As You Like It emphasizes the importance of these human connections instead of relying in the plot. In other words, while in other plays Shakespeare makes his plot the driven force of the plays, As You Like It, strengthens the relevance of the relationships between the main characters to subsequently create a plot that is entertaining, but yet of moral value. In this following essay, I will focus on the relationships between the main characters of the play, as well as the message these relationships are trying to show and teach the audience.
As You Like It is one of the most known plays in Shakespeare’s collection, not only because it is one of the most popular within its audience, but because it drifts away from the obscure traditional dramas that Shakespeare has us used to. As You Like It is considered to be a comedy, this means that the play embodies a sense of happiness, and a feeling that we can meet and master the changes in one’s life. A comedy has the tendency to start with a sad and conflicted beginning and end with a happy, and sometimes surreal ending. This is pretty much the case in As You Like It, in the beginning of the play we see the conflict of Rosalind whose father has been exiled to the forest by her uncle.Although her father was forced to leave the court she was able to stay as she maintained a close and nurturing relationship with her cousin Celia. As you can see the beginning of the play is introduced to us as a major conflict but as the play progresses we see how the relationships between the characters give the plot a drastic change, as it deviates the reader’s attention from the conflict.
I will like to start this analysis by talking about the relationship that in my opinion is the most pivotal and imperative in the play, this would be the relationship between Rosalind and Celia. Rosalind and Celia’s relationship is a representation of warmth, sisterhood and loyalty. Shakespeare uses these two characters to deliver a message of unity and family value. We need to understand that in every play Shakespeare tries to use his characters to represent an aspect of society that he finds fundamental or in some cases corrupted. In this case, Rosalind and Celia are a clear representation of loyalty and friendship, as well as women empowerment as he introduced these characters as powerful and independent women. This is clearly stated in the following statement said by Celia:
shall we part, sweet girl?
No; let my father seek another heir. (Kindle Locations 294-296)
As we can see this fragment in the play is demonstrating the loyalty and love Celia shows and feels for her cousin in the play. In this case, Shakespeare shows the reader that the bond that they indeed share is unbreakable and so pure that Celia is willing to give up her social status, her father and all her other commodities in order to support her cousin. Shakespeare creates this relationship in the play to deliver a moral value, in other words to emphasize the importance of family bondage, as well of loyalty. Celia’s and Rosalind’s relationship also delivers a sense of feminism. I say this because we can clearly see the support between these two young women who constantly are defying the odds.
Overall the play talks about the different types of relationships humans have with each other, encompassing greed, love and sibling rivalry. What I like the most about this play is that it completely relatable to the times we live in.
