Category: As You Like It

The play, As You Like It, by William Shakespeare is all about dropping out of the everyday madness of modern capitalism. Shakespeare wrote many plays in his lifetime, and As You Like It is one of his most famous comedies that represents love at first sight, disguise, and manipulative love in an amusing manner. Love as a state of being is universal throughout As You Like It. In Shakespeare’s comedy As You Like It, Duke Senior is overthrown by his brother, Duke Frederick, and has vanished to the Forest of Arden, where he lives like an outlaw and has a band of followers. Duke Frederick allowed Rosalind, Duke Senior’s daughter to stay as she has an inseparable friendship with Frederick’s daughter Celia. Orlando and Oliver have a bitter rival as Oliver tries to keep all the inheritance to himself after the death of Sir Rowland de Bois. Oliver pins Orlando to a match with Charles, a wrestler from Duke Frederick’s court. Orlando wins the match and has Rosalind swooning over him, she is then banished by Duke Frederick and Celia being her friend decides to leave with her. Soon after that, the characters end up in complex and chaotic relationships. In the end, Rosalind manipulates those around her in order for each character to end up with the person they are meant to be with.These relationships come together through the growth of character identity. Shakespeare’s comedy emphasizes that one’s being is inclusive of otherness. In this article, Bracher talks about the inclusive personalities conquer over the exclusive traits of other characters; his ideas can be seen on how he labels his characters, how he discusses Shakespeare’s satire is inclusive, and how he discusses that Touchstone’s character coincides with the play.

In Shakespeare’s play As You Like It, Duke Senior is banished by his brother, Duke Frederick to the Forest of Arden. Duke Senior leaves his daughter behind as Frederick allows her to stay since his daughter Celia is very close with Rosalind. Orlando is the youngest son of Sir Roland de Bois, and is treated poorly by his older brother, Oliver. Oliver then volunteers Orlando to participate in a wrestling match with the Duke’s wrestler, Charles, in an attempt to kill his brother. Orlando wins the match and meets the two women, Rosalind falling in love with Orlando. Rosalind gives Orlando a chain to wear and he falls in love with her, and when he escapes, he carves her name into the trees of the forest. The two women then leave to the Forest of Arden and take on the identities of Ganymede and Aliena. Soon after that, Rosalind, disguised as Ganymede, finds herself caught up in a love triangle between Phoebe and Orlando. Meanwhile, Duke Frederick sends Oliver to the forest to find Celia and threatens to take away Oliver’s land if he does not bring Celia back.. In the process of searching for his brother, Oliver is attacked by a lion and Orlando saves him. Oliver finds Rosalind and Celia and explains the events of the lion attack to them and falls in love with Celia. In the end, each of the characters fall in love with the right person they are meant to be with.

Bracher’s first remark about how inclusive identity triumphs over the exclusive identity is in his labeling of characters. Bracher clearly states his point with the relationship between the two main male characters, Oliver and Orlando. In his article, Bracher mentions how Shakespeare makes “Oliver’s conspiracy against Orlando less intelligible by giving Orlando only, (228) ‘a poor thousand crowns’ (Bracher 228). Bracher explains how Oliver has no interest in what he is giving to his brother and shows no tangible animosity towards Orlando. “I shall see an end of him; for my soul, yet I know not why.” (Shakespeare, 1, 1, lines 161-162), Oliver is stating that Orlando is very noble and intelligent, yet he has an internalized hatred for him by these qualities that he cannot comprehend why he feels such animosity over his brother. Bracher explains how the monologue shows Oliver’s outlook on how a person can better themselves without belittling the importance of another being making Oliver’s view of identity exclusive. As for Orlando, his view on identity was inclusive because he was not worried about people shaming him and losing his honor during the wrestling match. He does not carry a large ego around like Oliver does and acts without self-interest, therefore he has an inclusive identity. Bracher states that Orlando triumphs over his victory and that he “overthrows the victory of the exclusive, heroic ego.” (Bracher 232)

