The Theme of Education in Shakespeare's Comedies
Both As You Like It and The Taming of The Shrew involve the theme of education in their content in a variety of ways. The themes take place under varying conditions, and come to the fore in the plays under varying guises, some times in a literal sense, other times in the form of witty arguments or shows of intellect. The predominant sense in which it underlies both plays is in the ‘tutor-apprentice’ relationship: as a means to instruct on certain social codes or understandings of love. The essay will handle each play separately as each one has its own humour and nuances which cannot be separated from their context, yet it will also compare the main theme of the essay by comparing the two couples: Katherina and Petruchio, and Bianca and Orlando.
The farcical tutoring of Bianca, by her two competing lovers Hortensio and Lucentio, can be viewed as a parody of conventional methods of education. In order to court her in secret both suitors dress up as private tutors as a ploy for their romantic intentions. This method of education is clearly a contrast to the taming which Petruchio exhibits towards Katherina, and it proves less successful. In an attempt to educate Katherina, the immediate result is Hortensio walking in with a broken Lute and damaged head, having caused a stir by the ambivalent meaning of his instructions. Shakespeare employs the word 'fret' as a pun to mean either the metal bars which indicate notes along the lute's neck, or to complain.
Lucentio proves to be the more succesful tutor of the two, outsmarting Hortensio by his witty jests towards his lute, which is taking Hortensio too long to tune. Unfortunately for Hortensio, his choice of instrument was unwise as the lute is known to be a difficult instrument to tune. Thereupon being told to 'Spit in the hole', the joke plays upon the nature of spit as a means to clean or tune the instrument, whereas in the meaning of his expression Lucentio is trying to suggest something to worsen his rivals situation. Hortensio's retort is equally witty, when having been told twice that his treble string 'jars' he replies with a doubled pun '...'tis the base knave that jars'. The tutors attempt to reveal their disguises in secret through the medium of their subject-matter, Lucentio presents a wrong translation of Ovid's verse, and Hortensio adds his own learning to the musical scales. The fact that neither tutor, nor Bianca are interested in what is being taught, makes the purpose of teaching seem to be no more than a means to a greater end. Bianca is also adamant in her refusal to be forced into learning:
I am no breeching scholar in the schools,
I'll not be tied to hours nor 'pointed times,
But learn my lessons as I please myself. (3.1.17-20)
This may be viewed as a reflection of Tranio's views earlier in the play that learning must be in balance with pleasure when he states that: 'No profit grows where is no pleasure ta'en. In brief, sir, study what you most affect'. Having proved to be no more than a farce, the failure of conventional teaching leaves open the question of how education is best achieved, the answer to which is evidently, as the title suggests, through taming or domestication.
Bianca: The taming-school? What, is there such a place?
Tranio: Ay, Mistress, and Petruchio is the master,
That teaches tricks eleven and twenty long,
To tame a shrew and charm her chattering tongue. (4.2.54-57)
Aside from being a humerous episode in itself, this parody of academic learning acts as a stark contrast to the methods of tutoring which Petruchio employs in his taming of Katherina. The subtle gestures of Lucentio and Hortensio in the art of poetry and music appear to have no great effect on Bianca, in particular when compared with the harsh and domineering means by which Petruchio tames Katherina. Petruchio believes that his experience in natural adversity and peril will make her quarrelsome taunts seem like nothing:
Think you a little din can dent mine ears?
Have I not in my time hear lions roar?
Have I not heard the sea, puff'd up with winds
Rage like an angry boar chafed with sweat? (2.1.199-201)
It is thus Petruchio’s decision to take up the task of educating Kate to make her socially acceptable:
This is a way to kill a wife with kindness,
And thus I'll curb her mad and headstrong humour (4.1.197-199)
His first response is to appear impenetrable to her curses appearing ignorant of her shrewishness. From their first meeting, he ignores her request to call her katherine. After having being told to call her Katherine he starts to repeat her name, with special notice of the consonance, repeating it ten times. Petruchio responds to her attacks by turning them against her in a sickly-sweet, almost perverted manner of speech such as when she calls him a 'joint-stool' he merely remarks 'Thou hast it. Come sit on me', or immediately afterwards he makes a pun on the word 'bear', as in the sense of a woman giving birth. His wittiness outdoes her taunts again in the same passage when plays with the meaning of 'tails' and 'tongues', infuriating her both by his confrontational manner and explicit sexual imagery.
