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  • Essay / Love as you like it from a different angle

    Pastoralism as a literary device thrives on the juxtaposition of city life and country life. Pastors often emphasize that the burdens of the city can be lightened and clarified by a trip to the therapeutic environment of the country. A sense of balance and rightness is often restored either through personal reflection or through conversations with uncorrupted shepherds. Stays in these socially detached regions allow everyone to “explore ideas and play roles – on their own terms and for their own amusement” (Leggatt 192). Through the characters of Rosalind and Orlando in his comic play As You Like It, William Shakespeare suggests that to find true happiness, one must visit the forest and free oneself from the constraints of the world. City life weighs down the two protagonists of As You Like It with customs and social conventions, as illustrated by their initially tense and stumbling speeches. By extracting themselves from the stifling urban environment, both are able to openly embrace and develop their love in the Forest of Arden. The lessons learned and emotions expressed in the forest (without the restrictions of social conventions and expectations) extend far beyond the edge of the forest: they have always existed and simply needed to be revealed in a clear light . Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”? Get an original essayWhether it is because of their embarrassment in expressing their undying love for each other or the social norms that appease such explosions, Orlando and Rosalind’s “love” the dialogue at court is at best hesitant, fumbling, and timid” (Leggatt 194). Orlando, a character previously known for being quite eloquent and verbose when expressing his emotions to his brother, discovers that he has "weights on [his] tongue" and is "knocked down" by love, unable to talk to the beautiful Rosalind when she presses him. conference (AYLI.I.II.244-246). Love is described as “a power more oppressive than liberating,” as Shakespeare emphasizes using a number of conquering images (Leggatt 194). Likewise, Rosalind is amazed by her new love. To Celia's plea that "Cupid have mercy" on her cousin has "not a word," Rosalind admits that she has "not one to throw at a dog" (AYLI. I.III. 1-3). Throughout this scene, Celia moves the conversation forward, while Rosalind hesitantly – although tenderly – reveals her interest in the young man. Seen through this window, covered in the dust of outdated conventions and the grime of hesitation, the future of Orlando and Rosalind's relationship appears murky and unpromising. After being driven from civilization by threat or banishment, the two characters are forced to seek refuge in the forest. Upon entering the forest, they shed their inhibitions, enjoying "considerable freedom of imagination in the forest" while finding themselves in a "place of testing and education" (Leggatt 191). In direct contrast to his former inarticulacy, Orlando “finds his language, in astonishingly ornate and structured verses,” littering the forest sanctuary with heartfelt poems “in testimony of [his] love” for Rosalind (Leggatt 195, AYLI.III.II 1, 122-151). His ability not only to express his love, but to do so in such a vulnerable way and in such a public forum, reveals a man uninhibited by personal and social reservations, capable of a level of self-expression that does not is only updated upon entering the woods. Furthermore, while Celia had once dominated and guided the conversation about Orlando, Rosalind, as Ganymede, "takes.