William Shakespeare's As you like it / edited and with an introduction by Harold Bloom.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Bloom, Harold.

Horace Howard Furness Memorial Library (University of Pennsylvania)

Series:

Bloom's modern critical interpretations

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616. As you like it.

Shakespeare, William.

Comedy.

Physical Description:

vii, 237 pages ; 24 cm.

Other Title:

As you like it

Place of Publication:

Philadelphia : Chelsea House, 2004.

Summary:

Elizabethan drama's richest decade culminated in Shakespeare's As You Like It. Likely written in 1598, the play also stands as one of Shakespeare's last and greatest romantic comedies, free of the darker, more decadent overtones of his other late comedy, Twelfth Night. Rosalind, the ebullient heroine of As You Like It, is largely responsible for the style and spirit of this mature work. Shrewd in intellect and unmatchable in speech, Rosalind nevertheless seeks out an ideal lover in the person of Orlando; to him she directs her memorable wooing, disguised (and thus emboldened) as the boy Ganymede. Both lovers are exiles in the Forest of Arden, a "golden world" where identities and relationships can prosper. The setting reminds us that As You Like It is Shakespeare's lone example of a pastoral drama.

Contents:

The Alliance of Seriousness and Levity in As You Like It / C.L. Barber 5

Existence in Arden / Ruth Nevo 21

Sexual Politics and Social Structure in As You Like It / Peter Erickson 39

The Education of Orlando / Marjorie Garber 59

Mimetic Rivalry in As You Like It / Rene Girard 73

Active Ritual Drama and As You Like It / Ted Hughes 89

The Political Consciousness of Shakespeare's As You Like It / Andrew Barnaby 99

What Is Pastoral? Mode, Genre, and Convention / Paul Alpers 121

As You Like It: The Invention of the Human / Harold Bloom 143

Locating the Visual in As You Like It / Martha Ronk 165

As You Like It

A 'Robin Hood' Play / Robert Leach 189

As You Like It, Rosalynde, and Mutuality / Nathaniel Strout 199.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 223-226) and index.

ISBN:

0791075753

OCLC:

52208765