How Successfully The Dramatic Device of Disguise is used in ”As You Like It”?

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In ‘As You Like It’, the dramatic device of disguise is very important, because of the dramatic opportunities it presents. Shakespeare opens two opportunities: the characters can say what they would otherwise be unable to say, and hear what they would otherwise be unable to hear.

The main character who uses disguise is Rosalind, although Celia does too, to a lesser extent. We first see these two characters in Act I Scene 2. In this scene, we find out background information of the characters, for example that Rosalind’s father, the Duke, was banished.

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We also see Orlando and Rosalind fall in love, after they meet for the first time at the wrestling match in the gardens of the palace. Rosalind gives Orlando her necklace, giving him a sign that she has fallen in love with him.

Rosalind: Wear this for me,

Rosalind: Sir, you have wrestled well, and overthrown

More than your enemies.

Orlando also admits to himself that he has fallen in love with her, but gives no indication of such to Rosalind, as he remained silent.

Orlando: What passion hangs these weights upon my tongue?

I cannot speak to her, yet she urg’d conference.

O poor Orlando, thou art overthrown!

In Act I Scene 3, Rosalind admits to Celia how much she loves Orlando, and that she is not merely ‘playing’ at falling in love, as they had discussed in the precious scene. Celia’s father, the Duke, then interrupts them, to banish Rosalind. The reasons for his actions are that the people pity Rosalind, because she has lost her father.

Also, they admire her “silence and patience.” So, under the pretence that Rosalind is a traitor, he banishes her, to make Celia “show more bright and seem more virtuous when she is gone.” However, Celia objects to this, as she loves Rosalind dearly. So, she decides to join Rosalind in her banishment, and that they will go to the forest of Arden, to search for her uncle, Rosalind’s father. They decide to take Touchstone with them, for safety and company.

In those times, it was dangerous to travel, especially for rich women. The women realise this, and like Rosalind says “beauty provoketh thieves sooner than gold”. So, Rosalind decides to disguise herself as a male because she is “more than common tall”. She decides to call herself Ganymede. Ganymede was a Trojan boy, with whom Jove fell in love with, appointed him cupbearer of the Gods, and became immortal. This name is very appropriate since Ganymede was an effeminate boy, while Rosalind would be a woman dressed as a male. Celia decides to disguise herself as a shepherdess, called Aliena, meaning ‘the stranger.’ This name is also appropriate, as it is representative of the way she will act in the country compared to at court; she will not be used to it. The two names are taken from the book “Rosalynde”, written in 1590 by Thomas Lodge. This could be intentional, or coincidental.

We first see Rosalind in disguise in Act II Scene 4, when she realises that now she is disguised as a man, she has to inherit male qualities and act “courageous to petticoat”. In this scene, Shakespeare explores the male and female side of Rosalind for the first time. In appearance, she is masculine, able to take responsibility for “the weaker vessel”. However, inside she is feminine, and needy of the support she gives to Celia. Touchstone also mentions that “when I was at home, I was in a better place” stimulating thoughts about the divide between the rich and the poor of Shakespeare’s time.

In ‘As You Like It’, Shakespeare compares the two societies of that time- the rich and the poor. There wasn’t usually a middleclass. In the life at court, ladies did not work for their living. They usually grew up, and were married at a fairly young age, until they died. However, poor women usually had to help at the house, by cooking, cleaning, etc. and were also usually married off as soon as possible.

Further on in the play, in Act III Scene 2 Touchstone also debates the merits of the two different lives with Corin, a shepherd. As we know, Celia and Rosalind come from an upper class, rich, royal families, but have to pretend to be poor, working class people when they go to the forest of Arden.

Undoubtedly, they would have made mistakes occasionally, showing their true heritage. This would probably seem comical to the audience, because they found it unusual for the two backgrounds to mix. For example, in Act III Scene 2, when Orlando is speaking with Rosalind, he mentions that ‘her accent is something finer than you could purchase in so removed a dwelling.” Fortunately for her, Rosalind quickly thinks of an excuse, “an old religious uncle of mine taught me to speak”, which Orlando believes.

