How Does Rosalind Change Throughout The Play

As You Like It is one of the best comedy works of William Shakespeare. The stories in the play deal with hate, love, deception. Rosalind, who is the daughter of expelled Duke became attached and in love with Orlando who is the disowned son of the Duke’s friend. Rosalinda was expelled by her uncle Duke Frederick, who was in power illegally. She went to the forest of Arden where her father and his friend lived and she was accompanied by her cousin Celia and the fool Touchstone. Rosalinda disguised herself as boy and called herself Ganymede. At end of the play four marriages took place including Rosalinda and Orlando and the wicked characters became good. Oliver became warmhearted and compassionate and the Duke changed and became a religions
person so that Rosalind’s father can rule again. Scholar Mark Bracher’s article “Contrary Notions of Identity in As You Like It” gives a highly critiqued evaluation and the correlation between inclusive and exclusive characters in the play. Bracher accepts and backed Shakespeare’s inclination of inclusive over the exclusive perspective. Bracher describes how Shakespeare uses disguise to encourage greater inclusiveness, how Shakespeare uses exclusive elements of satiric comedy as an agent of inclusiveness and how he converts characters from their exclusive identity to an inclusive identity. Rosalind, who is the daughter of expelled Duke became attached and in love with Orlando who is the disowned son of the Duke’s friend and who is also is trying to escape from his brother who wants to kill him.
Rosalinda was expelled by her uncle Duke Frederick, who was in power illegally. She went to the forest of Arden where her father and his friends lived and she was accompanied by her cousin Celia who is Duke Frederick’s daughter and the fool Touchstone. Rosalinda disguised herself as boy and called herself Ganymede. She used her disguise to test Orlando’s true motives and emotions. The forest of Arden is a residence for many different characters. Oliver changed his evil manners and marries Celia and Orlando marries Rosalind. At the end Duke Frederick became religious person and allowed Duke senior to rule once
again.
Shakespeare uses disguise to develop and change his characters to became more inclusive.
Disguise is a very important element of comedies such as As You like it because it allows for entertaining misconceptions of identity and comedic scenarios that would otherwise not have occurred. Bracher states, “The greater inclusiveness promoted by As You Like It is enhanced not only by the jarring of the fool but also by the disguise or role-playing the characters engage in. Like puns and wit, disguise in Shakespeare’s comedy fosters inclusiveness in the audiences as well as in the characters” (235). Rosalinda, pretending to be a young man called Ganymede, meets with her (Rosalinda’s) love interest, Orlando, to give him advice on how to woo Rosalind(herself). Orlando is under the impression that Rosalind is a man called Ganymede, therefore he is willing to express his deepest desires. Similarly, Oliver’s love for is Celia is proven to be genuine by the presence of Celia’s shepherdess disguise, because she can be certain that he loves her and not for her status. Bracher indicated that “In love, one adopts the perspective of the other: when the other is injured, one hurts; when the other is happy, one is joyful.” (234). Orlando could not achieve this kind unselfish and internal love if it was not for
Rosalind. Shakespeare also break apart inclusive identities of characters and converts them into inclusive characters. Bracher deduces that “the main purpose in attacking an exclusive self is to open it up and allow it to achieve the fullness of its being in relatedness with other selves, a goal which finds expression in a denouement of conversion and inclusion rather than dominance” (235). This is apparent in Oliver’s conversion from evil and cruel person to a good and loving brother in the forest of Arden. This transformation took place because Orlando saved Oliver life from the snake and the hungry lioness. Oliver acknowledges that the comment they heard of him were true “I do not shame to tell you what I was, since my conversion so sweetly tastes, being the thing I am” (Shakespeare 183). Bracher states that satirical comedies give a lot power to dominance to the inclusive character which eventually leads to their downfall. Shakespeare allows the characters to participate in conversion in a way that the relates with the audience. Oliver’s transformation was able to happened only because of Orlando’s “kindness, nobler ever than revenge, and nature, stronger than his just occasion” which resulted in him battling a lion and saving his brother who was doomed for death (183). During the whole of the play, Shakespeare uses typical satiric elements like the clown, to act as an agents of inclusiveness for the people he encounters. Touchstone shares his experiences with other characters which helps them to embrace new ideas and understand different views of other people and which eventually leads them to gain an inclusive identity. , “ In Shakespeare’s hands, however, the wit and opposition of Touchstone functions not as ends in themselves but as means to a greater relatedness among selves… a truly inclusive self necessarily embraces a plurality of perspectives” (233). Touchstone explains the rulebook for arguing and he taught Jaques the seven steps of the argument. He told the him that you can avoid the last step if you properly use the word “if” and how this amazing word can be used to end arguments. He also told him that the word “if is the only peacemaker and that it an extremely important word. Touchstone’s great knowledge and experience forced Jaques who is one of the most exclusive character to accept Touchstones knowledge when he said, “Is not this a rare fellow, my lord? He’s as good at anything and yet a fool” (Shakespeare 187). Bracher admits that the use of Touchstone’s clever knowledge is to present inclusive and exclusive characters to different ideas and point of views. In traditional comedy, the fool is used to advocate for exclusive identity but for Shakespeare comedy, the fool is used as an agent of inclusiveness. “Contrary Notions of Identity in As You Like It” is a carefully considered and well-formed essay that explains and compares Shakespeare’s inclusive and exclusive characters. Bracher’s describes how Shakespeare’s changed traditional satiric element and turn them into an agent of inclusiveness, he ability to convert his exclusive characters into inclusive characters, and his use of disguise to achieve inclusiveness bolsters his status as a genius.