The second point that Bracher states about his thesis is that Shakespeare’s satire is inclusive. Bracher observes Touchstone and concludes that Shakespeare’s satirical comedy is inclusive. Touchstone is part of Duke Frederick’s court and is the fool who ends up helping Rosalind and Celia for their runaway adventure. Touchstone is the type of character that is needed in the play in order to make it inclusive. These changes the characters embrace are facilitated solely due to the forest of Arden, which they escape to. Identity becomes erratic and versatile, and characters can choose for themselves the identity they wish to adopt, as it is only here that they are allowed the freedom to do so. Bracher mentions how Touchstone’s, “wittiness is typical of a satiric comedy, and most importantly, “he has a natural tendency…to react to the person he is speaking with” (Bracher 233). Touchstone is able to show inclusive behavior by bringing everyone’s self-interest and using antics to avoid conflict with the exclusive viewpoints by creating multiplicity. “Why, if thou never wast at court thou never saw’st good manners; if thou never saw’st good manners, then thy manners must

be wicked; and wickedness is sin, and sin is damnation. Thou art” (Shakespeare, 3, 2, lines 40-43). In his statement, Touchstone states that if you did not come from the court and have good manners, then you were sinned and punished for your wrong doings. Bracher shows how Shakespeare is able to create this uniqueness through satire. Bracher shows that the satire of Touchstone creates inclusive emblem of fundamental incohesion that outdoes exclusive identity.

Therefore, Bracher supports his thesis by stating the inclusive identity triumphs over the exclusive identity through Touchstone’s character. In the beginning of the play, Touchstone is an exclusive character as he serves for Duke Frederick. Touchstone achieves to hurt William’s self-esteem by taking away Audrey, “for all your writers do consent that ipse is he. Now, you are not ipse, for I am he” (Bracher 238). Bracher notes that inclusive identity triumphs over exclusive identity and so that is emulated in the plays structure. In the final scene, Touchstone represents an inclusive identity, as he shares with others how to be inclusive. To Bracher, this is a way of inclusiveness because it enables people to be accepting of opinions of others and not gaining anything by putting others down.

William Shakespeare’s play As You Like It is an example of comedy that is able to show the readers and audience how manipulation of love, disguise, and love at first sight can control the actions of all involved. As You Like It has many similarities to Romeo and Juliet as it too was a play of love at first sight. In Shakespeare’s As You Like It, Duke Frederick banishes his brother Duke Senior to the forest of Arden, and allows Rosalind to stay. Rosalind and Celia, Frederick’s daughter, leave the court for the forest and disguise themselves as Ganymede and Aliena. With the whirlwind of complex relationships and unrecognized love, Rosalind and Celia find themselves in the middle. The play ends with everyone finding the person that is right for them. As Mark Bracher outlines in “Contrary Notions of Identity in As You Like It,” these complex relationships are dominated by the powerful inclusive identity over the exclusive identity. In his article, Bracher explains how inclusive personalities triumph over the exclusive ones through the study of character labels, Shakespeare’s satire, and Touchstone’s character as an analysis of the play’s structure.

William Shakespeare has been an English author who lived on 26 April 1564 until 23 April 1616 and was first declared in 1623 as a pastoral comedy of ‘As You Like It’. The play relates to Rosalind and Celia’s journey through the Forest of Arden and to the interesting characters they met. ‘As You Like It’ by William Shakespeare is a play that was believed to have been published in 1599. The play holds some of Shakespeare’s most popular and interesting lines, mostly spoken by a character Jacque in the forest of Arden. Although, ‘As You Like It’ has had many critiques, according to some critics seeing it not up to the literary piece of Shakespeare, while others claim that this is one of his greatest works.

