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Soliloquy
Key Examples in As You Like It
Act 3, Scene 2
Explanation and Analysis:
Shakespeare’s style in As You Like It is whimsical and witty, relying on his technical strengths to bring levity to the story of the banished heroes. Shakespeare’s use of humor in the form of puns, parody, and wordplay adds a sense of irreverence and gives the play mass appeal. Take Rosalind and Touchstone’s argument in Act III, Scene 2:
Rosalind, [as Ganymede]: Peace, you dull fool. I found [Orlando’s verses] on a tree.
Touchstone: Truly, the tree yields bad fruit.
Rosalind, [as Ganymede]: I’ll graft it with you, and then I shall graft it with a medlar. Then it will be the earliest fruit i' th' country, for you’ll be rotten ere you be half ripe, and that’s the right virtue of the medlar.
Related Themes:
