Life in the Pastoral
In Shakespeare’s
plays he often incorporates the trope of the pastoral life. In particular both The Winter’s Tale and As You Like It use this trope in
different situations, but in both instances, this is a significant part of the
play. The difference could be attributed to the genres of each play and the way
Shakespeare incorporated them into the plot. Both plays incorporate the pastoral
as a way to show escape and simple life, but they also both create an
underlying effect of discontent or tomfoolery. So, even with all of the
difference in the use of the plays both end up having the same effect in the
plays.
The Winter’s Tale is a romance play while
As You Like it is a comedy play. The
effect of the pastoral life and how it is treated is where a majority of the
contrasts exist. By way of definition, the pastoral incorporates elements of
shepherding. Shakespeare’s use of this theme often draws on the ability of
displaced courtiers to look back upon the court from the outside. He provides a
contrast for the characters to experience the changes from the court life to
the shepherd’s life. In addition, the pastoral often has an interesting relationship
with regard to time, often seeming to place the characters in a sort of
timelessness. Both of these aspects show up to some extent in both of these
plays, but in different contexts. These contexts again are due to the genres of
the plays but are no less different than they are similar. The theme is often
used to create a paradise in balance with nature.
The choice of a pastoral life creates an
opportunity for Shakespeare to explore how classes might react in different
situations. This setting forces the characters into situations that deal
directly with simple lives. In Shakespeare this can lead to an interesting
dichotomy, especially with his like of using upper class characters. Shakespeare
shows the pastoral life not as idyllic, but nor does he mock it. However,
Shakespeare does bring up the question of beauty and grace when in reference to
class status. Polixenes, when trying to stop his son from marrying Perdita even
says, “This is the prettiest low-born lass that ever/…/Too noble for this
place,” which suggests that low-born women are seen as not as attractive and
that is they are like the shepherd’s daughter they try to use their beauty to
move up in the classes (Act 4, Scene 4, Lines 155-158). Yet even here, the
wording and organization of the play make fun of the shepherd or his way of
life. In fact, at this critical point where Polixenes and Camillo disguise
themselves, the shepherd is having what essentially amounts to a party after having
shorn his sheep. This shows that the shepherd’s life is in some way a good one,
but it does provide an excellent contrast to the court in The Winter’s Tale which is not a good place to be. King Leontes
going crazy is the beginning of the somewhat tragic first three acts and thus
the court is not a happy place, unlike the shepherd’s party, which is after the
introduction of time and is in the happier, later half of the play. Yet, even
with this contrast there is still the lack of decorum and class that is seen in
the court, especially with the scenes of Autolycus and Clown. Yet, even
Peredita, who is raised as the shepherd’s daughter has some issue with the
pastoral life as it exists. “Which some call nature’s bastards: of that kind/
Our rustic garden’s barren; and I care not/ To get slips of them,” is something
that she says in response to Polixenes saying that she is pretty and well fit
to growing winter flowers (4, 4, 80-82). Peredita essentially says that winter
flowers are not what she is wearing because they are not pretty enough for her.
When asked about why she hates the flowers she says that she does not like the
fact that they are crossbred. This ties into the problems of the pastoral.
Without knowing it, Peredita essentially gives Polixenes an in to try and stop
her marriage to his son, because it could be seen as crossbreeding between the
classes. This creates emphasis that the pastoral is not a paradise, but a place
where natural order should preside, in contrast to the court of Leontes.
In As You Like It, Shakespeare uses the
pastoral life as a comedic effect, but also a way to move the plot along. Since
this play is a comedy, the usage of it for comedic effect makes sense. In
addition, in this play the main character merely dresses as a shepherd, while
in actuality she is a lady. This in turn brings an entirely different purpose
to the play. He purposely creates issues that the shepherds have to deal with,
but in a way, that is not something within their purview. The shepherds are seen
as rough and not gentlemanlike, which is what creates many of the issues
Shakespeare introduces. The pastoral life is shown in direct contrast to the
life of the court, where the court is full of gentlemen and ladies and manners
and the other is essentially a rag tag group living on the outskirts. This is
made evident in Corin and Touchstone’s discussion about life in the forest. “Cor.
‘And how like you this shepherd’s life, Master Touchstone?’/ Touch. ‘Truly
shepherd in respect of/ itself, it is a good life; but in respect that it/ is a
shepherd’s life, it is naught.’” Touchstone contradicts himself for the entire
conversation, clearly pointing out that the court is the better place for him (3,
2, 11-16). This ties into the outsider feeling and the overall satire of the
play. As You Like It makes a parody
of multiple different professions, but the pastoral life is the worst in that
the mockery is made using shepherds and shepherdesses as well as court members
dressed as those in this life. In addition to all of this, there is also the
issue with Rosalind tricking Orlando and advising him on how to woo her by
acting like a guy. Under the guise of a shepherd she says to Orlando, “Look you
lisp, and wear strange suits,” in which she pokes fun at the idea of him
dressing like a courtier even when in the middle of the forest (4, 1, Lines). Yet
even this humor is more of a sarcastic kind of humor that is perpetrated by one
of the upper-class characters masquerading in the pastoral life. Hence, here is
yet another mockery of the life, pulling courtiers in full dress and manners
into situations which do not fit either their personalities nor their ideals.
This also forces those in the pastoral life to contend with the courtiers, which
completely mixes up how they interact and creates a dichotomy in the
personalities.