Aside from acting impregnable in her presence, Petruchio also gives her a taste of her own medicine when he starts to behave impatiently and brazenly towards his servants at his countryside home, 'The taming-school'. By complaining and shouting orders, he hopes to confuse Katherina even to the point where she intervenes and says 'I pray you, husband, be not so disquiet'. His overt politness, as if showering kisses on her is enough to confuse her as to whom she is, a gesture which can be compared with the induction when Sly starts to question his identity
Sly: What, would you make me mad? Am not I
Christopher Sly, old Sly's son of Burton-heath, by
birth a pedlar, by education a card-tamer, by
transmutation a bear-herd, and now by present
professional tinker? (Ind.2.16-20)
It appears that insanity of Sly’s position must resemble that of Katherina's when Petruchio says to her
Thou canst not frown, thou canst not look askance,
Nor bite the lip, as angry wenches will,
Nor hast thou pleasure to be cross in talk.
But thy mildness entertain'st thy wooer,
with gentle conference, soft and affable. (2.1.241-245)
Petruchio is denying the very character she is and throwing a new light on her. It is Petruchio who is making a fool of himself, whilst making it clear that his judgements of Katherina are false and subtely ironic. As their marriage relationship passes on, one can see evidence of Petruchio's grip on her chracter tightening up on her sanity. At the end of Act 4 he asserts his power in quarrel over what time the married couple should leave to Baptista's house when he states.
I will not go today, and ere I do,
It shall be what o'clock Isays it is.
Hortensio: Why, so this gallant will comand the sun (4.3.190-193)
Hortensio joke is carreid further, when in Act 5.5 he corrects her twice as to whether the light which is so bright to Katherine is the moon or the sun, even though he knows it cant be neither. The subversion of Katherine now is gradually starting to work, even though the form of education is more like the domestication of a wild animal than of a school-child such as Bianca. His megalomaniac control of what is and isn't, as for example, the sun or moon, expresses his intentions of taming her like falcon in Act 4.1.
To make her come and know her keeper's call,
That is, to watch her, as we watch these kites
That bate and beat will not be obedient.
She ate no meat today, nor none shall eat;
Last night she slept not, nor tonight she shall not. (4.1.181-185)
Petruchio's unorthodox tutoring shows its success in the last scene of the play, when Katherine wins a bet as to which of the three women will respond to their masters call the first. This game of calling wives to show their obedience, is on par with a chauvinist game of testing the obedience of their servant, hawk, or other trained animal. Throughout the course their wives are referred to as 'deer', 'birds', or 'greyhound', and to compliment, Katherina success in the bet shows the apparent merits of Petruchio's training school. Her speech at the end shows a drastic change in her view of the role of a wife, expressed as the husband would have held it.
And when she is froward, peevish, sullen, sour,
And not obedient to his honest will,
What is she but a foul contending rebel,
And graceless traitor to her loving lord? (5.2.158-161)
She has recognised her role in society as the humbling housewife, cherishing her husband, and not acting like a traitor to him. The idea of traitor is suggestive of governement, again indicating the subeversion of the wife to husband under strict rule. By 'killing her in her own humour' Petruchio has managed to confuse Katherina and thereby, almsot subconscioussly indoctrinated her with the social role of a suitable housewife. He has achieved this by constantly presenting her with an image of a suitable and romantic woman and playing her role as uncontrollable and audacious. These tricks he employs, while testing for her obedience like a hawk or trained animal throughout the play. This vivid image of a confused shrew, and her 'one half lunatic' husband is often time humerous, as evident in their battles of wit, or wild dress codes, such as when Petruchio comes in dressed in a manner unsuitable for a husband, or starts to lose his temper with the tailor and haberdasher. The clash between two headstrong individuals is always a source for amusement, and the play seems to suggest even more so if one is to be a married woman. Katherinas sharp tongue, which is melted by Petruchio's playful compliments makes Patruchio stand out as a lunatic but also give Katherina a good match for her personality. It also evokes a slight feeling of the tragic however when one realises that the strength of character which Katherina displays is merely her own folly, when she is forced to retreat as a role of humble and obedient housewife. For many the comparison of Katherina with a undomesticated animal may be viewed as being too 'wide' a joke.