The play rises in France but suddenly moving to the forest of Arden as the action changes. The throne was taken by Duke Frederick, the younger brother of Duke Senior and the father of Rosalind. Frederick only lets Rosalind stay in the palace because of her bonding with his daughter, Celia. When Frederick grows upset with Rosalind he bans her from the court, Celia chooses to go with Rosalind. In the meantime, Orlando and his servant Adam see that the men of the Duke are leaving poems of love for Rosalind in the trees. Rosalind loves Orlando and sees him as her male Ganymede alter-ego. During his love affairs, Ganymede seeks to provide Orlando some comfort, even going so far as to suggest that he will serve for Rosalind and that they can continue their relationship together. Phoebe’s guide falls in love with Ganymede, despite repeated efforts by Ganymede to prove that he is not interested. While Ganymede assures Phoebe to get married, Celia gets married to Oliver, Touchstone gets married to Audrey and Orlando gets married to Rosalind. She tells Phoebe that if they don’t get married for some reason, Phoebe’s going to get married to Silvius. Duke Frederick’s daughter, Celia cares overwhelmingly for her cousin, Rosalind, and shows her selfless kindness consistently. In demanding that her father let Rosalind stay with her in court, she vows that when Duke Frederick dies, Rosalind will be able to take the throne of her father. After Rosalind is expelled, Celia risks her safety and family reputation by following Rosalind into the Arden Forest. In her meeting with Oliver, her potential for romantic love is also shown. The daughter of Duke Senior, Rosalind is the voice of reason and wisdom, and heroine of the play. Once Duke Frederick finally ordered her to leave the court as he did to her father, she and Celia left in search of Duke Senior, Rosalin outfitted as Ganymede. Rosalind is clever and intelligent, and at the end of the play, she acts as a reasonable judge of love, linking the romantic bonds of the characters and making them indifferent marriages, including the connection of herself and Orlando. But she’s not only after being passionate and a little foolish about her love for Orlando. As the play suggests Rosalind and Celia are sisters. Celia explains that her uncle is Rosalind’s father and that her father is the uncle of Rosalind. Celia enjoys her friendship with Rosalind to such a stage that it means very much to her, and that is why she goes to the forest of Arden with her cousin Rosalind. Girls seem to be twin sisters.

[…]if she be a traitor,

Why, so am I; we still have slept together,

Rose at an instant, learn’d, play’d , eat together,

And, whereso’er we went, like Juno’s swans Still,

we went coupled and inseparable. (1.3.75-79)

Initially, Celia and Rosalind are companions in crime, jesting together, running off together, changing their personalities together Celia transfers to Aliena and Rosalind transfers to Ganymede, while they travel to the forest of Arden and also having fun together. Celia even says their trip into the forest isn’t banishment, but an opportunity to live freely, as they get to be the characters they want to be (together). They are very close to each other and they say how much they love each other, which leads some people to ask if something is going on between them. This quotation shows their bonding.

[…]Rosalind lacks then the love

Which teacheth thee that thou and I am one.

Shall we be sundered? Shall we part, sweet girl? (1.3.102-104)

When Orlando enters the scene, the relation between Celia and Rosalind changes. Celia’s cruel lovesickness and pranks were committed to Rosalind / Ganymede. As the play proceeds, Celia’s reactions to Rosalind’s antiquities are more and more bound. Through Celia, we are willing, as Celia tries suspiciously, to explore Rosalind’s shifting attitude toward love. At the beginning of the play, Rosalind and Celia both see love as a joke, but when the girls go into the woods and find Orlando there, they change their opinion about love. It seems that while Rosalind believes love is dumb, she is not stupid herself. Celia, who isn’t in love, will see her friend take all the silly things they have been taunting about, now taking it seriously. It’s not surprising that throughout the play Celia grows moodier, also disappointed with the charm of her sister. The clear division between the cousins becomes obvious when Celia tells Rosalind that Orlando doesn’t love her. Celia dislikes Rosalind’s attention to Orlando, but it seems that she is strangely jealous that her friend takes the silliness of love seriously. Celia’s hatred towards love comes into focus as Celia falls in love with a man herself. Celia’s bond with Oliver isn’t very deep, but it’s notable in the play as it sets off the uniqueness of the love approach of Rosalind. For all this time Celia’s making fun of love, we never hear from her again once she finds a man. She falls out of the match, totally in love with her new beloved. Celia then becomes a kind of spy; in another person, she loses herself and is thus lost to the world. Rosalind might be awful about being in love, but in the end, she has done a great work of living with her own identity. Rosalind can be in love but outwardly being a fool for love because she knows love is silly. The death of Celia shows just what Rosalind did not do, portraying Rosalind as an extraordinary woman even more. Duke Frederick, unhappily, ends up being right— Rosalind one-ups Celia, and we all believe that she’s better than his daughter.

