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Gabrielle Mc Caffrey

Shakespeare I

Paper 2

Questioning Gender Roles in Shakespeare’s As You Like It

During the Renaissance gender roles were clearly defined and often put

males in the dominant position in both social and cultural realms. In As You Like It,

Shakespeare outlines these positions by disregarding them when Rosalind cross-

dresses to teach Orlando how to seduce a woman. Rosalind uses her intelligence to

exploit gender roles in order to assist Orlando in upholding them. Even though

Rosalind chooses to disregard gender roles, she helps a male uphold them in order

for her to get what she wants, Orlando, in the manner that she wants. Because of

his brother, Orlando is not intelligent enough to have control over the social

constraints and expectations that he is held to and thus, he cannot express himself

properly to Rosalind in order to gain her love in a manner that is acceptable by

Rosalind. Rosalind functions as a character is who is not only intelligent and witty

enough to understand the social constraints she is surrounded by, but smart enough

to go around them in order to obtain what she wants—Orlando, regardless of her

lack of material possessions to offer as a dowry and her exile from the city. Rosalind

clings to the power she has when she assumes the role of a man to get what she

wants, as well as what is best for her and Celia, and continues the charade long

after her reason for doing so is fulfilled.

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It is easy to see this Elizabethan play become a Hollywood adaptation with an

actress such as Meg Ryan playing the part of Rosalind. First, the setting of Arden

forest must be portrayed as not only an escape for its inhabitants, but as a complete

opposition from the city. The city would be suffering from a lack of color, gray walls

would surround the city and the scenes in the kingdom would be dreary and

overshadowed by consistent overcast. Music playing in the background of the city

would drag on and weigh down each scene, almost forcing the audience to wish it

were over as soon as possible. The Forest of Arden, however, would be lush with

green scenery and upbeat, encouraging background music to accompany and

underscore the audience’s willing suspension of disbelief during the scenes that take

place there. The Forest of Arden represents a theater in which characters such as

Rosalind can attain their goals by dressing up as men to obtain power otherwise

withheld from them, or characters such as Orlando can go to be taught by young

boys how to seduce and love. Arden Forest must express the whimsical nature of

the actions that take place there. The city would be portrayed as confined, busy, and

crowded, leaving little room for its inhabitants to create themselves or subvert the

societal and gender assumptions in place. The forest, however, would leave room

enough for both imagination and physical freedom, allowing the characters to most

easily enter the theater and act freely in order to gain control of themselves.

For example, in the forest, all Rosalind must do is expel her gender by cross-

dressing and acting as a man in order to obtain what she wants—she is easily able

to grasp the power that the city caused to evade her. There would be collections of
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trees surrounding the actors to demonstrate how the characters are surrounded by

the forest, and would mimic a natural stage. In the city, characters would be

confined to small rooms that are cluttered and stuffy, or dark side streets that stifle

each character. Celia underscores the feeling of freedom that is gained from leaving

the city and entering the forest when she says “Now go we in content/ To liberty and

not to banishment” (I.iii.140). Furthermore, in the next scene, the Duke

demonstrates the freedom achievable in Arden Forest when he expounds upon his

new life in the forest in Act II when he says “Hath not old custom made this life more

sweet/Than that of painted pomp? Are not these woods/ More free from peril than

the envious court?” (II.i.3). However, Arden Forest cannot be portrayed as too

perfect, as the audience would question why the characters decide to go back to the

city at the end. The forest’s setting must convey a realm of healing, rather than an

Eden on Earth.

At different times in the play, Rosalind must carry herself in different manners.

The director of the play could use the accommodating language and situations

Shakespeare has given them by directing Ryan to act differently when using her

body language when she is cross dressed and when she is not. Rosalind is a strong

character no matter what gender she is masquerading as. However, when Rosalind

is herself, her language must be eloquent and powerful but still feminine in

foundation. An important facet to consider as a director is the case of Rosalind’s

costume and disguise. The disguise must not be noticeable by Orlando, but must be

recognizable by the audience to achieve farce. Furthermore, though Rosalind is

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dressed in a man’s garb, the transparency of her character must also be apparent

so that the audience may be able to note the flickering shifts from female Rosalind to

male Rosalind.

Rosalind is a more assertive female than Orlando is an assertive male, which

is exaggerated by her cross dressing and would be overstated by the actors playing

their respective roles in the way they deliver lines and by their body language.

For instance, in the third act during the third scene, Rosalind and Orlando

interact as she, dressed as her male counterpart Ganymede, convinces Orlando that

she will cure him of his love. Because she is parading as a boy in her late teens,

Rosalind must act like one and begin to strut across the stage, portraying

boastfulness and arrogance. The director could instruct Ryan to make these

attempts at manliness seem awkward and contrived in order to remind the audience

that Rosalind is pretending to be a man and that this act is not innate. The comedy

resides in the fact that the audience knows that these awkward actions are a result

of Rosalind’s farce and attempted imitation. The characters in the play, such as

Orlando, who are confused by Rosalind’s mishaps, attribute her awkwardness to the

fact that she is portrayed as a young boy attempting a charade as an adult male. As

long as the director ensures that Rosalind’s mistakes are accidental and a result of

her overzealous performance, the audience will find humor in the way that other

characters so easily cast these glaring mistakes off to the side.

When the audience first meets Orlando, he is unequipped to handle the

immediate attraction he feels towards Rosalind and, much like his predecessor
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Romeo, goes on a wild an adolescent tangent, proclaiming sweeping generalities on

the state of love. Those who do not truly understand love do everything in their

power to exploit it in hopes of convincing both themselves and anyone who will listen

of their genuineness, like Orlando. Rosalind, however, is not as immature and

ignorant as Orlando and recognizes both of their hopeless devotion as both a vice

and a virtue. Without Rosalind’s astuteness and wit, they both could have very well

ended up dead having followed their juvenile intuitions without any consideration for

mitigating factors, such as Romeo and Juliet. But, Rosalind is educated enough to

take this blind devotion of Orlando and nurture it into an actual relationship that

leaves all parties involved—including society—happy.

When staging this play, the director can expound upon Shakespeare’s

challenge to society’s expectations of gender roles in the Elizabethan era. By

staging an overly effeminate Orlando and displaying his evolution into manhood by

changing the way the actor carries him across the stage and delivers his lines

throughout his lessons with Ganymede, As You Like It can lend itself to demonstrate

women’s ability to gain power at the sacrifice of her gender and how gender roles

are a mirror of individual expectations which build an entire society on gender

expectations.