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As means for the adapting to social norms, the metamorphosis of a character’s personality through the help of another, education plays a similar role in 'As You Like It. Although the theme as a subject is dealt less literally (there are no formal education scenes) in this pastoral play, the role of Rosalind an a social instructor in the art of love is comparable to that of Petruchio's role as educator in The Taming of The Shrew. Rosalind plays the tutor of Orlando, in guise of a man. The notion of 'proper upbringing' and acceptable behaviour is a key theme in As You Like It, in particular the conflict between the 'courtly' upbringing of a citizen and the 'country' upbringing of shepherds and village-folk.
The merits of living in the countryside are pointed out by the banished Duke, in passage where he compares the nature of beauty with the benefits of learning, personifying the landscape in a serious of innocent comparisons, saying that the natural environment cannot harm as 'the envious court', for in nature nothing is aimed defeat but to strengthen ones character: 'Sweet are the uses of adversity'. As a 'natural philosopher' he still holds a credible position, as he is able to find '...tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, Sermons in stones, and good in everything' (2.1.16-17). The pastoral setting of the play, suggests the innocence and subtle humour of the characters who immerse themselves in its life 'exempt from public haunt'.
Indeed, touchstone's courtly humour and distaste of nature can be held against him when he engages in an interrogation of learning with the Shepherd Corin. Touchstone role helps to reflect the opinions of those brought up in a 'courtly' manner in an ironic sense, as he is the first to complain about the simplicity of the landscape and how little it feeds his intellect, a remark which might have been expected of Orlando, Rosalind, or Celia. However it is only touchstone who is complaining, as the others have meanwhile started to take pleasure in the jovial qualities of the forest. Touchstones disgust only makes a mockery of himself however, although not without leaving traces of irony on those he mocks. Hs response To Corin's question as to what he views of the shepherds life reveals some of the negative aspects of living in the countrside, but portrayed in a humorous light. He finds it bad 'in that it is private' possibly because it offers little chance for wooing, and he finds it tedious because it is not in court, with an allusion to the tiring labour involved in shepherds or farm-labourers work.
His perversion and corruption of Corin's example of the innocence, claiming that the country life is 'dirty' in bestial way serves to parody his own warped imagination, and not the real life style: After having been giving a list of the pleasures of country life by Corin he immediately corrupts the, dry innocence of Corin’s naiveté when he states.
...the greatest of my pride is to see my ewes graze and my lambs suck.
Touchstone: that is another simple sin in you, to bring the ewes
and the rams together and to offer to get your living by
the copulation of cattle... (3.2.74-77)
The comparison between courtly wittiness and country wit brings out a lively discussion between Corin and Touchstone in the same scene. Corin's simplistic knowledge of the causation in nature, 'and that a great cause of the night is lack of the sun', verily prepares the audience for an ironic statement by Touchstone, who compliments Corin 'Such a one is a natural philosopher.' The term 'natural' in this case is one having several meanings: either as one who deals with the philosophy or the laws of nature, or a person whom philosophy comes naturally, or as it is most likely to be meant, as a philosopher who comes from a countryside life. The subtle interplay of meanings draws a contrast between the 'courtly' wittiness of touchstone and simple 'wits' of Corin, and the latter is more of a bait for any patronising than is to be taken seriously in the scene. The contention of shaking hands is held as unclean by the shepherd folk, while Touchstone compels him for a better answer after stating. 'And is not the grease of a mutton as wholesome as the sweat of a man? Shallow, shallow.' (3.2.52-54).
If the audience is taken too far aback by touchstone verbose opinions of the country lifestyle and slight condescending manner towards Corin, then the antithesis to balance the quation would come in the role of the melancholy Jaques. Immediately after the Duke has spoken with such sincerity about the advantages of living in the forest, Jaques is cited as an example of exaggeration to the Dukes melancholic and romantic outlook on the pleasures of nature. Jaques is said to have wept over a dying deer, and then blamed the 'courtly' life for being the cause of death, the allusion can be viewed as an ironic statement, when the First Lord refers to his words:
Left and abandoned of his velvet friend,
''Tis right,' quoth he, 'thus misery doth part
The flux of company.' Anon a careles herd,
Full of the pasture, jumpsalong by him
And never stays togreet him: 'Ay,' quoth Jaques
'Sweep on you, fat and greasy citizens.(
His exaggerated mealncholy invokes a sense of shadenfruede as one images Jaques weeping over a dying deer and talking to animals with such a passion as is normally shown to dying friend or lover in human form. Again the notion of' 'fat and greasy citizen' arises as a reference to the well-fed and satisfied lives of 'citizens', comparable to grazing herds who never worry about needing shelter or protection. Jaques takes his defence of nature and the forest in the play to the extreme, helping to counteract Touchstone's witty stabs at its golden naiveté.
