English Literature

The Golden World refers to the Forest of Arden which represents the Conventional pastoral world without any artificial idealization of its unalloyed bliss. In this idyllic region, the passage of time is not measured by minutes or seconds, and therefore hours of worries and anxieties do not trouble one. Here as life is not burdened with duty, nor fraught with toil and moil, all spend their time happily and freely in a state of fanciful idleness. Life in the Forest of Arden away from evils and envy, intrigues and iniquities at court is in harmony with nature. In As You Like It , the Forest of Arden with its natural artifices is a haven of ease and contentment, peace and rest to Duke Senior who seeks pleasure even out of the bowl of melancholy and believes: Life exempt from public haunt Find tongues in trees, books, in running brooks Sermons in stones, and good in everything. The Forest of Arden is free from the disgraces of reality like corruption, war, strife and avarice but cannot brea...

All the word is a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts. This extract from �The Seven Ages� , a brief part of the play �As You Like It� by William Shakespear e has become a famous saying over the years. It is a piece of the great philosophy propounded by Shakespeare who is popularly known as the � Bard of Avon �. As per the �insightful view� of Shakespeare, the world is a stage where all men and women perform under the instructions of the Fate. They are mere puppets in the hand of their destiny that is responsible for distributing joy and sorrow to them. Our birth on earth is like an actor�s entrance on the stage, and our death is like the actor�s exit or departure from the stage. During the time between our birth and death, or between our entrance and exit, we play many different roles and perform our duties. This period is divided into seven different phases of human life. Like actors on s...

Character of Rosalind Rosalind, one of the Shakespeare's brightest and subtlest heroines. Rosalind, the heroine of "As You Like It", is the daughter of the banished Duke Senior, niece to the usurping Duke Frederick, and the affectionate cousin, and inseparable friend of Celia. She is intelligent, sympathetic and creative. This is why critics after critics have vexed eloquent in their praises of her. Thus, S.A. Brooke writes, "She is fresher than the dew in the forest". Her wit and Wisdom: In the forest, she is all vivacity and sparkling wit. Her wit, her wisdom, her sound commonsense, her illuminating good sense, and her essential womanliness are all revealed in the free and uninhibited atmosphere of the forest of Arden. She bubbles over with animal spirits, and her mind thinks as rapidly as her heart feels, she skips from one subject to another exuberantly. Truly, "You shall never take her without her answer unless yo...