During the Shakespearean Age, a man’s life was divided into seven ages, but a woman’s into only three: daughter, wife, and widow. Each of these three stages was spent whilst under the control of the man of the house: father, husband, and son. The head of the household exerted his authority widely, in various spheres: determining who would make an ideal groom for his daughter and restricting the womenfolk in his house to within the four walls of the home, for fear of them engaging in their passions and bringing shame to his name and upon the family.
On the other hand, men enjoyed many privileges and few restrictions. Within a family, power flowed from father to son, never to the wife or daughter. Even on the odd occasion when it went to a woman, she governed as a man. Consider Queen Elizabeth I, wily politician and astute monarch, who despite her many strengths, presented herself to her people as “a king of England”! Such were the values and such was the age.
Men could be educated and take up jobs as they willed and where they willed. The head of the household was always male and he enjoyed untrammelled authority over everyone in it. His decisions were final and he rarely accounted for any errors in his ways.
In As You Like It, we find these themes playing out in various ways, with various people. The menfolk in the play are constantly obsessed with power play. In Orlando’s family, we find that his eldest brother, Oliver, who is also the head of the household, has deprived Orlando an education that is rightfully his only because he can, and because no one can openly challenge his decision. Orlando’s only fault for this punishment is his general popularity.
In the affair of the deposition and banishment of the Duke Senior by his younger brother, Duke Frederick, we find multiple themes of family and gender politics from the Shakespearean Age. Although by the concept of primogeniture, Duke Senior should have been the ruler, his position was usurped by his younger brother and he was banished. Even after his deposition, going by the values of the age, Duke Senior was still the head of his household, and he should have been able to do as he pleased with the people in it. However, even this is denied him when Duke Frederick decides that Duke Senior’s daughter, Rosalind, would not accompany her father, and in its stead, would stay back in the court to be a companion to his daughter. What we see here is essentially the ability of the men of the age to violate and abuse existing conventions and codes to do as they pleased, simply because they could. It was the survival of the fittest and the rule of the strongest, in every sense, and this applied not just to women (whose lowly position in society was codified) but also to other men, even when they were superior in rank (notice how all notions of primogeniture were thrown to the wind when Duke Frederick usurped the throne from his elder brother).
In direct contrast to the men and the virile power play, Shakespeare presents to us the comforting sisterhood of Rosalind and Celia. They treat each other as equals, regardless of the status of their respective fathers. Even when Rosalind is exiled by Duke Frederick, Celia continues to be loyal to her sister and friend and joins her in exile, having few qualms about giving up her privileges in and comforts of life in the court.
On the other hand, men enjoyed many privileges and few restrictions. Within a family, power flowed from father to son, never to the wife or daughter. Even on the odd occasion when it went to a woman, she governed as a man. Consider Queen Elizabeth I, wily politician and astute monarch, who despite her many strengths, presented herself to her people as “a king of England”! Such were the values and such was the age.
Men could be educated and take up jobs as they willed and where they willed. The head of the household was always male and he enjoyed untrammelled authority over everyone in it. His decisions were final and he rarely accounted for any errors in his ways.
In As You Like It, we find these themes playing out in various ways, with various people. The menfolk in the play are constantly obsessed with power play. In Orlando’s family, we find that his eldest brother, Oliver, who is also the head of the household, has deprived Orlando an education that is rightfully his only because he can, and because no one can openly challenge his decision. Orlando’s only fault for this punishment is his general popularity.
In the affair of the deposition and banishment of the Duke Senior by his younger brother, Duke Frederick, we find multiple themes of family and gender politics from the Shakespearean Age. Although by the concept of primogeniture, Duke Senior should have been the ruler, his position was usurped by his younger brother and he was banished. Even after his deposition, going by the values of the age, Duke Senior was still the head of his household, and he should have been able to do as he pleased with the people in it. However, even this is denied him when Duke Frederick decides that Duke Senior’s daughter, Rosalind, would not accompany her father, and in its stead, would stay back in the court to be a companion to his daughter. What we see here is essentially the ability of the men of the age to violate and abuse existing conventions and codes to do as they pleased, simply because they could. It was the survival of the fittest and the rule of the strongest, in every sense, and this applied not just to women (whose lowly position in society was codified) but also to other men, even when they were superior in rank (notice how all notions of primogeniture were thrown to the wind when Duke Frederick usurped the throne from his elder brother).
In direct contrast to the men and the virile power play, Shakespeare presents to us the comforting sisterhood of Rosalind and Celia. They treat each other as equals, regardless of the status of their respective fathers. Even when Rosalind is exiled by Duke Frederick, Celia continues to be loyal to her sister and friend and joins her in exile, having few qualms about giving up her privileges in and comforts of life in the court.
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