Contrary Notions of Identity in As You like It - Yavanika

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MARK BRACG HER 235 The fool should be a Touchstone who causes the true self to appear, not a Jaques who rails against imperfection. Jaques's statement - "I will through and through / Cleanse the foul body of th' infected world, / If they wil patiently receive my medicine" (II.vii.59-61)-sounds like the manifesto of a satiric playwright and issues from the very self of exclusion which it is the fool's role in Shakespeare to open: Jaques the satirist is able to view human action only from the single perspective of absolute righteousness, and Duke Senior speaks for the Shakespearean vision, and against the satiric perspective, when he chastises Jaques: "Most mischievous foul sin, in chiding sin" (II.vii.64). Relativism, or the achievement of a plurality of perspectives, leads, in the Shakespearean vision, not to skepticism and cynicism, but to love. The satiric vision is thus contrary to Shakespeare's not only in that it denies the ultimate value of love,28 but also because it encourages and reinforces the attitude of the exclusive self, which is always attempting a put-down or expulsion of the other, be it physical, social, or verbal. In satiric comedy, the breaking apart of an exclusive self is done in order to destroy that self and thus increase the cohesion and power of another exclusive self. This is the ultimate goal not only of the antagonists but also of the protagonists, and even of the playwright himself, a fact which is manifested by the observation that the triumph of the protagonist is embodied as an overthrow rather than a conversion and inclusion of the antagonist. In Shakespearean comedy, on the other hand, the main purpose in attacking an exclusive self is to open it up and allow it to achieve the fullness of its being in relatedness with other selves, a goal which finds expression in a denouement of conversion and inclusion rather than dominance. The greater inclusiveness promoted by As You Like It is enhanced not only by the jarring of the fool but also by the disguise or roleplaying the characters engage in. Like puns and wit, disguise in Shakespeare's comedy fosters greater inclusiveness in the audience as well as in the characters. While in satiric comedy we the audience gain pleasure primarily at the expense of the victim of disguise or as a result of the abandonment of the disguise-both of which play to the self of exclusion - in Shakespearean comedy a greater measure of our delight in disguise derives from the energy produced by the plurality of perspectives which disguise inaugurates. A consummate instance of such an experience occurs when Rosalind disguised as Ganymede plays1 Rosalind, while Orlando plays himself. The multiple perspectives constellated by this encounter force us to see every word uttered by the characters in several ways at once, and as a result, we are 28See Peter G. Phialas. "Comic Truth in Shakespeare andJonson," SAQ62 (Winter 1963):78-91, for a discussion ofJonson's treatment of love. This content downloaded on Thu, 7 Mar 2013 13:10:36 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
236 IDENTI TY IN AS YOU LIKE IT unable to rest for long in the inertia of any single attitude or emotion. This experience of greater inclusiveness which disguise inaugurates in the audience is mirrored and reinforced by the greater inclusiveness which the characters themselves achieve through disguise. In satiric comedy disguise is used to deceive and triumph over someone. Although this motive is not altogether absent in Shakespeare, the end result of disguise is here not the intensified exclusiveness of self but rather a greater inclusiveness. This result is apparent when Rosalind appears in disguise with Celia and Touchstone. She complains of weariness and would like to cry, but because of the role she is playing, she is able to take another perspective on her situation and resist the inertia of her immediate emotion: "I could find in my heart to disgrace my man's apparel and to cry like a woman," she declares, "but I must comfort the weaker vessel, as doublet and hose ought to show itself courageous to petticoat. Therefore, courage, good Aliena!" (II.iv.4-8). By embracing her role as Ganymede, Rosalind is thus able to get outside her monistic, habitual self and achieve a more inclusive, incohesive self that realizes the folly of romantic ideals even while loving Orlando. As a result, her love becomes more authentic, for in the end she self-consciously and deliberately gives herself to love instead of being overthrown by it as she was at first. Orlando goes through a similar exercise in achieving a more inclusive self. It might appear that in his encounters with Ganymede's Rosalind, Orlando is simply being himself. In actuality, however, he is playing Orlando, and there is an important difference in the two perspectives. In playing himself, Orlando, at the same time that he is himself, is forced to step outside himself and view this self as a mere role he is playing rather than as his absolute identity. His roleplaying, like Rosalind's, thus works to lead him to new perspectives and hence creates of him a self of greater inclusiveness, a self more willing to accommodate the other. Orlando must move beyond that self which, in the words of Kent Talbot van den Berg, "first desires his beloved as a physical object, and subsequently . . . re-creates her as a mental image."29 He must attain that inclusiveness which views the other "as another subject who transcends both the object and the image . . . , [so that] the beloved's existence as a person independent of the lover's will is no longer threatened by the unmastered importunity of desire or ignored in the solipsism of fancy, but is cherished by a respectful love."30 A truly inclusive self, a self of love, is a self of multiple perspectives that recognizes the profound truth beneath Orlando's 29Kent Talbot van den Berg, "Theatrical Fiction and the Reality of Love in As You Like It, PMLA 90 (October 1975):891. '0lbid. This content downloaded on Thu, 7 Mar 2013 13:10:36 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
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