Pastoral Passions

Pastoral Passions[SM1]

"As You Like It" depicts four idealized pastoral romances. Eight characters are swiftly introduced, first to the audience, then to each other, and somehow manage to pair off and fall in love like magic.

Celia and Oliver experience "love at first sight." These two characters really have very little reason to love each other, yet it happens. Celia and Oliver are both enfranchised members of society's elite, who happen to be close to the disenfranchised elite, and that is about where the similiarity ends. Celia is sweet and playful. She seems to enjoy nothing more than idling away her days with Rosalind, living only for sport. Oliver, on the other hand, is caustic and cruel. He mistreats his brother, and his hobbies include long walks on the beach, the outdoors, and plotting fratricide[SM2] . There is no reason for these two people to be even attracted to each other, much less in love, yet it happens. Immediately after these two characters meet, they are proclaiming their love for each other. It is interesting to note that these characters met in the forest, not at court. In the pastoral forest, everyone lives at harmony with one another and nature, so falling so easily in love is perfectly natural. Pastoral romance is the fast food of love[SM3] .

A more advanced romance occurs between Rosalind and Orlando. While they do experience love at first sight like their relatives, they are not necessarily incompatible. They are both members in poor standing of noble families, and they both spend most of their time moping about how unfair their lives have been to them. When they meet, they are instantly smitten with each other, but are unable to express it. Here the pastoral idealization of nature grows more apparent, as he is able to compose poem after poem to Rosalind's beauty. Rosalind is similarly befuddled in the court, but out in the woods, she devises a plan to plumb the depths of Orlando's love, while accidentally bringing Silvius and Phebe together. Nature is the land of love, where passions blossom as naturally as flowers[SM4] .

Next is the relationship between Touchstone the clown and Audrey. This romance demonstrates the courtship ritual and all the accompanying oddity. From Touchstone's asides, one can surmise that his motives are not entirely honest and loving, but he does pursue her with great fervor. He fills her simple mind with all sorts of romantic notions, and talks circles around her with his fancy courtier's speech, and she falls for it. Even when he appears to be making fun of her, she plays along with the romance. In the forest, even this seemingly sinister attempt to take advantage of a simple country girl works itself out. When Touchstone is challenged by William, the clown uses his wit to defend his love, ultimately threatening to kill the challenger "a hundred and fifty ways." In the forest, everything works out, and even this mismatched pair ends up in joyous nuptials.

Finally, there is the one sided love between Sylvius and Phebe. Phebe, a strong, aggressive woman, is put off by weak Sylvius' pining and mooning. It takes a strong man, a real man's man, to tame her angry heart, a man like Rosalind[SM5] . This love triangle is purely comic. Rosalind, the ultimate tease, drags Phebe's heart along by constantly rebuking her, while Sylvius trails along in Phebe's wake, relentlessly professing his love. Phebe horribly mistreats Sylvius, tricking him into serving as the messenger between Phebe and the man who would be his replacement, yet Sylvius dauntlessly loves her. Ultimately, Rosalind punishes Phebe for her arrogance, but this is pastoral, and in the woods, so everything must work out. Phebe's "punishment" is marriage to a man who loves her dearly, so even this has a happy ending.

Shakespeare's "As You Like It" is a shining example of the pastoral philosophy. People who should hate each other love, laugh, and play together in the forest, and everything magically works out in the end[SM6] .