Once the characters are immersed in the forest, their roles and perosnalities start to intermingle and change as the plot loosens and each person start to meet the other at random occasions. The loosening of plot and timing, places emphasis on each characters own traits and their change, and the result is that social roles become ambiguous and can undergo changes. Rosalind, who appears as Ganymede takes the oppurtunity to take on a distinct role as a male adviser. This role reversal as a theme for the plays openness towards social position radically differs from that of The Taming of the Shrew. The role of instructor and apprentice being normally taken by the male is switched and Rosalind takes a similar role as Petruchio towards giving advice to their lover. Orlando, who is hopelessly lost in love and searches for it in the forest can be compared with Katherina, who is also unknowing in how to treat her partner. She attacks her own sex, giving Orlando precious advice on how to woo Rosalind properly, and although she loves him she is able to hide behind the mask in order to strengthen the bond. She states
...and I thank God I am not a
woman, to be touched by so many giddy offence as
he hath generally taxed their whole sex withal' (3.2.335.338)
Her attacks on women are possibly an ironic restatement of men's view of women or her own opinion. It appears strange that Rosalind must disguise as a man in order for her to be allowed to assert any opinions of her own sex however. Ganymede, unlike Petruchio serves to toughen Orlando up rather than soften his heart. She accuses him of not truly being in love for he has no sign of her uncle's mark on him, to prove so. This forces him to have to prove his love more. The notion of love is therefore challenged by her conscious devaluing of it, calling it a madness, or later denying that any lover would ever die for love as Orlando believes. While simultaneously loving Orlando, she openly disfigures his conception of love. She believes that she can cure him of this 'madness' by acting erratically, and being open towards all shapes of love:
At which time would I, being but a
moonish youth, grieve, be effeminate, changeable
longing and liking, proud, fantastical, apish, shallow,
inconstant...that I drave my suitor from his mad humour of
love to a living humour of madness. (3.3.390-393/401-402)
The interaction between Ganymede and Orlando act also as a form of release of opinions for Rosalind who, most probably having been taxed by many suitors in the past has a superior knowledge of it than the innocent Orlando. Like Katherina, Orlando falls silent as the instructor confuses the apprentice.
Rosalind also learns herself from witnessing the courtship of Phebe and Sylvius that love is not about worshipping the inaccessible, and in her next meeting with Orlando, expresses her cynical views about such overt dedication, immediately after
;men have died from
time to time and worms have eaten them, but not for
love. (4.1.96-99)
It therefore important for Rosalind that she develops her own, by far more liberal, concept of courtship through experience of it herself, before she gives advice to Orlando. Petruchio's experience however draws less from any direct experience with any other couple and is therefore merely a farce when he believes he will withstand any curses from Katherina.
Although both comedies bear resemblance to each other in that all characters join in union at the end and all problems are supposedly resolved, however the way it is achieved varies according to the plot, and device used in character development. The atmosphere of the Taming of the Shrew reflects one of strict social role, whereby each character is represented through their unique position in society, and the joke is on Katherina who is the centre of attention, being a deviation from the social norm. It is therefore the role of education to act as a social strait-jacket to help Katherina 'clean up her act', and it it is through the workings and failings of ths device from which the comedy takes most of its humour. As a contrast to this, As You Like It toys with the concept of interchanging of role and freely allows character to slip into other persoanlities. The man-woman role reversal allows gives Rosalind the opportunity to understand before she advises others, allowing her to mediate between couples like Phebe and Sylvius. In the latter, the type of humour appears far more liberal and politically correct as the characters, allowing room for subtler and yet more complex humour.
