The dynamics of
relationships in Shakespeare’s “As You Like It”
Katie Whipple
“Pronounce that sentence on me, my liege. I cannot
live out of her company”(Shakespeare quoted in Norton Anthology 1611). Who
made these remarks about the dear Rosalind, was it Celia, the one whom she
calls ‘coz’, or is Orlando the man that she is in love with? The question
then becomes if Celia said these words what was her meaning. Is it that Celia
is attracted to Rosalind as more than a friend or is this just an example
of the female friendships of the time? This is a look at the different dynamics
of relationships during the Renaissance. Those relationships of female friends,
male bonding and homoeroticism in “As You Like It”.
During
the Renaissance the friendship between females was very important. At this
time in history there came a time when a woman was no longer considered attractive
to a man. When she reaches this point the friendship that she forms between
herself and another female takes the place of a marriage. “The female friendship
seems to appear in a specifically social form of female chastity which revises
the characteristic masculinity of friendship rhetoric in the period” (Shannon
658). An example of the friendship that exists between Celia and Rosalind
in “As You Like It” can be found in Act 3 scene 4 lines 1-5:
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
Rosalind:
But have I not cause to weep?
Celia:
As good cause as one would desire; therefore weep
(Shakespeare
quoted in the Norton Anthology 1634)
In
this conversation Celia takes on the masculine role even though it is Rosalind
that is dressed as a man. Celia is very strong at a point in the play where
Rosalind is facing some emotional troubles. As the more masculine of the two
at this time, Celia tells Rosalind that maybe she should reconsider crying
if she is trying to be a man. One can see the intense friendship that Celia
and Rosalind share in the passage when Celia agrees that Rosalind does have
a good reason to cry. The bond that is between female friends is analogous
to the autonomy valorized in ideal male friendships (Shannon 658). Celia and
Rosalind’s friendship can also be example of the phenomenon of female friendship.
The phenomenon of the female friendship that is so elusive in the writings
of the Renaissance appears as an extraordinary dramatic effect, linking marriage
and tyranny and enhancing the otherwise familiar disapprobation towards the
absolute power of the patriarchal society (Shannon 658).
The
bonding between males is something that is not an obvious in the writings
of the Renaissance as other types of relationships. It has been noted that
the structures of a patriarchal society have an “obligatory homosexuality”
built in the male dominated kinship systems (Sedgwick 3). It is apparent in
“As You Like It” that there is a bond between Adam and Orlando. The question
is whether this bond is that of male bonding, master/servant, or homoerotic.
The relationship really can’t be categorized as homosexual because at no point
in the play is there any actions taken in that manner. In Act 2 scene 3 Adam
and Orlando are discussing Orlando’s money issues. Adam offers his support
in lines 39-41: “But do not so. I have five hundred crowns, the thrifty hire
I saved under your father” (Shakespeare quoted in the Norton Anthology 1615).
Found further in the scene Adam asks Orlando to take him with him on the journey.
In line 54 Adam states “Let me go with you, I’ll do the service of a younger
man in all your business and necessities” (Shakespeare quoted in the Norton
Anthology 1615). Is the reason that Adam is so adamant about joining Orlando
merely based on the years that he has served with the family or is there a
stronger bond between the two. Later in the conversation Orlando is excited
that Adam will give is services to Orlando without compensation. In line Orlando
proclaims: “When service sweat for duty, not for meed!” (Shakespeare quoted
in the Norton Anthology 1615). Orlando decides that he will take Adam with
him as a companion. In lines 67-69 Orlando says “We’ll go along together,
and ere we have thy youthful wages spent we’ll light upon some settled low
content” (Shakespeare quoted in the Norton Anthology 1615). Orlando’s eagerness
to take Adam with him may be due to greed or Orlando’s fear of being alone
or possibly there is something between them that is hidden in the patriarchal
structures of relationship.
The
idea of homoeroticism is not something new it is something that was quite
prevalent in Shakespeare’s writings. Not only is there evidence of homoeroticism
in “Twelfth Night” but also in many of Shakespeare’s sonnets. One question
is if there is really homoeroticism in “As You Like It”. One passage in the
play causes critics to take different sides pertaining to the meaning behind
the words. The passage is Celia’s speech about her relationship with Rosalind
in Act 1 scene 3 lines 63-70:
“I
did not entreat to have her stay. It was your pleasure, and your own remorse.
I was too young that time to value her, but now I know her. If she be a traitor,
why, so am I. We still have spelt together, Rose at an instant, learned, played,
eat together, and whersoe’er we went, like Juno’s swans still we went coupled
and inseparable.”
(Shakespeare
quoted in Norton’s Anthology 1610).
Valerie
Traub argues in her work “The Renaissance of Lesbianism in Early Modern England”
that Celia’s speech is “emotionally and erotically compelling as anything
spoken in the heteroerotic moments” (Traub 257). Traub states, “ Even before
Rosalind’s incarnation as the saucy youth, Ganymede, it is the ‘feminine’
Celia that urges Rosalind to ‘love no man in good earnest’ (1.2.26) (Traub
257). The argument is made that the relationship between Celia and Rosalind
is exceptional in quantity and but unexceptional in type (Traub 257). It is
not only the audience that notices the relationship shared by Rosalind and
Celia but other characters notice as well. Charles and Le Beau describe the
love in Act 1 scene 2 line 244 as “dearer than the natural bond of sisters”
(Shakespeare quoted in Norton Anthology 1609). Nathaniel Strout disagrees
with Traub. In his work “As You Like It, Rosalynde and Mutuality” he argues
that the relationship between Celia and Rosalind is merely the affections
of a cousin (Strout 277). The convention of a cross-dressed heroine in early
modern drama also seems to represent same-sex attraction (Walen 411). When
other female characters encouraged women in male disguise it signified attraction
(Walen 411). Cross dressing is not only a convention used by Shakespeare but
a convention that is found in roughly thirty plays written between 1580-1660
to construct scenarios of female homoerotic desire (Walen 411). Although most
of the attention is on the relationship between Celia and Rosalind there is
also another character that is part of both homoerotic situations but also
heteroerotic at the same time (Walen 421). Phoebe’s desire for Ganymede is
hetererotic for her but at the same time the audience knows that it is a woman
that Phoebe is directing her desire to (Walen 421). “Although Shakespeare’s
plays presume to break heterosexual authority by presenting a mutual attraction
and Rosalind’s affection for Orlando is given textural precedent, they manipulate
character and story to fashion a homoerotic tension between the actual and
the perceived” (Walen 421).
As
one can observe the relationships that are represented in “As You Like It”
are as complicated as the love triangles that are formed. Whether the true
gender of a character is known or unknown the erotic thoughts are still present.
It is a difficult situation to state if a relationship is truly erotic or
if it is only the views that our modern society is placing on it. A society
in which sex sells and it doesn’t matter who the relationship is between.
Works
Cited
Sedgwick,
Eve. Between Men: English Literature and Male Homosocial Desire. New
York. Columbia Univ. Press1985
Shannon,
Laurie. Emilia's Argument: Friendship and 'Human Title' in The Two Noble
Kinsmen. ELH 64.3 (1997) 657-682
Strout,
Nathanial. As
You Like It, Rosalynde, and Mutuality. SEL Studies in English Literature
1500-1900 41.2 (2001) 277-295
Traub,
Valerie. The Renaissance of Lesbianism in Early Modern England. GLQ: A
Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies 7.2 (2001) 245-263
Walen,
Denise. Constructions of Female Homoerotics in Early Modern Drama. Theatre
Journal 54.3 (2002) 411-430