A ‘battle of the sexes’ implies a conflict between a man and a woman regarding gender roles in a given environment or circumstance, or a more generalized battle for supremacy between men and women. The inequality between sexes can be found in any work of literature or film, and Shakespeare is no exception. Gender plays a huge role in social issues that Shakespeare touches on. With strong, domineering male characters and quick-witted, yet still meek, female characters, Shakespeare draws parallels between the two genders and gives a strong script for modern filmmakers to play with. In Shakespeare’s time, England was a patriarchal society meaning that every aspect of it was dominated men, women were considered wholly inferior to men, and therefore they must necessarily be protected by men, even though most men’s idea of protecting women was subjugating them in all aspects of their lives. Shakespeare wrote about independent, strong-willed women, but these women nevertheless exist in the time period in which Shakespeare wrote his plays, and his plays reflect the male-dominated society at the time they were written. There is not a lot about the ‘battle of the sexes’ in any of Shakespeare’s plays. There might be an occasional skirmish or a localized rebellion, but there’s no wholesale battle between men and women. In none of his plays does Shakespeare portrays women as superior to men as a whole. When women are shown as the equal of men or superior to men, this only pertains to specific women, and specific men, in specific situations. What is referred to as the battle of the sexes is a generally comic trope in Shakespeare’s plays—necessarily so since the comedies end in marriage, which is a truce and there are no general great battles between men and women for supremacy in any of the plays. In some of the plays there are is at some point moments of tension between man and women and these ‘battles of the sexes’ too are highly localized, which is to say that they occur only between individuals, in a clearly defined environment, and on a limited scale. These ‘battles’ also occur with the environment of Elizabethan and early Jacobean societies and are therefore subject to the societal norms in effect at the time the plays were written. The plays in which we find a tussle for power evident between men and women are as follows.

‘Measure for Measure’

In ‘Measure for Measure’, men dominate women throughout the play. There’s no battle, rebellion, or even a minor skirmish between any men and women in the play regarding their respective roles in society but there is a battle going on between Isabella and Angelo and here Isabella battles with the evil Angelo and wins. Isabella rejects Angelo’s lustful advances towards her, and she shows herself throughout the play to be independent-minded and strong-willed. Angelo wants to have sex with the pure Isabella, his price for commuting her brother’s death sentence. Angelo has recently broken his engagement with Mariana because she has lost her dowry. Isabella and Mariana hatch a plot. Isabella will agree to go to bed with Angelo, but only in complete darkness. Then Mariana substitutes herself for Isabella. Once he has consummated the relationship, Angelo is forced to honor his engagement and marry Mariana. Isabella is also instrumental in working with Duke Vincentio (disguised as a friar) and Marianna to expose and denounce Angelo. Thus, the women outwit the men and defeat them in their plots.

‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’

In ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, there are two battles of the sexes so to speak of one battle is of Hermia with her father and another is between Oberon, King of the Fairies, and Titania, Queen of the Fairies. Hermia loves Lysander, but Hermia’s father, Egeus wants her to marry Demetrius. Hermia is wholly subject to her father’s will in the matter, and Duke Theseus sides with Hermia’s father. Hermia battles her father and Theseus over the right to marry for love since there is no way that her father will consent to her marriage with the man she loves, Hermia and Lysander decide to run away to be married, away from Egeus’s influence and beyond Theseus’s jurisdiction. This is open an rebellion that Hermia shows towards her father and towards Theseus. In another plotline Titania, Queen of the Fairies, battles with her husband Oberon, the King of the Fairies, over who gets to keep a little Indian boy whose mother has died. Titania wants him because she promised the boy’s mother, she would care for him, so she goes toe to toe with Oberon, who likes to have his way. This leads to bad weather in the human world–and comedy in the fairy forest. They’re squabbling over who will have the companionship of a changeling boy, an Indian prince. Titania is in power and although Oberon is King of the faeries he can be read as being weaker than his wife. He bends to her will and although he argues with her and makes demands he never truly gets what he wants.

‘The Taming of the Shrew’

‘The Taming of the Shrew’ is often cited as the ultimate Shakespearean ‘battle of the sexes’. The battle between Petruchio and Katherina is at the battle of personalities and by the end of the play, it appears that Petruchio has ‘tamed’ Katherina, but only because Katherina let herself be tamed. It is the play to which the term ‘battle of the sexes’ is most often applied, supposedly involves a woman’s efforts to assert herself in a male-dominated society. It’s not so much that the woman, Katherina wants to assert herself in a male-dominated society. She simply wants to assert herself, period, and she happens to live in a male-dominated society, which only serves to complicates the matter. Katherina fights with everyone. It’s her nature. She fights with her father, her sister, her sister’s suitors, those who foolishly try to be her suitor, and innocent passers-by. When Petruchio comes into her life, she fights with him. Where Petruchio and Katherina are concerned, however, it’s not simply a fight; it’s a full-blown, winner-take-all battle of the wills. It’s a battle solely between Katherina and Petruchio. The inference in the play seems to be that although Katherina and Petruchio are equally matched, it appears that Katherina eventually succumbs to Petruchio’s will. In fact, in their hard-fought battle for supremacy, Katherina and Petruchio equally succumb to their hard-won love for one another.

‘Macbeth’

Lady Macbeth is one of the most dynamic characters in all of Shakespeare’s plays because no other character is as manipulative as she is. For the first half of ‘Macbeth’, it is Lady Macbeth who puts herself in a position of power by taking the lead in the decision to murder Duncan. To get her power, Lady Macbeth not only openly rejects her femininity, but the thought of belonging to any gender at all. She is the driving force behind her husband’s ambition. She is the stronger partner in their marriage. She dominates Macbeth emotionally and wages psychological battle with him and browbeats him into killing Duncan and take the throne. Without her pushing him, it is doubtful that Macbeth would have killed Duncan. Lady Macbeth continually has strength over Macbeth because she diminishes his manliness and her womanliness. When Macbeth starts having second thoughts about murdering Duncan, Lady Macbeth steps in and threatens his masculinity. She states, “When you durst do it, then you were a man;/ And to be more than what you were, you would/ Be so much more the man” (I. vii. 49-51). To further her point, Lady Macbeth states, “I would, while it was smiling in my face, / Have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums/ And dashed the brains out, had I so sworn” (I. vii. 56-58). Here, Lady Macbeth states that she would willingly kill her child if she promised to do so. In saying this, she is making Macbeth seem weak because he is going back on his promise that seems less significant now that that usually gives a female power does not do so in Macbeth. Women in Macbeth have to mask their femininity to get power. Lady Macbeth is initially very successful at rejecting her femaleness. She is in control of her own and Macbeth’s actions. Once Duncan is murdered, Macbeth gains back his confidence and subjects Lady Macbeth to a lesser role. This shows that the power that comes with masking femininity is only temporary and cannot be kept for an extended period of time. As seen from the final prophecy, there is no power in womanliness in Macbeth.

