Sexual Ambiguity in As you like it - Essay Example

Sexual Ambiguity in AS YOU LIKE IT The sexual ambiguity in As You Like It is portrayed mainly by Shakespeare’s use of relationships throughout the play. The focus of this essay will be on the sexual tensions and ambiguities present in the relationships between Celia and Rosalind, Orlando and Ganymede and Phoebe and Ganymede. What message does this send to reader? What is Shakespeare trying to say? The first slightly questionable relationship the reader sees within the play is that of Celia and Rosalind. They are cousins, but when Orlando is leaving, Le Beau alludes to the fact that they do in fact share a bond that is out of the ordinary. The answer to the question of how close two individuals can be can often take physical and emotional dimensions. Rosalind and Celia are undeniably more than just friends. One can judge the relationship between the two as both emotional and physical. When Shakespeare introduces the two characters (Rosalind and Celia), Celia uses flowery expressions to describe Rosalind. She refers to Rosalind as “my sweet rose, my dear rose” (1.2 21-22) ideally, one would expect such kind of descriptions to come from a man when describing a woman who is his lover. When Celia was later defending Rosalind against her father, she accepted that Rosalind is a turncoat following the fact that they had “slept together.” Having slept with Rosalind, Celia admits that she too should be branded a traitor if her friend, Rosalind is considered to be a traitor. The use of phrases such as “slept together”, as well as “inseparable” by a lady in reference to another lady is in itself complex enough as regards sexuality (Bloom 54). Normally, anyone would expect to hear a man use such terms when referring to his lover or when a woman is referring to her male lover, but in this case, here are two women exhibiting some uncommon sexual bond between them. How sophisticated can it be? The two sisters are presented as two swans that belong together and cannot be separated from one another. Further, Rosalind puts on male cloths to disguise herself against any probable assailant when they set off for the Forest of Arden from the palace. After choosing a male figure, Touchstone, to go with them, his presence as a male companion was enough security for them. They were no longer alone travelling through the forest. In spite of the presence of Touchstone, Rosalind readily agreed to put on male cloths, which puts into question gender role as she takes a masculine responsibility. Rosalind had no reason for disguising herself in male attire to keep off possible attackers because they had Touchstone at their disposal. The fact that she goes ahead to wear male cloths invokes a sense of sexual ambiguity in the play. The relationship between gender roles and attires is brought into focus through cross dressing. Rosalind easily slips into male attire, which enables her to move around with much ease, issue advice and mingle with other men easily without any trouble. The freedom accorded to her courtesy of her dress code gives her the authority to initiate courtship. Rosalind appears to be more active than her friend Celia, who remains largely passive as she retains her female identity. When the two friends are in the Forest of Arden, it is quite fascinating to see Celia, who assumes a female identity sits back and wait for fortune to knock at her door and deliver a man in her life. On the contrary, Rosalinda who dresses up like a man and takes a more masculine role actively seeks for courtship. Sexual ambiguity in the play As You Like It also manifests when Shakespeare presents scenes that contradict the possibility of any sexual relationship having taken place between Rosalind and Celia. As it later emerges, both friends, Rosalind and Celia, are much enthusiastic about getting involved in relationships with Orlando and Oliver. Rosalind and Celia are much willing to take in Orlando and Oliver as their male lovers. Their readiness to accept heterosexual relationships leaves the reader wondering if at all they were ever engaged in a homosexual affair. However, the fact that they are now eager to accept male counterparts as their lover is no indication that their previous lives were free of homosexual relationship. The much evident possible sexual involvement between the two friends, Rosalind and Celia is thrown into further doubt when Rosalind claims that she could never fall in love any woman when trapped in a love triangle that involved Phoebe, Orlando and Silvius. We are left questioning if Rosalind’s claim was a genuine expression or just a shrewd and well crafted move to ward off Phoebe. From the play, it emerges that unlike females, men have the liberty to act as can be seen when Rosalind transforms herself into a man by wearing men’s cloths. In the play, Rosalind appears as the most intelligent and active character. However, all these qualities that manifests under her disguise as a man would probably be latent if she did not present herself as a man and maintained her