The Forest of Arden

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Act 2, scene 1 is the first scene in the play that occurs in the Forest of Arden. Duke Senior and some of his followers are walking through the forest, "like forester," says the stage directions in the First Folio. Duke Senior tells his followers how much he enjoys living in the forest, but it doesn't sound like a particularly pleasant place for those who don't have Duke Senior's optimistic, accepting attitude. As You Like It follows its heroine Rosalind as she flees persecution in her uncle's court, accompanied by her cousin Celia to find safety and, eventually, love, in the Forest of Arden. In the forest, they encounter a variety of memorable characters, notably the melancholy traveller Jaques, who speaks many of Shakespeare's most famous speeches (such as " All the world's a stage", "too much of a good thing" and "A fool! A fool! I met a fool in the forest"). Since As You Like It is a comedy, the atmosphere, especially in the Forest of Arden, is portrayed as a light, happy atmosphere, despite the harshness of reality. Most importantly, As You Like It is a pastoral play, and like other pastoral literature, the forest is portrayed as a peaceful and even healing place. Pastoral literature likens the country to a type of utopia, while city life is portrayed as being full of corruption. As You Like It was first printed in the collected edition of Shakespeare's plays, known as the First Folio, during 1623. No copy of it in Quarto exists, for the play is mentioned by the printers of the First Folio among those which "are not formerly entered to other men". By means of evidences, external and internal, the date of composition of the play has been approximately fixed at a period between the end of 1598 and the middle of 1599.

The direct and immediate source of As You Like It is Thomas Lodge's Rosalynde, Euphues Golden Legacie, written 1586–87 and first published in 1590. [8] [9] Lodge's story is based upon " The Tale of Gamelyn". [10] Watercolor illustration: Orlando pins love poems on the trees of the forest of Arden. Williamson, Marilyn L (1986). "The Comedies in Historical Context". In Habicht, Werner; etal. (eds.). Images of Shakespeare. University of Delaware Press. pp.189, 193. ISBN 0-87413-329-7. Act 1, scene 1 Orlando demands that his elder brother Oliver give him part of the money left by their father. Oliver decides to get rid of Orlando by encouraging him to take part in a wrestling match almost sure to be fatal.The River Avon marked the boundary between two distinct areas, the Feldon, cultivated land to the south, and Arden, forested land to the north, including the village of Wilmcote where Shakespeare’s mother came from. Where the forest had been cleared land was used for farming and the typical medieval ridge and furrow ploughing system can still be seen as close to Stratford as the fields surrounding Clopton House.

a b Bate, Jonathan; Rasmussen, Eric (2010). As You Like It. Basingstoke, England: Macmillan. p.10. ISBN 978-0-230-24380-4. Reversing dramatic convention, it is the courtly characters who speak prose and the shepherds who court in verse. What sparked off the war was Marston’s version of the anonymous satire Histriomastix [1599], in which Jonson recognised himself in the character Crysoganus, a role not to his liking” (Anna Anzi, Storia del teatro inglese dalle origini al 1660, ch. III, Einaudi, Turin 1977, p. 151). Act 3, scene 4 Corin invites “Ganymede” and “Aliena” to observe the lovelorn Silvius as Silvius courts the disdainful Phoebe.

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Shakespeare's play As You Like It is set in the Forest of Arden, but it is an imaginary version incorporating elements from the Ardennes forest in Thomas Lodge's prose romance Rosalynde and the real forest (both as it was when the play was written, i.e. subjected to deforestation and enclosure, and the romanticized version of his youth). [15] In 1942, Gerald Finzi included a setting of "It was a lover and his lass" (V, iii) in his song cycle on Shakespearean texts Let Us Garlands Bring. Andrew Watkins (1997). "Landowners and their Estates in the Forest of Arden in the Fifteenth Century" (PDF). Agricultural History Review. 45 (1): 18–33. JSTOR 40275129. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 September 2007.

Lodge, Thomas (10 January 2012). Lodge's 'Rosalynde': Being the Original of Shakespeare's 'As You Like It' . HardPress Publishing. ISBN 978-1-290-07302-8. Why do you think Jaques delivers this speech? What is he trying to achieve? Is he trying to impress Duke Senior? To entertain the group? To lighten the mood?

Enter ROSALIND for Ganymede, CELIA for Aliena, and TOUCHSTONE ROSALIND O Jupiter, how weary are my spirits! The 1936 Old Vic Theatre production starring Edith Evans and the 1961 Shakespeare Memorial Theatre production starring Vanessa Redgrave. In the 12th Century the Royal Forests became means for raising money, though fines and other mechanisms. Nobilty could buy leases from the Crown to farm areas of the Forest. The names of many villages in the Arden area end with "ley" or "leigh", a Saxon suffix meaning "woodland clearing", and these settlements may have been cleared in Saxon times.