‘As you Like It’

In the play ‘As You Like It’ the story revolves around the character of Rosalind, she manipulates Orlando and some of the other characters in the play. Rosalind has all the power in ‘As You Like It’ because she takes the initiative to disguise herself as a man named Ganymede so she can easily persuade those around her. It is Rosalind’s independent mind and reliance on no one but herself that give her the drive to bring all of the couples together at the end of the play, but it is the masking of her femininity that allows for it to happen. The first time the audience meets Rosalind she is upset about the banishment of her father. She says to Celia, “Unless you could teach me/ to forget a banished father you must not learn me how to/ remember any extraordinary pleasure” (I.ii.3-5). She is upset about the banishment of her father, which is why Celia is trying to cheer her up. Interestingly, in the next scene, after Rosalind meets Orlando, she has something quite different on her mind. Rosalind meets Orlando after she sees him wrestling. This display of masculinity catches her eye and she is attracted to Orlando’s sexuality. When Celia asks her if her silence is all because of her father, Rosalind responds, “No, some of it is for my child’s father” (I.iii.9). After just meeting Orlando, Rosalind is already in love with him and talking about him like he is the father of her future child. Rosalind chooses Orlando on her own accord and her father is not a part of her life currently, and she chooses to fall in love and marry Orlando by herself. Already the idea of gender role is being switched because Rosalind was able to make these decisions for herself because of the actions she took as Ganymede. Rosalind herself equates femininity with weakness and she feels that she has to cover up her womanliness so that she does not feel the fear that the forest will offer her. She could have gone into the forest with a curtal-ax and a boar-spear, but she can only use those if she is dressed as a man. Rosalind is saying that it would be unlike her gender as a man to cry, making it a singularly feminine emotion. The implications of what gender roles mean are tested in Rosalind and Orlando’s relationship. Rosalind is the most dynamic of the couple because of the multiple sides of her. The many roles that Rosalind plays contribute to the complex relationship she has with femininity. Rosalind is not afraid to speak her mind here because by masking her femininity she has power over the other characters and can get away with saying whatever she wants. This shows that men had more freedom than women in Shakespeare.

Sexuality and gender are prominent themes in Shakespeare’s plays. Depending on the genre of the play, sexuality and gender are used as either a tool of manipulation, a form of propaganda or sometimes both. During the time of Shakespeare, there was a hierarchy of sexes and each had their own role in society. Men were masculine, they were not ruled by emotion, they were strong and hard working. Women belonged in the home, they were ruled by men and by their emotions and therefore were thought to often make bad decisions. Shakespeare wrote a variety of genres from romance to tragedy to history to comedy. Shakespeare saw the social norms of sexuality and gender in Elizabethan society and sought to deconstruct them to bring a new viewpoint on them. He was the Elizabethan version of a modern-day feminist bringing the role of women in a new light able to compete against men and outwit them.

French sociologist Émile Durkheim believes “Social factors are not only external to the individual but are, moreover, endowed with coercive power, by virtue of which one impose themselves upon”. However, while individuals arise from social interactions and relationships, beliefs, values, and moral obligations may appear as matters of personal will. In Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’, the star-crossed lovers are hindered by the enmity between their households, misfortunes, and arguably, their own lack of faith. Drastically different in mood, Shakespeare’s other play ‘As You Like It’ depicts the story of Rosalind and Orlando, who along with three other pairs of lovers, escape the oppressive French court and find love and peace in the wonderland, Forest of Arden. Jane Austen, in her last novel ‘Persuasion’, also explores individual’s power against external pressure on one’s love life through the protagonist Anne Elliot. Although social forces threatens the three pairs of lovers in different ways, and the results of their love stories vary significantly, both Shakespeare and Austen suggest that individuals are capable of directing the results of their love.

