For Monday: Shakespeare, As You Like It, Act 1

David Tennant as Touchstone in a 1996 RSC production 

Okay, we've watched a version of As You Like It, so you know the general story and characters, at least enough to really pay attention a second time around. We're going to read Act 1 for Monday, and as you read, think about the choices the film made, and where perhaps you might have made different choices. What did the film help you see...and what did the text help you understand?

Answer two of the following as usual:

Q1: Unusually for Shakespeare, almost the entirety of Act 1 is...prose! Why do you think this is? And where does the act switch into verse? Can you tell why it does, and why it switches back into the default mode of prose? 

Q2: Shakespeare's comedies are known for their wit, which is very different than outright humor or jokes. As the Notes in our volume explain, wit is "the mind or the mental faculties, specifically the faculty of reason; intelligence, cleverness, wisdom; and good judgment" (208). Where do we see an example of wit in the First Act? What makes this passage different than simple jokes to get cheap laughs from the audience? 

Q3: For the first time in any of our readings, we see two women who are friends, and whose relationship dominates the entire First Act. What makes their friendship unusual and interesting? What do you think Shakespeare is trying to show by portraying it? Also, does it pass the Bechdel Test? (look that up, if you don't know what it is...) 

Q4: In many of Shakespeare's plays, we find brothers (sometimes, twins) who are opposed to one another. In this play, we have two: Duke Frederick and Duke Senior, and Orlando and Oliver. Do we understand why Duke Frederick and Oliver hate and plot against their brothers? How seriously should we take their evil acts?