female gender identity. When Rosalind disguises herself as Ganymede, a young and handsome man, she offers to teach Orlando the subject of love. She lectures Orlando on how to love, a scenario in which Rosalind’s charms become explicit. Rosalind emerges as the only one who is fully aware of how foolish romantic love can be and the charm associated with a romantic affair. She educates other characters around her (Orlando) how feel and love more than they had done in the past. Orlando, the youngest of the sons of Sir Rowland de Bois, is a charming and handsome young man who lives a deserted life under the care of his brother. He lives without having anyone to lecture and give him some tidbits about life. Nonetheless, Orlando has self-confidence with himself and has the feeling that he has great ability. This he proves correct when he emerges the winner in his battle with Charles. Despite his young age, Orlando looks after aging Adam. He later puts his life at risk to rescue Oliver, his elder brother, from a hungry lioness. He is the kind of a gentleman that fits Rosalind’s romantic quest. Orlando and Rosalind fall in love without realizing that they have some common feelings for each other. When Rosalind (Ganymede) and Orlando meets later under a very different scenario, Rosalind, the young woman, is now wearing the appearance of a man in his late teenage. She refers to herself as Ganymede. Orlando seems not to recognize the young woman, Rosalind, and has a strong conviction that Ganymede is a man in his teenage. He considers him as an equal and male confidant, thus he opens up to him and tells Ganymede about his feelings for Rosalind. At this point, Ganymede taunts Orlando about this woman, Rosalind, who is deeply in love with and promises Orlando that he would heal Orlando’s love for the lady (Rosalind) on condition that Orlando courts him (Ganymede). Orlando eventually falls for this courtship game. Although a bit appalling, this scene is so interesting, especially from seeing that Orlando cannot manage to see beyond Rosalind’s camouflage and innocently believes that Ganymede is a handsome young man. As Orlando plays the courtship game with Ganymede, he discovers odd feelings developing for this teenage boy. He is fascinated and attracted to him. The name which Rosalind assumes, Ganymede, is the name of a young male lover, Zeus. This reveals the existence of a strong affair that ensues between Orlando and Rosalind as well as the homoerotic feelings that Phoebe has for Rosalind. It becomes pragmatically difficult to differentiate the feelings of Orlando towards Rosalind and the feelings he has for Ganymede. This scenario poses a huge challenge to the conventional perception about erotic love. Assuming the name Ganymede, who is a young teenage boy, offers Rosalind the liberty, which she would have never obtained as a woman. In her camouflage as a young man, she manages to maneuver her way out of the bondage imposed on women by the society. She manages to walk way from Orlando’s love object, a woman and learns extensively about herself and about Orlando as well. It is during the courtship game in the Forest of Arden when Rosalinda decides to equip Orlando with skills on how to love having discovered that Orlando is not after all a perfect match of her romantic skills. Disguising herself as a man, Rosalind manages to achieve an equal platform with Orlando where they discuss about each other as equals as opposed to conscious objects of one another’s romantic feelings. Rosalind gets more grasp of the meaning of love, which she could never have achieved if she had not disguised herself as a man. This interaction between Ganymede and Orlando makes sexual assignment to appear bleaker. At first, the conversation between Ganymede and Orlando appears to be hypothetical, especially when we assess from the use of the word “would”. Ganymede asks Orlando what he would do if he were his very own Rosalind. However, the readers are thrown into confusion when Shakespeare paints the two characters with a different color as they continue to interact. Orlando appears to be head over heels with Ganymede when the young boy declares that he will be Orlando’s one and only Rosalind to which Orlando replies “then love me, Rosalind” (4.1.147). There sets in strong homosexual connotations in the involvement between Orlando and Ganymede. The confession of Silvius of his deep love for Phoebe does not appear to move her any inch. His claim for love meets Phoebe’s deaf ears. Silvius beseeches Phoebe not to turn him down so harshly for she would appear no better than a common executioner. Rosalind, still under disguise as Ganymede, comes nearer to watch the commotion between Phoebe and Silvius. Rosalind finally appears in the scene and rebukes Phoebe of her harsh stance against Silvius by telling her that she is not that charming and should pray for being lucky to win the love of Silvius. Ganymede (Rosalind), a young and handsome man confronts Phoebe and treats her in a similar manner in which she handled Silvius. Phoebe cannot help falling