Probably the most renowned tragic love story of all time, William Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’ is often seen as a paradigm of failure of love and desire due to reigning demands of familial and social customs. Indeed, the long standing quarrel between the houses of Montague and Capulet is stated from the very beginning: “from ancient grudge break to new mutiny where civil blood makes civil hands unclean” (Prologue). Later on, the deeply engrained hatred leads to multiple murders, tearing the already-fragile lovers further apart. Ultimately, several unfortunate timings and misunderstandings push Romeo and Juliet to death. At first glance, it may seem reasonable to entirely blame the two families for their ruthlessness. However, while the familial feud may initiated the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, it should not be seen as the last straw that broke the camel’s back. Romeo and Juliet did not die solely as an expiation to social pressure, but also their own deficiencies of being youths. Throughout the play, Shakespeare illustrates multiple instances to indicate the dichotomy between the lover’s inner belief and practice in reality.

On one side, both teenager display rash, impetuous, and overly optimistic characteristics from the beginning of the play. Romeo enters the Capulet ball uninvited, climbs to the balcony of a girl he just met, involves himself in bloody fight and eventually slays Tybalt. Juliet, on the other hand, deceives Paris and her family, marries Romeo without consultation, and kills herself despite feeling “Romeo’s lips are still warm!” (5. 3. 168). Not to say immediately following one’s intuition is an act of immaturity, people do pay severe price for making decisions on the spur of the moment. Additionally, Romeo, instead of using logic and reason, displays an overly optimistic attitude towards his love with Juliet throughout the play. In the dream during his exile, Romeo confesses his love: “Ah me! How sweet is love it possessed, when but love’s shadows are so rich in joy!” (5. 1. 10-11). In other words, knowing all the dangers and uncertainties ahead, Romeo still believe in the minor chance of miracles in his result with Juliet. He is essentially fantasizing risk, weighing their love to see if it has the power that he thought has possessed in his dream.

However, while both Romeo and Juliet are heavily consumed by passion, they lack of grounding faith in the practice of their religious love. Without realizing that taking love to a religious dimension can put themselves at risk, Romeo and Juliet ultimately confront each other in front of Juliet’s death bed. At this stage, all Romeo needs is a little more faith beyond reason and external voices for one moment longer. In his last monologue, Romeo already observes that “Death…hath no power yet upon [Juliet’s] beauty”, “[Juliet] art not conquer’d”, and the “crimson in [Juliet’s] lips and cheeks” (5. 3. 93-95). He undergoes an internal battle of whether to “believe that unsubstantial death is amorous”, and even decides to “still will stay with [Juliet]” for a moment, yet ultimately kills himself (5. 3. 103-106). Here, in contrast with the fantastical dream he had, Romeo actually turns against his belief that their love is stronger than the world when it comes to real life decisions. If Romeo set himself independent from those who tend to destroy their relationships, their religious love may have triumphed after all. Therefore, instead of claiming the cause of their death solely to family, society, or even fortune, Romeo and Juliet’s doubleness of definitely finally takes way their chances of living.

To further acknowledge the power of individual’s strength over social forces in love relationships, Shakespeare even have the lovers in ‘As You Like It’ to create a society of their own. Before Orlando and Rosalind escaped to the Forest of Arden, both of them live in an oppressive duchy usurped by Rosalind’s uncle, Duke Frederick. On top of the tyrant, Orlando also lives under the shadow his homicidal brother, Oliver. In the beginning of the play, Orlando describes his situation as “the spirit of my father, which is within me begins to mutiny against this servitude” (1.1.23). The struggle presented by Orlando here is similar to the “new mutiny where civil blood makes civil hands unclean” in the beginning of Romeo and Juliet. In addition, the conflict between Orlando and Oliver resonates Romeo’s speech before he kills Tybalt: “this day’s black fate on more days doth depend; This but begins the woe others must end” (3. 1. 118-119). In this sense, the court full of treachery and backstabbing in ‘As You Like It’ is comparable to the city of Verona in Romeo and Juliet, yet the two protagonists manage to escape. The society they formed in the Forest of Arden is later remarked by American critic Harold Bloom as “the best place to live…where all can give free rein to themselves, given the forest supposedly free nature, they’re outside the court, they’re out in the nature you might want to assume that love there is going to find free expression that it can’t find at court.” For instance, coming out from the midst of fear and hatred, Orlando starts to freely express his love through poems. Although his childish language and simple rhyme schemes is often regarded as “poorly written”, its naiveness and genuine definitely set his state apart from the brutal court, and eventually caught Rosalind’s heart.