Bibliography
Williams Shakespeare, The Taming of The shrew, Arden Publishing, 2003
Williams Shakespeare, As You Like It, The New Penguin Shakespeare 1968
Clifford Leech, Twelfth Night and Shakespearian Comedy, Dalhousie University Press1965
J.I.M Stewart, Character and Motive in Shakespeare, Longman 1949
The farcical tutoring of Bianca, by her two competing lovers Hortensio and Lucentio, can be viewed as a parody of conventional methods of education. In order to court her in secret both suitors dress up as private tutors as a ploy for their romantic intentions. This method of education is clearly a contrast to the taming which Petruchio exhibits towards Katherina, and it proves less successful. In an attempt to educate Katherina, the immediate result is Hortensio walking in with a broken Lute and damaged head, having caused a stir by the ambivalent meaning of his instructions. Shakespeare employs the word 'fret' as a pun to mean either the metal bars which indicate notes along the lute's neck, or to complain.
Lucentio proves to be the more succesful tutor of the two, outsmarting Hortensio by his witty jests towards his lute, which is taking Hortensio too long to tune. Unfortunately for Hortensio, his choice of instrument was unwise as the lute is known to be a difficult instrument to tune. Thereupon being told to 'Spit in the hole', the joke plays upon the nature of spit as a means to clean or tune the instrument, whereas in the meaning of his expression Lucentio is trying to suggest something to worsen his rivals situation. Hortensio's retort is equally witty, when having been told twice that his treble string 'jars' he replies with a doubled pun '...'tis the base knave that jars'. The tutors attempt to reveal their disguises in secret through the medium of their subject-matter, Lucentio presents a wrong translation of Ovid's verse, and Hortensio adds his own learning to the musical scales. The fact that neither tutor, nor Bianca are interested in what is being taught, makes the purpose of teaching seem to be no more than a means to a greater end. Bianca is also adamant in her refusal to be forced into learning:
I am no breeching scholar in the schools,
I'll not be tied to hours nor 'pointed times,
But learn my lessons as I please myself. (3.1.17-20)
This may be viewed as a reflection of Tranio's views earlier in the play that learning must be in balance with pleasure when he states that: 'No profit grows where is no pleasure ta'en. In brief, sir, study what you most affect'. Having proved to be no more than a farce, the failure of conventional teaching leaves open the question of how education is best achieved, the answer to which is evidently, as the title suggests, through taming or domestication.
Bianca: The taming-school? What, is there such a place?
Tranio: Ay, Mistress, and Petruchio is the master,
That teaches tricks eleven and twenty long,
To tame a shrew and charm her chattering tongue. (4.2.54-57)
Aside from being a humerous episode in itself, this parody of academic learning acts as a stark contrast to the methods of tutoring which Petruchio employs in his taming of Katherina. The subtle gestures of Lucentio and Hortensio in the art of poetry and music appear to have no great effect on Bianca, in particular when compared with the harsh and domineering means by which Petruchio tames Katherina. Petruchio believes that his experience in natural adversity and peril will make her quarrelsome taunts seem like nothing:
Think you a little din can dent mine ears?
Have I not in my time hear lions roar?
Have I not heard the sea, puff'd up with winds
Rage like an angry boar chafed with sweat? (2.1.199-201)
It is thus Petruchio’s decision to take up the task of educating Kate to make her socially acceptable:
This is a way to kill a wife with kindness,
And thus I'll curb her mad and headstrong humour (4.1.197-199)
His first response is to appear impenetrable to her curses appearing ignorant of her shrewishness. From their first meeting, he ignores her request to call her katherine. After having being told to call her Katherine he starts to repeat her name, with special notice of the consonance, repeating it ten times. Petruchio responds to her attacks by turning them against her in a sickly-sweet, almost perverted manner of speech such as when she calls him a 'joint-stool' he merely remarks 'Thou hast it. Come sit on me', or immediately afterwards he makes a pun on the word 'bear', as in the sense of a woman giving birth. His wittiness outdoes her taunts again in the same passage when plays with the meaning of 'tails' and 'tongues', infuriating her both by his confrontational manner and explicit sexual imagery.
