Talk:As You Like It

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Contents

[edit] Hampton-in-Arden

I removed the following. I can find no evidence at all. The play is certainly set in the Forest of Arden. But if this specific village was some kind of inspiration there would be evidence in the text. Where is this evidence?

The real life village of Hampton-in-Arden may have been used as the setting for the play.

[edit] Pronounciation of Jacques

Can anyone help me with this question? AndyJones 09:23, 1 March 2006 (UTC)

At the Royal Shakespeare Company they always pronounce it 'Jake-weez'. Of course, the correct French pronounciation is 'Jzak' (if you see what I mean there). But in Shakespeare's verse the name always has 2 syllables, and 'Jake-weez' is believed to be the way Elizabethan Englishmen pronounced the name. The Singing Badger 12:52, 1 March 2006 (UTC)
Thanks. That's pretty close to what someone has already put here, so I think I'll let it stand. AndyJones 14:26, 1 March 2006 (UTC)

I was under the impression that it would have been pronounced as just 'Jakes' - i thought this was an in joke - jakes was elizabethan slang for lavatory. i may be embarrassingly wrong though

You're slightly off. True, 'Jakes' was the elizabethan slag for lavatory. However, Jacques explicitly did not want other people calling him that: once Touchstone even goes as far to call Jacques "Master What-you-may-call-it" to avoid calling him 'jakes'. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.208.60.88 (talk) 01:34, 5 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] removed

removed the statement that the Forest of Arden was not a real place. It is indeed a forest set outside of Stratford-upon-Avon. William's mother Mary Arden, was a direct decendent of the original owners of the woodlands.

The edition that emends Shakespeare's Arden to "Ardennes' should be identified, if it exists. --Wetman 11:33, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Homoerotic overtones?

I'm not sure I see how "Ganymede" carries "homoerotic" overtones. Twin Bird 20:17, 12 May 2006 (UTC)

  • No, it's not very clear, is it? Ganymede is sometimes portrayed in a pederastic relationship with the god Jupiter, for example in the opening scene of Marlowe's Dido, Queen of Carthage. It would be good if someone who knows about this could expand upon it, though. Have we got a gay literature page, or similar, where we could post a question? Alternatively, would they know about this at the Virgil page, maybe? AndyJones 15:22, 13 May 2006 (UTC)
  • Golly, there is a gay literature article. I've posted a question there. AndyJones 15:26, 13 May 2006 (UTC)
  • Also at Virgil. AndyJones 15:28, 13 May 2006 (UTC)
  • The Greeks and Romans didn't exactly have a word for homosexuality (I'm not even sure if the English did in Shakespeare's time) so references to the relationship between Zeus and Ganymede tend to seem quite oblique (although not to the ancients whose concepts of things were different). There are some examples that make clear the nature of the relationship as it was probably perceived consistently throughout the classical period - have a look at Theognis[1] 1341-1350 for example (a very early author). There's something similar in the much later Achilles Tatius 2 (not on the internet, as far as I'm aware) - two characters debate about whether love of men is preferable to love of women and as support for the former opinion, the relationship between Zeus and Ganymede is cited (AT 2.36). I'm not sure if Shakespeare was aware of either these (I doubt he was somehow) but they show that the overtones were popularly realised. Virgil makes only the vaguest reference. One version of the story that Sh was certainly aware of is by [2] Ovid in the Metamorphoses. I'd say the overtones are certainly there and the article's comment is factually correct. It didn't stop 19th century editors translating Ovid without any apparent embarrassment and denying any overtones.--Lo2u 18:18, 13 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] AS WE LOVE IT

All the World Cup's a stage. See Guardian Unlimited, 9 June :-) --John

[edit] spellings

The character list gives Phebe but the synopsis gives Phoebe. Only one can be correct! My memory says Phebe but I don't have an authoritative source to hand. Mooncow 18:05, 12 April 2007 (UTC)

It is "Phebe", I've fixed it. Thanks for pointing it out! 12thwxman 17:46, 10 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] George Bernard Shaw's criticism of the play

I've been looking for a source for George Bernard Shaw saying that the title was an indication of the lowbrow nature of the play. I can't seem to find the original source, but I did find another article where someone cited the same fact. The cite given was:

George Bernard Shaw, “Shakespeare and Mr. Barrie,” rprt. in Bernard Shaw: The Drama Observed, ed. Bernard F. Dukore, 4 vols. (University Park: Pennsylvania State Univ. Press, 1993), 3:937–43, 937.

Since I haven't found this article in my school's library (not a very big library to be admitted), could someone with a larger library verify this as a source and then add it in? Fieari 17:34, 19 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Spoiler tags

This is an encyclopedia. This encyclopedia article is about the Shakespeare play "As You Like It", and being an encyclopedia article it contains a fairly detailed treatment of the plot. The plot summary in this article is helpfully labelled as such: "Synopsis". There is no need for further warning. This is an encyclopedia, and we're not in the business of insulting the intelligence of the readers. --Tony Sidaway 23:37, 16 May 2007 (UTC)

The matter is being disputed on the proper pages, the ones about the template. Go dispute it there.Goldfritha 00:07, 17 May 2007 (UTC)
The important edits are to be performed on the article, not the discussions. --Tony Sidaway 00:16, 17 May 2007 (UTC)
Nevertheless, if you feel that way, you should be trying to overturn the general principle, not the specific case. --Agamemnon2 17:48, 17 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Pastoral Reference

Added A block quote and reference to an English theatre education website that provides supportive material to the Pastoral entry. I used the ref tag to automatically place a footnote and reference (including the URL) at the bottom of the page. Tanstaafl28 19:22, 31 August 2007 (UTC)

Nice. Wrad 16:17, 29 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Music?

Is it known that Shakespeare wrote music or had music written for the songs in the play? Since it is suggested in the article that the earliest performance may have been well after his death, he may not have had to write music for any performance. I know music that any "original" music no longer exists, but is it known whether there actually was music written by or for Shakespeare? TheHYPO (talk) 16:22, 21 November 2007 (UTC)