As You Like It – Character Development

In ‘As You Like It’, I am playing the character Rosalind in act one – scene three. She is an upper class character, cousin to Celia, who lives in the court to begin with but is later banished to the Forest of Arden (where her father was banished to a while ago). In this scene given, it is the high point of the events where we discover her uncle banishing her to the Forest of Arden and her cousin Celia making the plans and decisions to run away with her in disguises; Rosalind takes the name as Ganymede and becomes a male whereas Celia changes only her name to Aliana. From this character study, I hope it helps to expand and challenge myself with this role with creative and imaginative ways to transfer the role of Rosalind from the stage to the screen for this unit.

Introduction

Rosalind is a character who lives in the court amongst her family and many other upper class peoples or workers. However, in our adaptation, we have transferred the setting to a large house in which Rosalind lives with her uncle the duke, her cousin Celia and DID live with her father until he was banished by her uncle the Forest of Arden (in our case, forced to move out of the mansion to somewhere distant and fare away). In our adaptation, Rosalind has been born and raised in an upper class area such as Emsworth and has never known any different, I believe she is aware that there are more rural areas in which she knows aren’t as secure as her home town. For example, in our adaptation, the Forest of Arden would be transferred into a rural area of Portsmouth. Rosalind is one of who dominates As You Like It. She can be known as a favourite amongst feminist critics as they admire her ability to prove and push at the limitations society impose on women of that day. With her boldness and imagination she transforms herself into a young man for the majority of the play in order to woo the man she loves and instruct him in how to be a more accomplished, attentive lover as she feels he is not quite what she wants and settles with him as a friend at first but wants more. It’s common situation in some ways as women find what they are looking for but not quite and work on improving little things about them.

Context of the Character

“Rosalind is a fictional character and the romantic female lead in the play As You Like It (1600) by William Shakespeare.

She is the beautiful daughter of the exiled Duke Senior and niece to his usurping brother Duke Frederick. Her father is banished from the kingdom which breaks her heart. She then meets Orlando and falls in love with him. After angering her uncle, she leaves his court for exile in the Forest of Arden. Disguised as a shepherd named Ganymede, