For Monday: Shakespeare, As You LIke It, Acts 4-5

Finish the play for Monday, and answer TWO of the questions below that cover both acts, and indeed, your general impression of how the play ends for the audience.

Q1: Matthew Bevis, his book on Comedy, writes that "comedy can teach you to be both a fatalist and a moralist at the same time" (83). How might this describe most of the fools in Shakespeare's plays, and especially someone like Jacques? Why does being a satirist (which is the proper role of a fool) risk turning you into a misanthrope as well (a hater of people)? 

Q2: Discuss the difference between Phoebe's poem to Rosalind (delivered to her by Sylvius) and Orlando's poetry. Are they both wretched verses that mock the silliness of love conventions in poetry? Or does Phoebe manage something a little different? Consider Rosalind's response, "I saw she never did invent this letter./This a man's invention, and his hand" (157). 

Q3: Bevis also writes that "to be a witness [in a comedy] is to be an accomplice" (85). When do we feel guilty for laughing or enjoying a laugh in this play? When is the laughter also cruel or uncomfortable? What things do we laugh at in the play that we wouldn't laugh at in real life?

Q4: In the humorous wooing scene between Orlando and Ganymede, how aware do you feel Orlando is of Ganymede's true identity? Is he playing along because he knows who he really is...or is he falling in love with Ganymede? How can we tell? (note that they woo each other in prose, not poetry)

Q5: (one extra one): Why does Rosalind get an Epilogue at the end of the play where she speaks directly to the audience? Is this a way to wash away the shocking nature of the comedy from the audience's mind? Or is it equally subversive and a way to get a parting shot off at them...almost Shakespeare's retort against the quadruple marriages? How do you read it?