Rosalind (As You Like It)

Last updated
Rosalind Cousins the 3rd
As You Like It character
As You Like it 2017 Rosalind.jpg
Rosalind in a modern production
Created by William Shakespeare
Based onCharacter in source book, 'Rosalynde' (1590) by Thomas Lodge Jr.
In-universe information
AliasGanymede, after the mythological figure
AffiliationDuke Senior, her father
Family Orlando (husband)
Duke Senior (father)
Duke Frederick (uncle)
Celia (cousin)

Rosalind is the heroine and protagonist of the play As You Like It (1600) by William Shakespeare. In the play, she disguises herself as a male shepherd named Ganymede. Many actors have portrayed Rosalind, including Sarah Wayne Callies, Maggie Smith, Elisabeth Bergner, Vanessa Redgrave, Helena Bonham Carter, Helen Mirren, Patti LuPone, Helen McCrory, Bryce Dallas Howard, Adrian Lester and Arabella Dulcie.

Contents

Origins

Rosalynde is the heroine of Thomas Lodge's Euphues' Golden Legacy. In George Fletcher's quoted writings: “'Faire Rosalind' had, however, at this time, acquired a fresh poetic fame as the object of Spenser's attachment, celebrated in his Shephearde's Calendar, 1579, and Colin Clouts Come Home Againe, 1595. Of all the sweet feminine names compounded from Rosa, that of Rosa-linda seems to be the most elegant, and therefore most befitting that particular character of ideal beauty which the dramatist here assigns to his imaginary princess.” [1]

Ganymede, the name she assumes in her disguise as a forest youth, is that of 'Jove's own page' (I, iii, 127), the most beautiful of all mortals, son of Tros and Callirrhoe, chosen by Jupiter to be his cup-bearer, and to dwell among the gods as his chosen servant.

Role in the play

Rosalind is the heroine and the daughter of the exiled Duke Senior and niece to his usurping brother, Duke Frederick. Her father is banished from the kingdom, breaking her heart. She then meets Orlando, one of her father's friends' sons and falls in love with him. After angering her uncle, she leaves his court for exile in the Forest of Arden. Disguised as a shepherd named Ganymede, Rosalind lives with her sweet and devoted cousin, Celia (who is disguised as Ganymede's sister, Aliena), and Duke Frederick's fool Touchstone. Eventually, Rosalind is reunited with her father and married to her faithful lover, Orlando.

Analysis

Dorothea Jordan as Rosalind by William Beechey, 1787. Painting of the Irish actress Dorothea Jordan in the role. Portrait of Mrs Dorothy Jordan (1761-1816) as Rosalind in Shakespeare's 'As You Like It'.jpg
Dorothea Jordan as Rosalind by William Beechey, 1787. Painting of the Irish actress Dorothea Jordan in the role.

Rosalind is one of Shakespeare's most recognized heroines. Generally noted for her resilience, quick wit, and beauty, Rosalind is a vital character in As You Like It. Most commonly seen next to her beloved cousin Celia, Rosalind is also a faithful friend, leader, and schemer. She stays true to her family and friends throughout the entire story, no matter how dangerous the consequences are. Rosalind dominates the stage. Her true decision-making skills can be seen in the last scene of Act V (5) where she has to present herself as Rosalind to her father and to Orlando, but at the same time change Phebe's opinion to marry Silvius. She is the main character of the play who extracts the clarity of important traits in other characters.

Gender conventions

In As you like it : Shakespeare's unruly women, Penny Gay analyses Rosalind's character in the framework of gender conventions that ascribe femininity with qualities such as “graciousness, warmth … [and] tenderness”. [2] However, Rosalind's demanding tone towards Orlando contradicts these conventions. She rejects these stereotypes of femininity believing that “the wiser [the woman is], the waywarder” she is. [3] [2] By claiming that women who are wild are smarter than those who are not, Rosalind often refutes the perception of women as passive in their pursuit of men. In the book A Feminist Companion to Shakespeare, Carol T. Neely supports this by mentioning that through her actions, Rosalind often adopts stereotypical “masculine behavior,” such as “initiating conversations” and “arranging marriages”. [4]

Performance history

Theatre

Vanessa Redgrave rose to fame playing Rosalind in 1960 with the Royal Shakespeare Company. American actress Patti LuPone played the role at the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis, after her award-winning portrayal of Eva Peron in the original Broadway run of Evita . This caused much speculation because LuPone was leaving the Broadway stage and moving to "regional" work.[ citation needed ] In 2009, Melissa Benoist portrayed Rosalind while attending Marymount Manhattan College. [5]

Adrian Lester won a Time Out Award for his performance as Rosalind in Cheek by Jowl's 1991 production of As You Like It. A male actor in the role (as would have been the norm in Shakespeare's time) underlines the confusion of gender roles within the play: at one point, a male actor is playing a woman who is pretending to be a man acting the part of a woman.