In this act, the weary travellers purchase a cottage and a flock of sheep from Corin. This quick financial exchange might seem humorous to the audience, as it is very unrealistic and theatrical. The audience can also see that strangers, for example Corin, are fooled by Rosalind’s disguise

In Act III Scene Two, Celia teases Rosalind, who wants to find out who wrote the poems about her, and nailed them to trees. She reminds Celia that she is a woman, although she is “caparisoned like a man”. This might also be a reminder to the audience that Ganymede is female. Finally, when Celia admits that she knows the poet is Orlando,

Rosalind, dressed as Ganymede, is distressed. She is distressed because she knows she won’t be able to let him woo her if he thinks she is a man, Ganymede, instead of his love, Rosalind.

Rosalind: Alas the day! what shall I do with my doublet and hose?

However, she then realises that in a man’s attire, she is able to “speak to him (Orlando) like a saucy lackey”, which she then does for the rest of the play. She teases him about his love, and says he does not look like “a man in love.” Throughout this scene, Rosalind’s motive to disguise herself as a man has now changed from practical reasons to personal ones; to find out how much Orlando loves her, and perhaps to educate him, on how to love her. For example, in Act IV Scene 1, when Orlando is an hour late for their meeting, she shows that if he would have done that to Rosalind, “Cupid hath clapped him o’ the shoulder.”

Through her disguise, which she uses to her full advantage, she playfully suggests to him that she will pretend to be Rosalind so he can woo her. This Orlando feels able to do, so he can say what he wanted to say when they first met, in Act I Scene 2, and she can hear what she never expected to hear, because they are not bound by social expectations, as Orlando does not know Ganymede is Rosalind. Their relationship stays fun and lively, because he can be open and honest, and express his emotions, and she can willingly accept his proposals, for example in Act IV Scene 1:

Rosalind: But come, now I will be your Rosalind in a more coming-on disposition; and ask me what you will, I will grant it.

Orlando: Then love me, Rosalind.

Rosalind: Yes, faith, I will, Fridays and Saturdays and all.

In the play Shakespeare questions the rigid rules of society’s wooing of that time, since he wrote the play with the idea of a traditional romance; (an archetype) a boy meets a girl, they fall in love, and marry happily ever after after overcoming several obstacles and misunderstandings. However, Shakespeare was forward thinking of his time, letting Rosalind orchestrate the wooing, which was very unconventional.

As we can see from Act III Scene 4, Rosalind is a very strong and intelligent character, as she has tricked Orlando into wooing her, even though she is dressed as a man. She is also very witty, a characteristic she only feels able to express properly when she is disguised. She is perhaps the wittiest person in the play, apart from Touchstone, who is a professional comedian, after having been a fool or jester at the court for many years. In Shakespeare’s time, royal men at court showed their wittiness by putting down a fool. He is someone we call a ‘stooge’ nowadays. However, Touchstone’s jokes and puns are less friendly than Rosalind’s, who’s aim is simply to tease or humour people, and not make fun of them, like Touchstone does.

Today, Rosalind’s role is a sought-after part, since it is one of Shakespeare’s only good main female characters. The reason for this is that the roles of his time were pre-dominantly male, as there were no female actresses then, and men had to act female parts, which would not have been desirable.

This adds humour to the play, from the audience’s perspective, because the players with female roles, e.g. Celia and Rosalind, were young adolescent males. So, Ganymede was a teenage boy, acting a female (Rosalind), dressed up as a man. A particularly humorous moment is when Orlando attempts to kiss Ganymede, for two reasons. One is that the player acting Orlando is attempting to kiss his true love, Rosalind, even though he doesn’t know this. But, from the audience’s point of view, this is also funny since the actor Orlando is attempting to kiss another man. Even now, cross-dressing is found humorous, explaining why people watch cabarets and pantomimes.

Further on in the play, in Act III Scene 4, we see Rosalind and Celia alone together. Alone with Celia, Rosalind does not pretend to act masculine, instead she talks about her love to Orlando in a feminine way, and Celia teases her.

Rosalind: Never talk to me: I will weep.

Celia: Do, I prithee; but yet have the grace to consider that tears do not become a man.

Then, Corin comes in, and invites them to see Phebe and Silvius together. They do so gladly, and Rosalind takes another opportunity to use her disguise to her full advantage: she insults Phebe, somewhat cruelly.

“What thought you have no beauty-

As by my faith, I see no more in you

Than without candle may go dark to bed”

However, this has an adverse effect, since Phebe falls head over heels in love with Ganymede, who in fact is Rosalind. This is another way Shakespeare has brought comedy to the play using the dramatic device of disguise, for Rosalind is, like she says, “unable to return the love.” From this we also see that Shakespeare did not think about relationships of the same sex, presumably because that would be too forward of his time. Also, it was illegal to demonstrate homosexual relationships; Oscar Wilde was put in jail, 200 years later for his gay relationships.

Using the dramatic device of disguise, Shakespeare also uses Rosalind to expose the shallowness and absurdity of conventional modes of wooing, in Act 4 Scene 1. This is when Ganymede mocks Orlando, which was very unconventional of that time, since normal women did not act like that; they were supposed to be very gentle, docile, etc.

However, in Act IV Scene 3, Shakespeare does make Rosalind seem more feminine again, since Ganymede faints, after hearing Orlando was hurt. Fainting was not seen as a manly tribute, which nearly gives away to Oliver than Ganymede is a woman. “You lack a man’s heart.” When Ganymede awakens again, Rosalind admits that she is tired of disguising herself, and hiding her feelings, “I would I were at home.”

This is not the only time Rosalind makes the mistake of showing her female characteristics. In Act III Scene 2, Rosalind nearly gives away that she is female while Corin is there because Touchstone makes up an offensive poem about Rosalind and she reacts to it vehemently.

Rosalind: Let no face be kept in mind,

But the fair of Rosalind.

Touchstone: …it is the right butter-woman’s

rank to market.

Rosalind: Out, fool!

We must not forget that other characters than Rosalind use disguise; Touchstone also disguises himself. He does not disguise himself physically, but he disguises his true intentions of marriage with Audrey: sex. Touchstone is a very humorous character in the play, often joking or making puns. He is probably used by Shakespeare to contrast the different types of love and marriage: Touchstone is marrying Audrey for sex, and Audrey is marrying him so she can become a respected woman. This contrasts against Orlando and Rosalind’s relationship, that was love at first sight, the like as Oliver and Celia.

In this scene, we also see that Celia uses disguise. Originally her motive to disguise herself was for protection. However, she uses her disguise as a helpless weak maiden to get food and shelter, in Act II Scene 4. Also, in Act IV Scene 3, she does not tell Oliver who she really is. If she had told him she was the Duke’s daughter, he might not have fallen in love with her, or pushed his feelings aside to bring her back to the court. However, she keeps her disguise until the very end of the play, when all the couples get married.

Finally, in the end of the play, Rosalind brings all the couples together to be married, in a triumphant denouement. In the epilogue, she also adds humour through disguise, although she is no longer acting the part of Ganymede. The epilogue is humorous, since she says “If I were a woman,” which reminds the audience that she is in fact a cross-dressing man, or would have been when it was first performed. Nowadays that is not true, and it is one of the only lines written by Shakespeare that does not transcend time. This is because Rosalind is now played by an actress, as acting is a very reputable profession. However, in 1599, the year the play was written, women were not allowed to become actresses.

This inspires thoughts about the way women were and are treated, and how society has changed through time. In Shakespeare’s time, women were supposed to be gentle, subservient, passive, etc. They were expected to marry, bear children, and raise them. They were constrained by society’s rigid rules, especially women at court, like Celia and Rosalind, and had little freedom. Men had much more freedom, and could show their wit, intelligence and humour when they liked. However, it was seen as unfit for females to do the same.

Even today, in modern countries in the western world, the two sexes are treated differently, but less so than in other countries such as Islamic ones. Women have more rights nowadays, and laws to protect those rights than in the 1600’s.

I think that Shakespeare has used the device of disguise very successfully, since he has not only added humour to the written play, but also through cross-dressing added humour. I think that I would have thought this play funny if I had the same sense of humour as people did then, and understood more of the puns and subtle jokes, that are typical of the Elizabethan times but are not found comical now.

Sophia Warren
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