for Ganymede. She falls in love with Ganymede straight away. When Phoebe decides to defend herself by writing a letter to Ganymede, she sends Silvius to deliver it to him. Rosalind is amused at the fact that a woman could jot such a rude letter and accuses the deliverer, Silvius. Rosalind claims Phoebe judged Ganymede as an ugly young man with no manners and then decides to read the letter aloud. Surprisingly, the content of the letter is more than just chiding. Phoebe’s letter emerges to be containing romantic confessions in which she likens Ganymede to a god who has messed up with the heart of Phoebe. In fact, Silvius becomes puzzled at the language used in the letter, which was intended to reprimand Ganymede. Rosalind delivers a message to Phoebe through Silvius that Ganymede will never fall for her except when she (Phoebe) loves Silvius. Though Phoebe claims not to have fallen for Ganymede and wonders why she could not defend herself against his disparagement, there are instances when her relationship with Ganymede remains conspicuous. When Phoebe says “Sweet youth, I pray you chide a year together. I had rather hear you chide than this man woo” (3.5.66), we are left wondering whether she has fallen in love with Ganymede or Rosalind. This fact remains unclear, but has no weight because Rosalind finally reveals her true identity while Phoebe proceeds to marry Silvius. However, it is undeniable that Ganymede turn on Phoebe and this fact point to the possibilities of homoerotic relationship within the play. Phoebe’s pursuit of Ganymede grows even more. Consequently, Rosalind decides to stop the criticism and promises Phoebe that Ganymede will wed her. However, this promise depends on whether Ganymede will ever get married to a woman. Rosalind convinces everybody to accept to meet at the wedding the following day to which they all admit. When Phoebe discovers that Ganymede (Rosalind) is a woman, her love for him wanes. At this point we are left questioning the validity of the feelings she had for Ganymede. Is conventional sexual orientation determined merely by men’s cloths? Despite the fact that the play closes with a wedding in which there are heterosexual marriages, throughout the play, we are confronted with homoerotic relationships that are never criticized and intrinsically unnatural owing to the fact that the society was particularly stricter and shunned homosexual orientations. As You Like It presents a succinct case of sexual ambiguity in the present society. Through Rosalind’s constant metamorphism form one gender to another, Shakespeare presents the character as a “sexual chameleon” in the play. The use of metaphors such as “Rosalind the Hare and the Hyena” in the play points more to sexual ambiguity that exist in the play. By referring to animals like the hare and the hyena in reference to Rosalind, sexual ambiguity becomes evident in that these animals are historically connected with hermaphroditic sexual orientation (Medlin 148). Generally, Shakespeare’s play As You Like It exhibits sexual ambiguity right from the onset of the play to the end. Sexual ambiguity in the play emerges in various relationships such as the relationships between Celia and Rosalind, Orlando and Ganymede and Phoebe and Ganymede. In the opening scenes of the play, Celia and Rosalind who are two sisters exhibit some questionable bond between them. There is strong evidence that they are attracted to one another despite the fact that they are of the same gender. At the center of the courtship game with Orlando, Shakespeare’s As You Like It exhibits the climax of sexual ambiguity. How sophisticated can it get? In the courtship game, Rosalind, who is basically a man presents himself to Orlando as a woman (Rosalind) and later disguises herself in male cloths and presents herself to Orlando as a young man, Ganymede. This scenario is in itself a very complex situation with strong evidence of sexual ambiguity at its best in the play. The zenith of a mock marriage between Rosalind and Orlando also depicts sexual ambiguity in Shakespeare’s play. Orlando accepts to marry as his wife a boy he who disguises himself as a woman by the name Rosalind. As such, the wedding ceremony indicates acknowledgement of homosexual marriage during a period in which homosexuality was widely objected. This presents a situation of sexual ambiguity in which individuals of the same gender are allowed to marry each other. This kind of marriage invokes the questions concerning the essence of natural and inherent physiological differences that distinguishes a man from a woman. Shakespeare’s play is full of sexual ambiguities, which leaves the reader baffled about sexual assignment as it is presented in the entire play. Works Cited Bloom, Harold. William Shakespeare's As you like it. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 2004. Print. Medlin, Thomas. The Shakespearean Shift: Disrobing Sexual Ambiguity in As You Like It. Viewed on December 3, 2013 http://freshmanenglish.uconn.edu/documents/Essay%20Connections/2003-2006/Medlin.pdf Read More