Contrary Notions of Identity in As You like It - Yavanika

MARK
BRAC HER23
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two types of comedy: the romantic and the satiric. As Nevill Coghill
has pointed out, while Jonson's satiric comedy preaches " a morality
that fundamentally presupposes . . . a world of discordant selfinterest,
Shakespeare's romantic comedy is based on the view that life
is a union in love, not a battle of self-interest."24 The conflict between
the two notions of identity thus also manifests itself as a debate
between romantic and satiric comedy. A primary means by which
Shakespeare prosecutes this debate in As You Like It is to transform the
various exclusive elements typical of satiric comedy into agents or
ancillaries of inclusiveness.
One of the most obvious satiric elements is Touchstone. His wit is
typical of satiric comedy, and most importantly, "he has a natural
tendency," as Alexander Leggatt notes, "to react against the person he
is speaking with,"25 manifesting that fundamental contentiousness
which is the prevalent mode of being in satiric comedy. In Shakespeare's
hands, however, the wit and opposition of Touchstone function
not as ends in themselves but as means to a greater relatedness
among selves. For as a self of relatedness, the inclusive self necessarily
embraces, as we noted earlier, a certain pluralism and incohesiveness:
if the self is fundamentally an openness, a relatedness to what is other,
it will necessarily exist in a plurality of modes, for in its relation to one
thing, it will be significantly different than it is in relation to another
thing. The inclusive self, that is, alters itself to accommodate the
uniqueness of everything it encounters, while the exclusive self, in
contrast, attempts to assimilate or subordinate everything to one single
mode of a monistic ego. And since a truly inclusive self necessarily
embraces a plurality of perspectives, it also necessarily embodies a
fundamental incohesion.
But if inclusive selves are thus by nature incohesive in a certain
sense, then it follows that a major means of promoting an inclusive,
loving self would be to draw it out of a limited mode of being or a
single perspective and into the inclusiveness and plurality of incohesion.
Leading other characters, and also the audience, into such incohesion
is a primary function of the fool Touchstone, a "motley minded
gentleman" (to useJaques's words, V.iv.41), whose motley coat serves
as an apt emblem of the fundamental incohesion, or plurality of perspectives,
which is a prerequisite for an inclusive self.
The fool functions in several ways to produce plurality in those he
encounters. The most obvious way is through direct contradiction of
whatever view he meets. We have already noted Touchstone's ten-
24Nevill Coghill, "The Basis of Shakespearean Comedy: A Study in Medieval
Affinities[" E&S 3 (1950):27, 13. My emphasis.
25P. 196.
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