Aside from acting impregnable in her presence, Petruchio also gives her a taste of her own medicine when he starts to behave impatiently and brazenly towards his servants at his countryside home, 'The taming-school'. By complaining and shouting orders, he hopes to confuse Katherina even to the point where she intervenes and says 'I pray you, husband, be not so disquiet'. His overt politness, as if showering kisses on her is enough to confuse her as to whom she is, a gesture which can be compared with the induction when Sly starts to question his identity
Sly: What, would you make me mad? Am not I
Christopher Sly, old Sly's son of Burton-heath, by
birth a pedlar, by education a card-tamer, by
transmutation a bear-herd, and now by present
professional tinker? (Ind.2.16-20)
It appears that insanity of Sly’s position must resemble that of Katherina's when Petruchio says to her
Thou canst not frown, thou canst not look askance,
Nor bite the lip, as angry wenches will,
Nor hast thou pleasure to be cross in talk.
But thy mildness entertain'st thy wooer,
with gentle conference, soft and affable. (2.1.241-245)
Petruchio is denying the very character she is and throwing a new light on her. It is Petruchio who is making a fool of himself, whilst making it clear that his judgements of Katherina are false and subtely ironic. As their marriage relationship passes on, one can see evidence of Petruchio's grip on her chracter tightening up on her sanity. At the end of Act 4 he asserts his power in quarrel over what time the married couple should leave to Baptista's house when he states.
I will not go today, and ere I do,
It shall be what o'clock Isays it is.
Hortensio: Why, so this gallant will comand the sun (4.3.190-193)
Hortensio joke is carreid further, when in Act 5.5 he corrects her twice as to whether the light which is so bright to Katherine is the moon or the sun, even though he knows it cant be neither. The subversion of Katherine now is gradually starting to work, even though the form of education is more like the domestication of a wild animal than of a school-child such as Bianca. His megalomaniac control of what is and isn't, as for example, the sun or moon, expresses his intentions of taming her like falcon in Act 4.1.
To make her come and know her keeper's call,
That is, to watch her, as we watch these kites
That bate and beat will not be obedient.
She ate no meat today, nor none shall eat;
Last night she slept not, nor tonight she shall not. (4.1.181-185)
Petruchio's unorthodox tutoring shows its success in the last scene of the play, when Katherine wins a bet as to which of the three women will respond to their masters call the first. This game of calling wives to show their obedience, is on par with a chauvinist game of testing the obedience of their servant, hawk, or other trained animal. Throughout the course their wives are referred to as 'deer', 'birds', or 'greyhound', and to compliment, Katherina success in the bet shows the apparent merits of Petruchio's training school. Her speech at the end shows a drastic change in her view of the role of a wife, expressed as the husband would have held it.
And when she is froward, peevish, sullen, sour,
And not obedient to his honest will,
What is she but a foul contending rebel,
And graceless traitor to her loving lord? (5.2.158-161)
She has recognised her role in society as the humbling housewife, cherishing her husband, and not acting like a traitor to him. The idea of traitor is suggestive of governement, again indicating the subeversion of the wife to husband under strict rule. By 'killing her in her own humour' Petruchio has managed to confuse Katherina and thereby, almsot subconscioussly indoctrinated her with the social role of a suitable housewife. He has achieved this by constantly presenting her with an image of a suitable and romantic woman and playing her role as uncontrollable and audacious. These tricks he employs, while testing for her obedience like a hawk or trained animal throughout the play. This vivid image of a confused shrew, and her 'one half lunatic' husband is often time humerous, as evident in their battles of wit, or wild dress codes, such as when Petruchio comes in dressed in a manner unsuitable for a husband, or starts to lose his temper with the tailor and haberdasher. The clash between two headstrong individuals is always a source for amusement, and the play seems to suggest even more so if one is to be a married woman. Katherinas sharp tongue, which is melted by Petruchio's playful compliments makes Patruchio stand out as a lunatic but also give Katherina a good match for her personality. It also evokes a slight feeling of the tragic however when one realises that the strength of character which Katherina displays is merely her own folly, when she is forced to retreat as a role of humble and obedient housewife. For many the comparison of Katherina with a undomesticated animal may be viewed as being too 'wide' a joke.
