Sign in with Facebook
Darwin8u's Reviews > As You Like It
As You Like It (The Pelican Shakespeare)
by
by
"All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:"
-- William Shakespeare, As You Like It, Act 2, Scene 7
'As You Like It' has many things to commend it as a play. It is entertaining and filled with fantastic lines. It contains many of Shakespeare's favorite tropes: gender bending, mistaken/hidden identities, family squabbles/usurpation, love/lust, revenge, etc. It starts off well too -- but in the end, for me, it just sort of fizzles and farts out a bit. Limps out, perhaps, is a better way of stating it. Surrenders to an almost contrived and overly neat "happy Hymen ending". THIS is Shakespeare at his most fit. He is at the top of his game. This play, however, seems to be a bit phoned in at the end. Perhaps, Shakespeare knew he was about to deliver Hamlet.
Also, to be fair, this play does GET a lot of play. It is a crowd pleaser. A romance. A fancy. So, perhaps I'm just wanting him, unfairly, to hit home runs every time at bat. Mostly, I was displeased with how easily the villains (if you could call them that) turned. What? Suddenly, out of the blue Oliver de Boys sees the light? What? And all it takes is for Duke Frederick to run into a hermit in the woods and becomes religious. Ok. Weak, but OK.
Also, I'm not a big fan of music in Shakespeare's plays. Some probably dig it. I'm not in that camp.
Here are, however, some of my favorite lines, as you like:
-- "Always the dullness of the fool is the whetstone of the wits." (Act I, Scene 2)
-- "I earn that I eat, get that I wear,
owe no man hate,
envy no man's happiness,
glad of other men's good,
content with my harm." (Act 3, Scene 2)
-- "Time travels in divers paces with divers persons." (Act 3, Scene 2)
-- "Men are April when they woo, December when they wed: maids are May when they are maids, but the sky changes when they are wives." (Act 4, Scene 1)
-- "Oh! how bitter a thing it is to look into happiness through another man's eyes." (Act 5, Scene 2)
And all the men and women merely players:"
-- William Shakespeare, As You Like It, Act 2, Scene 7
'As You Like It' has many things to commend it as a play. It is entertaining and filled with fantastic lines. It contains many of Shakespeare's favorite tropes: gender bending, mistaken/hidden identities, family squabbles/usurpation, love/lust, revenge, etc. It starts off well too -- but in the end, for me, it just sort of fizzles and farts out a bit. Limps out, perhaps, is a better way of stating it. Surrenders to an almost contrived and overly neat "happy Hymen ending". THIS is Shakespeare at his most fit. He is at the top of his game. This play, however, seems to be a bit phoned in at the end. Perhaps, Shakespeare knew he was about to deliver Hamlet.
Also, to be fair, this play does GET a lot of play. It is a crowd pleaser. A romance. A fancy. So, perhaps I'm just wanting him, unfairly, to hit home runs every time at bat. Mostly, I was displeased with how easily the villains (if you could call them that) turned. What? Suddenly, out of the blue Oliver de Boys sees the light? What? And all it takes is for Duke Frederick to run into a hermit in the woods and becomes religious. Ok. Weak, but OK.
Also, I'm not a big fan of music in Shakespeare's plays. Some probably dig it. I'm not in that camp.
Here are, however, some of my favorite lines, as you like:
-- "Always the dullness of the fool is the whetstone of the wits." (Act I, Scene 2)
-- "I earn that I eat, get that I wear,
owe no man hate,
envy no man's happiness,
glad of other men's good,
content with my harm." (Act 3, Scene 2)
-- "Time travels in divers paces with divers persons." (Act 3, Scene 2)
-- "Men are April when they woo, December when they wed: maids are May when they are maids, but the sky changes when they are wives." (Act 4, Scene 1)
-- "Oh! how bitter a thing it is to look into happiness through another man's eyes." (Act 5, Scene 2)
Sign into Goodreads to see if any of your friends have read
As You Like It.
Sign In »
Reading Progress
February 27, 2017
– Shelved as:
to-read
February 27, 2017
– Shelved
July 26, 2017
–
Started Reading
July 26, 2017
– Shelved as:
2017
July 26, 2017
–
Finished Reading
August 15, 2017
– Shelved as:
shakespeare
January 27, 2018
– Shelved as:
drama
Comments Showing 1-4 of 4 (4 new)
date
newest »
newest »
message 1:
by
Kenny
(new)
-
rated it 4 stars
Jul 26, 2017 04:15PM
This is one of my favorites of the the Bard. It's pure entertainment. When people ask me where to start when beginning to read Shakespeare AS YOU LIKE IT is my suggestion.
reply
|
flag
Kenny wrote: "This is one of my favorites of the the Bard. It's pure entertainment. When people ask me where to start when beginning to read Shakespeare AS YOU LIKE IT is my suggestion."I DO think it is fun. I just don't think it is perfect Shakespeare because he folds away the opposition so easily. He quiets the rub, the scratch, the hitch, without a whimper.
Darwin, you put a happy face on it. I chuckled throughout the reading/watching of this play because I knew Shakespeare was not trying at all to innovate. I missed the chronology with Hamlet. I knew Twelfth Night was coming (this play was simply a dry-run for that one), but damn Hamlet was coming too! Tombstone and Jacques stole every scene they were in.
Ken wrote: "Darwin, you put a happy face on it. I chuckled throughout the reading/watching of this play because I knew Shakespeare was not trying at all to innovate. I missed the chronology with Hamlet. I knew..."Yeah, I really loved their lines and machine-gun delivery.
