As You Like It: The Importance of Secondary Characters As You Like It, by William Shakespeare, is a radiant blend of fantasy, romance, wit and humour. In this delightful play, Rosalind stands out as the most robust, multidimensional, and lovable character, so much so that she tends to overshadow the other characters in the audience's memory, making them seem like just "stock drama types" by comparison. However, As You Like It is not a standard love story that happens to have Shakespeare's greatest female role. The other cast members provide a well-balanced supporting role and are not just stereotypes. The characters that Shakespeare uses to illustrate his main theme of love variations are all more than disposable cartoons, as they must be fully drawn to relate to life. Those characters most easily accused of having standard one-dimensionality are those not essential to the theme but important to the plot and useful as convenient counterpoints, such as Duke Frederick and Oliver de Boys. The statement of the question merits this quotation: "Thou hast said it; but whether wisely or not, let the forest judge." There is no doubt, in both the critical and theatrical minds, that Rosalind is the "greatest of female roles". " (Hazlitt). It includes a multitude of character strokes, from the lovelorn maiden to the witty bow-tongue, to the princess with the spine of steel, to the fiery Wise Woman (Hazlitt). To increase the character's demands, Shakespeare adds a sex change external and also makes Ganymede pretend to be Rosalind for Orlando Although this type of "boy playing girl playing boy playing girl" transmogrifications was not uncommon on the Elizabethan stage, the type of mind and acting. represented... middle of paper... bits of character that are definitely not standard, as in Charles' original concern for Orlando and Sir Martext's refusal to be fooled by Touchstone These make them more than simple, but they are still cardboard compared to Rosalind. As You Like It contains as many characters as there are in life, but Rosalind is used as a vehicle for the Ideal Its main secondary characters are full of life and, although not as much as Rosalind, is still life for all this. Less important characters need to be more one-sided to keep the plot tidy, but sometimes the one-dimensionality jars, as with Oliver. Rosalind's liveliness would overshadow any other character, because producing an Othello alongside her would create a conflict that this greatest of comedies does not need. Works Cited: Shakespeare, William. As you like it. Bevington

Topic > As You Like It: The Importance of Secondary Characters As You Like It, by William Shakespeare, is a radiant blend of fantasy, romance, wit and humour. In this delightful play, Rosalind stands out as the most robust, multidimensional, and lovable character, so much so that she tends to overshadow the other characters in the audience's memory, making them seem like just "stock drama types" by comparison. However, As You Like It is not a standard love story that happens to have Shakespeare's greatest female role. The other cast members provide a well-balanced supporting role and are not just stereotypes. The characters that Shakespeare uses to illustrate his main theme of love variations are all more than disposable cartoons, as they must be fully drawn to relate to life. Those characters most easily accused of having standard one-dimensionality are those not essential to the theme but important to the plot and useful as convenient counterpoints, such as Duke Frederick and Oliver de Boys. The statement of the question merits this quotation: "Thou hast said it; but whether wisely or not, let the forest judge." There is no doubt, in both the critical and theatrical minds, that Rosalind is the "greatest of female roles". " (Hazlitt). It includes a multitude of character strokes, from the lovelorn maiden to the witty bow-tongue, to the princess with the spine of steel, to the fiery Wise Woman (Hazlitt). To increase the character's demands, Shakespeare adds a sex change external and also makes Ganymede pretend to be Rosalind for Orlando Although this type of "boy playing girl playing boy playing girl" transmogrifications was not uncommon on the Elizabethan stage, the type of mind and acting. represented... middle of paper... bits of character that are definitely not standard, as in Charles' original concern for Orlando and Sir Martext's refusal to be fooled by Touchstone These make them more than simple, but they are still cardboard compared to Rosalind. As You Like It contains as many characters as there are in life, but Rosalind is used as a vehicle for the Ideal Its main secondary characters are full of life and, although not as much as Rosalind, is still life for all this. Less important characters need to be more one-sided to keep the plot tidy, but sometimes the one-dimensionality jars, as with Oliver. Rosalind's liveliness would overshadow any other character, because producing an Othello alongside her would create a conflict that this greatest of comedies does not need. Works Cited: Shakespeare, William. As you like it. Bevington