----------------------------------------------------
As means for the adapting to social norms, the metamorphosis of a character’s personality through the help of another, education plays a similar role in 'As You Like It. Although the theme as a subject is dealt less literally (there are no formal education scenes) in this pastoral play, the role of Rosalind an a social instructor in the art of love is comparable to that of Petruchio's role as educator in The Taming of The Shrew. Rosalind plays the tutor of Orlando, in guise of a man. The notion of 'proper upbringing' and acceptable behaviour is a key theme in As You Like It, in particular the conflict between the 'courtly' upbringing of a citizen and the 'country' upbringing of shepherds and village-folk.
The merits of living in the countryside are pointed out by the banished Duke, in passage where he compares the nature of beauty with the benefits of learning, personifying the landscape in a serious of innocent comparisons, saying that the natural environment cannot harm as 'the envious court', for in nature nothing is aimed defeat but to strengthen ones character: 'Sweet are the uses of adversity'. As a 'natural philosopher' he still holds a credible position, as he is able to find '...tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, Sermons in stones, and good in everything' (2.1.16-17). The pastoral setting of the play, suggests the innocence and subtle humour of the characters who immerse themselves in its life 'exempt from public haunt'.
Indeed, touchstone's courtly humour and distaste of nature can be held against him when he engages in an interrogation of learning with the Shepherd Corin. Touchstone role helps to reflect the opinions of those brought up in a 'courtly' manner in an ironic sense, as he is the first to complain about the simplicity of the landscape and how little it feeds his intellect, a remark which might have been expected of Orlando, Rosalind, or Celia. However it is only touchstone who is complaining, as the others have meanwhile started to take pleasure in the jovial qualities of the forest. Touchstones disgust only makes a mockery of himself however, although not without leaving traces of irony on those he mocks. Hs response To Corin's question as to what he views of the shepherds life reveals some of the negative aspects of living in the countrside, but portrayed in a humorous light. He finds it bad 'in that it is private' possibly because it offers little chance for wooing, and he finds it tedious because it is not in court, with an allusion to the tiring labour involved in shepherds or farm-labourers work.
His perversion and corruption of Corin's example of the innocence, claiming that the country life is 'dirty' in bestial way serves to parody his own warped imagination, and not the real life style: After having been giving a list of the pleasures of country life by Corin he immediately corrupts the, dry innocence of Corin’s naiveté when he states.
...the greatest of my pride is to see my ewes graze and my lambs suck.
Touchstone: that is another simple sin in you, to bring the ewes
and the rams together and to offer to get your living by
the copulation of cattle... (3.2.74-77)
The comparison between courtly wittiness and country wit brings out a lively discussion between Corin and Touchstone in the same scene. Corin's simplistic knowledge of the causation in nature, 'and that a great cause of the night is lack of the sun', verily prepares the audience for an ironic statement by Touchstone, who compliments Corin 'Such a one is a natural philosopher.' The term 'natural' in this case is one having several meanings: either as one who deals with the philosophy or the laws of nature, or a person whom philosophy comes naturally, or as it is most likely to be meant, as a philosopher who comes from a countryside life. The subtle interplay of meanings draws a contrast between the 'courtly' wittiness of touchstone and simple 'wits' of Corin, and the latter is more of a bait for any patronising than is to be taken seriously in the scene. The contention of shaking hands is held as unclean by the shepherd folk, while Touchstone compels him for a better answer after stating. 'And is not the grease of a mutton as wholesome as the sweat of a man? Shallow, shallow.' (3.2.52-54).
If the audience is taken too far aback by touchstone verbose opinions of the country lifestyle and slight condescending manner towards Corin, then the antithesis to balance the quation would come in the role of the melancholy Jaques. Immediately after the Duke has spoken with such sincerity about the advantages of living in the forest, Jaques is cited as an example of exaggeration to the Dukes melancholic and romantic outlook on the pleasures of nature. Jaques is said to have wept over a dying deer, and then blamed the 'courtly' life for being the cause of death, the allusion can be viewed as an ironic statement, when the First Lord refers to his words:
Left and abandoned of his velvet friend,
''Tis right,' quoth he, 'thus misery doth part
The flux of company.' Anon a careles herd,
Full of the pasture, jumpsalong by him
And never stays togreet him: 'Ay,' quoth Jaques
'Sweep on you, fat and greasy citizens.(
His exaggerated mealncholy invokes a sense of shadenfruede as one images Jaques weeping over a dying deer and talking to animals with such a passion as is normally shown to dying friend or lover in human form. Again the notion of' 'fat and greasy citizen' arises as a reference to the well-fed and satisfied lives of 'citizens', comparable to grazing herds who never worry about needing shelter or protection. Jaques takes his defence of nature and the forest in the play to the extreme, helping to counteract Touchstone's witty stabs at its golden naiveté.