Helen McCrory played Rosalind in 2005 at Wyndham's Theatre in London under the direction of David Lan. [6] In 2009, Naomi Frederick portrayed Rosalind at Shakespeare's Globe. [7]

Television

Helen Mirren played Rosalind in the 1978 BBC Television Shakespeare version of the play directed by Basil Coleman. [8] In Shakespeare: The Animated Tales' 1994 adaptation of As You Like It, Sylvestra Le Touzel voiced Rosalind. [9]

Film

Rosalind has been played by various notable actresses on film including Rose Coghlan in 1912, Elisabeth Bergner in a 1936 film opposite Laurence Olivier as Orlando, [10] Emma Croft in 1992, [7] and Bryce Dallas Howard in the 2006 production directed by Kenneth Branagh. Branagh felt that the character of Rosalind talked too much in the original play and thus cut many of Rosalind's lines in his Japan-set adaptation. [11] Howard was nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance as Rosalind. [9]

Other adaptations

Helena Bonham Carter portrayed Rosalind in the 2000 BBC Radio 4 version of As You Like It. [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vanessa Redgrave</span> British actress (born 1937)

Dame Vanessa Redgrave is an English actress. Throughout her career spanning over six decades, she has garnered numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a Tony Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards and an Olivier Award, making her one of the few performers to achieve the Triple Crown of Acting. She has also received various honorary awards, including the BAFTA Fellowship Award, the Golden Lion Honorary Award, and an induction into the American Theatre Hall of Fame.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prospero</span> Character in William Shakespeares The Tempest

Prospero is a fictional character and the protagonist of William Shakespeare's The Tempest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Redgrave</span> English actor (1908–1985)

Sir Michael Scudamore Redgrave CBE was an English actor and filmmaker. Beginning his career in theatre, he first appeared in the West End in 1937. He made his film debut in Alfred Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes in 1938.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elisabeth Bergner</span> German actress (1897–1986)

Elisabeth Bergner was an Austrian-British actress. Primarily a stage actress, her career flourished in Berlin and Paris before she moved to London to work in films. Her signature role was Gemma Jones in Escape Me Never, a play written for her by Margaret Kennedy. She played Gemma, first in London and then in the Broadway debut, and in a film version for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. In 1943, Bergner returned to Broadway in the play The Two Mrs. Carrolls, for which she won the Distinguished Performance Medal from the Drama League.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patti LuPone</span> American actress and singer (born 1949)

Patti Ann LuPone is an American actress and singer best known for her work in musical theater. After starting her professional career with The Acting Company in 1972 she soon gained acclaim for her leading performances on the Broadway and West End stage. She has won three Tony Awards, two Olivier Awards, and two Grammy Awards, and was a 2006 inductee to the American Theater Hall of Fame.

<i>Twelfth Night</i> Play by William Shakespeare

Twelfth Night, or What You Will is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–1602 as a Twelfth Night entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres on the twins Viola and Sebastian, who are separated in a shipwreck. Viola falls in love with the Duke Orsino, who in turn is in love with Countess Olivia. Upon meeting Viola, Countess Olivia falls in love with her, thinking she is a man.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lady Macbeth</span> Character in Macbeth

Lady Macbeth is a leading character in William Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth. As the wife of the play's tragic hero, Macbeth, Lady Macbeth goads her husband into committing regicide, after which she becomes queen of Scotland. Some regard her as becoming more powerful than Macbeth when she does this, because she is able to manipulate him into doing what she wants. After Macbeth becomes a murderous tyrant, she is driven to madness by guilt over their crimes and kills herself offstage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Helen McCrory</span> British actress (1968–2021)

Helen Elizabeth McCrory was an English actress. After studying at the Drama Centre London, she made her professional stage debut in The Importance of Being Earnest in 1990. Other theatre roles include playing Lady Macbeth in Macbeth at Shakespeare's Globe, Olivia in Twelfth Night, Rosalind in As You Like It in the West End, and Medea in the eponymous play at the Royal National Theatre.

<i>As You Like It</i> (2006 film) 2006 film by Kenneth Branagh

As You Like It is a 2006 romance film written and directed by Kenneth Branagh, and based on William Shakespeare's play of the same name. The film stars Romola Garai, Bryce Dallas Howard, Kevin Kline, Adrian Lester, Janet McTeer, Alfred Molina, David Oyelowo and Brian Blessed in a dual role.

