Medium Rare

Shakespeare is the kind of thing that all English majors must either like or pretend to like. With me, it was the latter. His work just didn't interest me, but if I were to say so, I'd either be called stupid or a heretic. I'm not stupid. I understood the plot, it just didn't interest me. And I know that there is more to Shakespeare than just plot... he was a master of words, inventing many of the turns of phrase that we use regularly without much thought, such as "All that glitters is not gold" (The Merchant of Venice), "break the ice" and "cold comfort" (The Taming of the Shrew), and "It was Greek to me" (Julius Caesar). I looked those up here, for those interested:

http://www.pathguy.com/shakeswo.htm

I admire Shakespeare's command of language, and find it sad that many of his puns are lost on us today, as language and pronunciation has evolved. We can still figure it out, but many of us don't, due to the amount of study it would require. We also lose the historical contexts in which his plays are embedded. It was once common to be familiar with the Greek Classics as well as religious texts, and, without these as prior reference points, much of what his plays displayed seems more high-tier than it would have been in his day, as his plays were layered so that people of any class or circumstance would find something worthwhile in the performances.

I have found, however, that I can easily enjoy The Comedies. Twelfth Night and Measure for Measure are two of my favorite plays. I've already admitted that Shakespeare is clever with words, and my favorite kind of comedy is of the intelligent sort. I can't really get into slapstick, but show me some witty banter and I'm sold. Shakespeare's As You Like It follows along those lines. My favorite characters are the cousins Rosalind and Celia, one the daughter of the banished Duke, and the other the daughter of his usurping brother. Rosalind is permitted to stay in court because of Celia's love for her. What I love most about these girls is the way they talk and how it reminds me of Lorelai and Rory, the mother-daughter duo from the aforementioned TV series Gilmore Girls, whom I don't intend to bring up in every post - only when it's relevant :) It is hard to quote a specific passage, because it's the kind of thing that builds up, but I especially liked them (Rosalind and Celia) in the first act. And, just like any other Shakespeare Comedy, I thoroughly enjoyed imagining young boys playing women disguised as young boys. I guarantee you, there was no shortage of that.

P.S. The title of this post referrers to the title of the play. As You Like It : Medium Rare