Certain plot
points and phrases do indicate a certain difference in the respect given to the
pastoral life in each of the plays. In As
You Like It, “That young swain that you saw…/ That little cares for buying
anything,” provides a setting of the shepherd seemingly being a stooge and too
sick in love to care about his fortunes, while in The Winter’s Tale the shepherd gives a feast (2, 4, Lines). “And
bid us welcome to your sheep-shearing, / As your good flock shall prosper,” is
the shepherd’s way of saying good fortune onto those who came to the feast (4,
4, 68-69). Each section of the plays that relies upon the pastoral life is
different too. In As You Like It this
appears as a joke and the shepherd is seen as being uneducated and as not
having good manners, which is in direct contrast to how the upper level of
society is seen. There is also a court in the forest, which to some extent
undermines the idea of the pastoral. While this life is never directly seen as
bad, the characters are happy at the end of the play when they are told they
can return to the court. This conundrum can be seen directly though Touchstone
when he provides contrasting statements about preferring the court life to the
life of the shepherd. In The Winter Tale the
shepherds are not necessarily seen as less mannered and the pastoral scenes
actually seem calmer than those of the court. However, there are still clear
differences between the shepherd and clown and the court persons. Peredita is
essentially described as having class in spite, or despite her actual
upbringing, even though the pastoral brings back a much-needed sense of sanity.
The feast is a good standing point through which to view this ideal, as the
scene creates a sense of abundance, which ties into the idea of paradise.
However, some of Peredita’s speeches cause issues with this view as well. She
seems to say something along the lines that the shepherd’s life is not the
paradise that it appears. She as a character also creates an interesting idea
of the pastoral, as the others are surprised at her grace and presence. This
suggests that blood relation is more important in some respects than how a
character is raised, particularly when Polixenes gets angry and says, “I’ll
have thy beauty scratch’d with briars, and made more homely than thy state,” which
is to be Peredita’s punishment for trying to marry above her rank (4, 4,
446-447). This is particularly interesting given that Polixenes observed that
she was more graceful than a shepherd’s daughter would be typically. So, while The Winter’s Tale has a more traditional
view of the pastoral, there are still some clear indications that it is not
truly the paradise that the genre generally brings to mind.
Both plays use the
pastoral life as a significant plot device, however, one uses it as a way to
directly affect the plot line, while the other merely provides a way for the
significant passage of time to make sense. In addition, in As You Like It the person in charge, in this case a Duke rather
than a King is banished and also having to live his life in the wilderness.
This idea could have also affected how Shakespeare used the pastoral, because
having an entire court forced to live in the wilderness is different than
having a noble’s daughter raised by a shepherd. This is a significant difference in the plays.
Class mobility is always possible in the downwards direction but the fact that
Shakespeare included the ability to move upward in these plays creates another
sense that the pastoral is not paradise. If it was paradise, then those that
lived within it would not want to leave by moving up the social ladder. This
difference can clearly be seen through different characters as well. For
example, in As You Like It, Jacques
ends up staying in the forest because he does not fit neatly into the ending of
the play and so says, “ To him will I: out of these convertites/ There is much
matter to be heard and learn’d,” referencing that the second duke has chosen a life
in the forest over one in the court, thus returning power to the original Duke (5,
4, 190-191). In this instance, Jacques chooses to continue living what amounts
to the shepherd’s life, but as his character does not entirely fit with the
nice wrapped up ending, something strange is associated with his bid to return
to the forest. As for The Winter’s Tale, no
one really stays in the pastoral by choice. In fact, both the Shepherd and his
son the Clown are made lords at the end because of raising the king’s daughter.
“Come, boy; I am past moe children, / but thy sons and daughters will all be
gentleman born,” is what the Shepherd says to his son and which clearly
indicates the change in class (5, 3, 138-139). Here, the shepherd’s become gentlemen
and are excited to begin their new life, and thus not discussing the return to
the original life, while Jacques chooses to forego returning to the court to
remain in the Forest of Arden. This underlies a couple of the differences
between the two plays and emphasizes that the use of the pastoral was different
in each play, yet still managed to have the same general effect.
These two plays
compare a genre that is typically used as a tool in poetry to represent
paradise with a simple life in such a way as to suggest that this idea is not
necessarily true. Shakespeare does not use the original idea of the pastoral in
either play, even though he is closer in The
Winter’s Tale. He uses it satirically in As You Like It, which fits with the rest of the play, and creates a
distinction between the court and the pastoral that is somewhat blurred. In The Winter’s Tale he seems to use it as
a more distinct separation while still not applying all of the intricacies of
the genre. In both cases he creates a sense of idealness that is underlined
with a sense of ridiculousness. This is clearer in As You Like It given the genre of the play as a comedy, but this
idea also applies to The Winter’s Tale,
just more subtly. The ridiculousness is not in the sense that the pastoral is
funny, but more in that thinking that it is an ideal paradise makes no sense.
This ridiculousness is particularly evident in the language of the plays and
the interactions the noble characters have with this life.
References
Shakespeare,
William. “The Winter’s Tale.” The Unabridged
William Shakespeare, edited by William George Clark and William Aldis
Wright, Running Press, 1989, 371-405.
Shakespeare,
William. “As You Like It.” The Unabridged
William Shakespeare, edited by William George Clark and William Aldis
Wright, Running Press, 1989, 249-278.
Shakespeare, William. The Winter’s Tale. 1996. Edited by Stephen
Orgel, Oxford University Press, 2008.
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