Contrary Notions of Identity in As You like It - Yavanika

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MARK BRACHER 229 diminution of the other. Identity is a function of exclusiveness, in Oliver's view: each self is essentially an isolated entity, and as with Touchstone's cup and glass, "filling the one doth empty the other" (V.i.45-46). This assumption about the nature of identity and fulfillment is even more apparent in the behavior of Duke Frederick. When Charles tells Oliver that young gentlemen are flocking to Duke Senior every day, there is an intimation that ajealousy similar to Oliver's,15 based on an identical view of the self, might be one cause of Frederick's usurpation and his banishment (exclusion) of his brother. This inference is confirmed in the following scene when Frederick says to Orlando, "The world esteemed thy father honorable, / But I did find him still mine enemy" (I.i.221-22). Duke Frederick portrays the relation of these clauses as one of contrast ("but"), but it is evident that the relation is actually one of cause and effect: the world esteemed Orlando's father honorable, therefore Frederick saw him as an enemy. In the character of Frederick, Shakespeare is thus once again portraying a self that is constituted by opposition to other selves-by exclusiveness-and thus feels threatened by the success of another. And once again Shakespeare has diverged from his source in order to present such a portrait: Frederick's reaction is the opposite of the inclusive response of the king in Lodge, where we find that "when they knew him to be the youngest Sonne of Sir John of Bourdeaux, the King rose from his seate and imbraced him, and the Peeres intreated him with al favourable courtesie.:'6 The exclusive view of the self is also the cause of Frederick's behavior toward Rosalind, which, Le Beau informs us, is "Grounded upon no other argument / But that the people praise her for her virtues" and pity her for the sake of her father (I.ii.274-75). As with Oliver's antagonism toward Orlando, Shakespeare has removed the motivation which is found in Lodge. Torismond, Frederick's counterpart in Lodge, banishes Rosalynd because he fears that a nobleman might marry her and then "in his wifes right attempt the kingdom."'7 In Shakespeare's version, however, there is no such obvious motive for the duke's action, and the only overt explanation we receive is Le Beau's remark, "The duke is humorous" (I.ii.262). This absence of a clear motive forces us once again to examine the soul of the agent. When we do so, we find once again the notion that identity is a func- '5Shakespeare invites parallels between the two relationships by making the two dukes brothers: Lodge's Gerismond and Torismond are unrelated. '6Thomas Lodge, Rosalynde, in Geoffrey Bullough, ed., Narrative and Dramatic Sources of Shakespeare, 8 vols., 2: The Comedies, 1597-1603 (New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 1958), p. 172. '7See Barnet, p. 124. This content downloaded on Thu, 7 Mar 2013 13:10:36 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
230 IDENTITY IN AS YOU LIKE IT tion of exclusiveness, a notion which Frederick himself makes explicit in the following scene. When Celia protests the banishment of Rosalind, he tells her: "Thou art a fool. She robs thee of thy name, / And thou wilt show more bright and seem more virtuous / When she is gone" (I.iii.79-81).For Frederick, as for Oliver, selves are seen as ontologically competitive with each other, and the enhancement of one self means the diminution of another's being. The actions of the villains of the play can thus be seen to arise from a vision of identity as exclusive. In contrast, the actions of the hero and heroines of the play seem to derive from an opposite perspective, which experiences identity as a matter of inclusion and relatednessa notion which is expressed first by Celia, in direct contradiction of her father. While for Duke Frederick, Rosalind's presence means a diminution of Celia's being, for Celia it means the exact opposite: an enhancement of her existence. "I cannot live out of her company," she says (I.iii.85), indicating that her very being includes that of Rosalind. "Thou and I am one," she says to Rosalind. "Shall we be sund'red, shall we part sweet girl? / No, let my father seek another heir" (I.iii.97-98). In rejecting her father for Rosalind, Celia is showing that her identity, her true self, is not a product of her lineage but is rather constituted by her relatedness to and inclusion of another self. Celia's attitude embodies the realization that, to alter Touchstone's dictum, filling the one doth fill the other also. The view of self embraced by Celia and Rosalind, then, is directly opposed to that of Oliver and Duke Frederick. Shakespeare has pointed up this contrast by juxtaposing the two attitudes in the first two scenes of the play: immediately following Oliver's soliloquy on his hatred of Orlando, the scene changes and Rosalind and Celia appear and speak of their love for each other. While Oliver is envious of Orlando's status, Rosalind tells Celia, "I will forget the condition of my estate to rejoice in yours" (I.ii.14-15). Celia replies, "What [my father] hath taken away from thy father perforce, I will render thee again in affection" (I. ii. 18-20), thus contrasting her own attitude of love and inclusion with her father's action of envy and exclusion (usurpation). The two perspectives on identity are contrasted again later in the scene, when Duke Frederick is speaking to Orlando. Frederick's lines - "The world esteemed thy father honorable, / But I did find him still mine enemy"-are echoed by Rosalind's declaration eight lines later of the exactly opposite attitude: "My father loved Sir Roland as his soul, / And all the world was of my father's mind" (I.ii.231-32, my emphasis). While Frederick sets himself in opposition to the world and in enmity with Roland, Duke Senior is presented as virtually consubstantial with Roland, and with "the world." His identity, like This content downloaded on Thu, 7 Mar 2013 13:10:36 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
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