To a lesser degree, traditional gender norms also appear as an obstacle between Orlando and Rosalind. Orlando is presented with great disparity from traditional ideal of masculinity, which stresses intelligence and power. Begin as an inexperienced lover who writes sloppy poems, Orlando grows throughout the play and wins Rosalind’s love with sincerity. On the other hand, when Rosalind first escapes the court, she disguises herself to a man “Ganymede” for fear of “danger will be to us…Beauty provoketh thieves sooner than gold” (1. 3. 105-107). Both characters clearly challenge the gender norms established by the society, but nevertheless fell in love with each other. Later in the play, Rosalind describes Orlando as “wicked bastard of Venus that was begot of thought”, “conceived of spleen”, “born of madness”, and “that blind rascally boy that abuses every one’s eyes because his own are out”, but also admits that “…[Orlando] didst know hoe many fathom deep I am in love!…I cannot be out of the sight of Orlando” (4.1.194-203). Therefore, with their courage to escape, determination for a better world, open mind and compassion, loves can overcome social pressure, misconception, and prejudice. Ending ‘As You Like It’ with four exuberantly festive marriages, Shakespeare indeed expands the contrast and the possibilities for the development of relationships between the two worlds.

Without escaping to a wonderland, love can also triumph social forces. Jane Austen’s ‘Persuasion’ suggests that despite being separated for eight years, one can still find love back over time by developing their own voices. At the beginning of the novel, Austen emphasizes Anne’s quietness and insignificance through contrast with her dominant family members, notably her father Sir Walter Elliot who “speak only to defer or to be deferred to” (Chp. 1). As a caricature of the novel, he seems solely concerned with names, titles, lineage and appearance. Furthermore, Lady Russell, as a close friend of Lady Elliot, only appreciate Anne’s voice when “she could fancy the mother to revive again” (Chp. 1). As Anne’s advisor, she had a value for rank and consequence, which blinds her to the faults of those who possessed them. Through the intimate family members who privilege external markers over love itself, Austen demonstrates how concern for social standing inhibits perception. The belief not only impedes Anne and Wentworth’s love for each other, but their own ability to love as well. As the result, Anne was persuaded to give up her love for Wentworth when she was nineteen.

Eight years later, Anne’s part in conversation goes through a magnificent development. She speaks into herself when being in society, in conversation and in love life. Notably, even Sir Walter Elliot who previously took little notice of Anne commented her: “less thin in her person…her complexion, greatly improved – clearer, fresher”. In the final reunion scene with Wentworth, Anne defends her love for him passionately: “All the privilege I claim for my own sex…is that of loving longest, when existence or when hope is gone”. As Wentworth overhears Anne’s confession, he responds with a love letter that brings their reunion to completion. Certainly, Austen does not suggests that our choices in life include freedom to act independently of any wider obligations. However, through the twisting love story of Anne and Wentworth, Austen shows that lost love can be found again with hope, confidence, perseverance, independence, and development of inner strength.

No individuals can exist without accompany, and both Shakespeare and Austen seem to agree that society often exert powerful force in romantic relationships. Whether it is familial feud, challenge to traditional gender norms, class differences, or other obstacles, both authors emphasize individual’s personal strength and development for the triumph of their love. While accidents do happen, faith, courage, perseverance, independence, and confidence are the virtues that will ultimately prepare one for the uncertainties ahead. When one grow as an individual, they become a better lover as well.