Sunday, September 15, 2019
Politics and Hierarchy in Shakespeares As You like It Essay
In William Shakespeare’s play, As you Like It, there are lots of interesting themes which both drive the action and speak to the culture that the author lived in. Among those interesting themes are the classic Shakespearean ideal of love, issues dealing with family relationships, and perhaps more importantly, politics and hierarchy. In this comedy, the dichotomy between certain characters becomes evident early on and continues for the entirety of the work. Over time, the reader comes to understand that many of the decisions made by Orlando and Oliver in their conflict are due to the perceived hierarchy of the society and the politics that would result from the decisions. In addition, the relationship between Duke Frederick and Duke Senior is one that explores lots of hierarchical themes associated with living in England at the time. These pertinent examples and more are explored in a light, intellectual way throughout the play.            Politics and hierarchy are primarily relevant when one considers the relationships between the various characters. One important plot aspect is the relationship between Orlando and Oliver. Orlando is a victim of circumstance and he is fully aware of his plight. In a way, he is a sympathetic character that has no recourse in trying to make his situation better. In his relationship with his older brother, Orlando is constantly under emotional torment from Oliver. Their conflict is at the heart of the story and it is an important theme throughout. Where does this conflict come from? Ultimately, it is the result of a decision that was made by the father of the two boys. Oliver received the inheritance from the father and took advantage of the land in his father’s estate. From that, there exists a hierarchical battle between the two brothers for the rest of their life.            The stark contrast in the hierarchy is best represented by these two brothers because the example is so pure. Oliver is different from Orlando not only because he owns the estate, but also because he has other advantages that put him above Orlando in social status. During the comedy, there are many times when Orlando can be found telling his servant Adam that Oliver refuses to educate him and provide anything for him. Though the reader does not know much about the relationship of the brothers before their father died, one can reasonably infer that they had a decent relationship. Once Oliver elevated himself to a greater status in the hierarchy, he not only abandoned Orlando, but even took the initiative to make his brother’s life harder. This even comes to a violent head when the two brothers engage in a fight when Oliver comes to see Orlando. Orlando gets the better of that conflict and makes sure that Oliver understands that. Since this is a comedy, Shakespeare makes sure that the conflict between the brothers is presented in a sarcastic nature that the readers can enjoy. Clearly, Orlando makes light of his own plight and even makes a comment about his relatively low status in comparison to his brother. In the play, Orlando remarks to Oliver, â€Å"I am helping you to mar that which God made, a poor, unworthy brother of yours, with idleness†(Shakespeare). This sarcasm is put into the play to provide a light moment, but it also represents the fact that Oliver looks upon his brother as being something of a joke.            There is another hierarchical aspect of their relationship that must be considered. During that time, there was a huge gap in education for the wealthy and the poor. As such, those with money could go to the few schools that existed, while people without money had to learn skills in order to survive. From this, a certain perception began to exist that colored uneducated people as being somewhat barbaric. This interesting dichotomy is presented well by Shakespeare, as he attempts to inform the reader that Orlando is both a better fighter and a more vindictive person, while his brother Oliver was much more cultured. This was one of the many ways that people were separated by class during that time. It was all based upon money, wealth, and power, but other things came as a result of that.            As only Orlando’s brother, Oliver should have never taken a role of sovereignty over him. Instead, their relationship should have still existed like a normal one during that time. However, William Shakespeare uses the relationship between the two brothers in this play as a means of displaying his own political thoughts during the time. A Paul Yachnin article published in the HighBeam Encyclopedia indicates the fact that Shakespeare did this in many of his plays. In that article, Yachnin writes, â€Å"In the play, the political and social relations between masters and their subjects places loyalty at the center of the system of relations devoted to instituting a regime of absolutist politics†(Yachnin). The loyalty between the brothers is at the center of their conflict, as Orlando feels that his brother has not been loyal to him because of social status. On the flip side of that, Oliver feels that Orlando should look up to him as something of a master, when in fact, they are just brothers. This is an interest dichotomy between the two characters that plays itself out in a series of fights, both physical and verbal.            