They can take a little less time in any case. Second, I figure that most people who will read a review of “As You Like It” they find on the internet will already have read “As You Like It”. So I don’t need to provide the basic summaries of plot and characters that are staples of standard reviews. Instead, I try to find some nugget that might be new or interesting or pleasing. Now in the case of “As You Like It” – I am hoping to encourage folks to think about reading the play, too, if they haven’t. In other cases, my “50 Shades of Grey” review, for example, I’m not.
extremely worst ,useless and embarrassing
Yes, that is a good description of your syntax and your grammar.
Thank you! I really needed a refresher for this play, since my assignment is on this and I haven’t read the play for a long time. The type of refresher I need (instead of forcing myself to read the plot on Wikipedia…).