Once the characters are immersed in the forest, their roles and perosnalities start to intermingle and change as the plot loosens and each person start to meet the other at random occasions. The loosening of plot and timing, places emphasis on each characters own traits and their change, and the result is that social roles become ambiguous and can undergo changes. Rosalind, who appears as Ganymede takes the oppurtunity to take on a distinct role as a male adviser. This role reversal as a theme for the plays openness towards social position radically differs from that of The Taming of the Shrew. The role of instructor and apprentice being normally taken by the male is switched and Rosalind takes a similar role as Petruchio towards giving advice to their lover. Orlando, who is hopelessly lost in love and searches for it in the forest can be compared with Katherina, who is also unknowing in how to treat her partner. She attacks her own sex, giving Orlando precious advice on how to woo Rosalind properly, and although she loves him she is able to hide behind the mask in order to strengthen the bond. She states
...and I thank God I am not a
woman, to be touched by so many giddy offence as
he hath generally taxed their whole sex withal' (3.2.335.338)
Her attacks on women are possibly an ironic restatement of men's view of women or her own opinion. It appears strange that Rosalind must disguise as a man in order for her to be allowed to assert any opinions of her own sex however. Ganymede, unlike Petruchio serves to toughen Orlando up rather than soften his heart. She accuses him of not truly being in love for he has no sign of her uncle's mark on him, to prove so. This forces him to have to prove his love more. The notion of love is therefore challenged by her conscious devaluing of it, calling it a madness, or later denying that any lover would ever die for love as Orlando believes. While simultaneously loving Orlando, she openly disfigures his conception of love. She believes that she can cure him of this 'madness' by acting erratically, and being open towards all shapes of love:
At which time would I, being but a
moonish youth, grieve, be effeminate, changeable
longing and liking, proud, fantastical, apish, shallow,
inconstant...that I drave my suitor from his mad humour of
love to a living humour of madness. (3.3.390-393/401-402)
The interaction between Ganymede and Orlando act also as a form of release of opinions for Rosalind who, most probably having been taxed by many suitors in the past has a superior knowledge of it than the innocent Orlando. Like Katherina, Orlando falls silent as the instructor confuses the apprentice.
Rosalind also learns herself from witnessing the courtship of Phebe and Sylvius that love is not about worshipping the inaccessible, and in her next meeting with Orlando, expresses her cynical views about such overt dedication, immediately after
;men have died from
time to time and worms have eaten them, but not for
love. (4.1.96-99)
It therefore important for Rosalind that she develops her own, by far more liberal, concept of courtship through experience of it herself, before she gives advice to Orlando. Petruchio's experience however draws less from any direct experience with any other couple and is therefore merely a farce when he believes he will withstand any curses from Katherina.
Although both comedies bear resemblance to each other in that all characters join in union at the end and all problems are supposedly resolved, however the way it is achieved varies according to the plot, and device used in character development. The atmosphere of the Taming of the Shrew reflects one of strict social role, whereby each character is represented through their unique position in society, and the joke is on Katherina who is the centre of attention, being a deviation from the social norm. It is therefore the role of education to act as a social strait-jacket to help Katherina 'clean up her act', and it it is through the workings and failings of ths device from which the comedy takes most of its humour. As a contrast to this, As You Like It toys with the concept of interchanging of role and freely allows character to slip into other persoanlities. The man-woman role reversal allows gives Rosalind the opportunity to understand before she advises others, allowing her to mediate between couples like Phebe and Sylvius. In the latter, the type of humour appears far more liberal and politically correct as the characters, allowing room for subtler and yet more complex humour.
Bibliography
Williams Shakespeare, The Taming of The shrew, Arden Publishing, 2003
Williams Shakespeare, As You Like It, The New Penguin Shakespeare 1968
Clifford Leech, Twelfth Night and Shakespearian Comedy, Dalhousie University Press1965
J.I.M Stewart, Character and Motive in Shakespeare, Longman 1949