In addition to the aforementioned hierarchy in Shakespeare’s play, politics also play a huge role in driving the action. Though politics are not a major player in the relationship between Orlando and Oliver, they do power the relationship between Duke Frederick and Duke Senior. In fact, this is one of the primary plot sequences that is very important to the storyline. Duke Frederick oversteps his bounds in this comedy, as he is not supposed to move to the top of the political latter over his brother. In English society at the time, people were locked into their roles in society. This was true even among the rich people. Though they were clearly above poor people in society, they had to worry about staying put in their position in the upper crust of the political scene. When Duke Frederick supplants Duke Senior in the political scene, a huge conflict is born. Interestingly, Shakespeare finds a creative way to intertwine the two separate stories, drawing connections between the social roles of the various characters in the story.            Politics play a substantial role in the plight of the two dukes because they cause Duke Senior to have to live somewhere else. When Duke Frederick takes the place of his older brother, there is no option that allows both of them to just live in harmony in the same area. Instead, Duke Senior is banished from the duchy and has to live with plain nobles in a wooded area. Though he did not get banished to living with the peasants who were living completely off of the land and good graces of the upper crust, Duke Senior did not get to take advantage of the life with which he had become accustomed. That is a very important theme for the story.            The Alan Bloom book, Shakespeare’s Politics, has an interesting take on the inner workings of how the author thought. There is lots of speculation about what sort of political thinker William Shakespeare was and the majority of that can be seen in his works. In As You Like It, it is clear that Shakespeare both searched for and figured out the answers to many of the most important questions of his day. According to Bloom, the author tosses harsh criticism on some of the systems that existed during his day (Bloom). Some examples of this include Shakespeare’s constant criticism of the class system, which he believed was bad for English society. While Shakespeare may have taken harder political stances in some of his other works like Julius Caesar, he certainly addresses the current landscape in each of his works. When dealing with the two Dukes in As you Like It, Shakespeare makes light of how their folly makes both of their lives more difficult. It was an interesting approach to take because most of the political thought during the time was breaking down the class distinctions between the reach and the poor. Very few authors or thinkers had even considered the politics that existed among the distinct groups. Shakespeare had the progressive vision to try his best to understand what sort of political motives drove advancement within certain social castes. In this comedy, he finds that even the rich jockey for position, as Duke Frederick used â€Å"creative†means to get rid of his older brother and take control of the power in the society.            Robin Headlam Wells wrote a book about how Shakespeare used politics as a major theme in his work. In the book, Shakespeare, Politics, and the State, Wells writes about how Shakespeare constantly uses the voices of his characters to present problems within the political and hierarchical system (Wells). In this particular comedy, the beauty of the work is that each of the characters has their own role in the madness that existed within the English political system at the time. He uses all of the characters to make it well known that no one individual person or individual group was affected less or more by the makeshift caste system that England used.            Shakespeare himself was one of the people who understood how the political system could impact just about everyone. In order to understand the uses in his book, one has to understand Shakespeare’s political opinions and his experiences with politics. One website indicated that, â€Å"Shakespeare knew people who had been arrested and tortured – friends and family members†(William-Shakespeare.org). This is interesting to consider in that he knew that people who did not have affluence had a hard time surviving in the current political system. As such, his criticisms of the current political system had to be somewhat hushed by the constant fear that he might be prosecuted for such comments. Given the fact that Shakespeare had family that had been the victim of political happenstance, it is interesting to consider his take on the dynamic of Orlando and Oliver. The author understood the plight of Orlando more so than he did the situation of Oliver, so in many ways, he favors Orlando in his writing.            As you Like It is an interesting play by William Shakespeare that addresses many different themes that were prevalent in English society during the time of the author. Among those are the common themes of politics and hierarchy. In his breakdown of the various relationship of individuals within the comedy, Shakespeare actually sheds a little bit of light on what it might have been like to live in England during that time.  Works Cited Alexander, Catherine. Shakespeare and Politics. 13 September 2004.  Cambridge University Press. Bloom, Allan. Shakespeare’s Politics. 1 December 1996. Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press. Shakespeare, William. As You Like It. Wells, Robin Headlam. Shakespeare Politics and State. December 1986. Palgrave McMillan Publishing. William Shakespeare and Elizabethan Politics. http://www.william-shakespeare.org.uk/william-shakespeare-politics.htm Yachnin, Paul. High Beam Encyclopedia. Shakespeare’s Politics and Loyalty. 22 March 1993. http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-14363559.html Â
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