<i>As You Like It</i> (1936 film) 1936 British film by Paul Czinner

As You Like It is a 1936 British romantic comedy film directed by Paul Czinner and starring Laurence Olivier as Orlando and Elisabeth Bergner as Rosalind. It is based on William Shakespeare's play of the same name. It was Olivier's first performance of Shakespeare on screen.

<i>Shakespeare for My Father</i>

Shakespeare for My Father is a one-woman play written and performed by Lynn Redgrave. The play concerns Redgrave's relationship with her father, the imposing actor and family patriarch Sir Michael Redgrave. The play was produced and directed by Redgrave's then husband John Clark with lighting designed by Thomas Skelton. It was presented for a week at the Lobero Theatre in Santa Barbara before touring the United States for a year in a production sponsored by CAMI.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barbara Jefford</span> British actress (1930–2020)

Barbara Mary Jefford, OBE was a British actress, best known for her theatrical performances with the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Old Vic and the National Theatre and her role as Molly Bloom in the 1967 film of James Joyce's Ulysses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mrs. Lovett</span> Fictional character in many adaptations of the story Sweeney Todd

Mrs. Lovett is a fictional character appearing in many adaptations of the story Sweeney Todd. Her first name is most commonly referred to as Nellie, although she has also been referred to as Amelia, Margery, Maggie, Sarah, Shirley, Wilhelmina, Mary and Claudetta. A baker from London, Mrs. Lovett is an accomplice and business partner of Sweeney Todd, a barber and serial killer from Fleet Street. She makes meat pies from Todd’s victims.

Orlando (<i>As You Like It</i>) Character in As You Like It

Orlando is a fictional character and one of the male leads in the comedy As You Like It (1599/1600) by William Shakespeare. Orlando is the youngest son of the deceased Old Sir Rowland de Bois, and carries a name which is the Italian version of the name "Rowland", born by his recently deceased father.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cross-dressing in literature</span>

Cross-dressing as a literary motif is well attested in older literature but is becoming increasingly popular in modern literature as well. It is often associated with character nonconformity and sexuality rather than gender identity.

<i>As You Like It</i> Pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare

As You Like It is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 and first published in the First Folio in 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wilton House in 1603 has been suggested as a possibility.

Characters in <i>As You Like It</i> List of characters in As You Like It

The following is a list of characters in William Shakespeare's As You Like It. Full play here.

Celia (<i>As You Like It</i>) Fictional character

Celia is one of the important characters of Shakespeare's As You Like It.

Pippa Nixon is an English actress. She trained at Manchester School of Theatre.

<i>Dorothea Jordan as Rosalind</i> Painting by William Beechey

Dorothea Jordan as Rosalind is a 1787 portrait painting by the English artist William Beechey of the Irish actress Dorothea Jordan.

References

  1. Fletcher, George (1876). "Studies of Shakespeare (p. 200)" . Retrieved October 10, 2018.
  2. 1 2 Gay, Penny (2002). As she likes it : Shakespeare's unruly women. Routledge. ISBN   0-415-09695-2. OCLC   834223865.
  3. Shakespeare, William (2004-05-31). Marshall, Cynthia (ed.). As You Like It. doi:10.1017/9781139164573. ISBN   9781139164573.
  4. Neely, Carol Thomas (2016-03-25), "Lovesickness, Gender, and Subjectivity", A Feminist Companion to Shakespeare, Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, pp. 294–317, doi:10.1002/9781118501221.ch15, ISBN   978-1-118-50122-1
  5. "Marymount Manhattan College Presents AS YOU LIKE IT". Broadway World. 2009-11-16. Archived from the original on 2017-09-22. Retrieved 2020-08-25.
  6. Billington, Michael (2005-06-22). "As You Like It, Wyndhams Theatre, London". The Guardian. Retrieved 2021-04-19.
  7. 1 2 3 Dickson, Andrew (2016). "As You Like It". The Globe guide to Shakespeare : the plays, the productions, the life. Profile Books. ISBN   978-1-68177-264-6. OCLC   958292736.
  8. As You Like It (1978) at the Internet Movie Database, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077180/
  9. 1 2 Shakespeare, William (2010). Bate, Jonathan; Rasmussen, Eric (eds.). As You Like It. Macmillan International Higher Education. p. 187. ISBN   9780230243804 via Google Books.
  10. Elisabeth Bergner
  11. Heffernan, Virginia (2007-08-21). "Enough Already, Rosalind, Let the Kooks Talk". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2020-08-20.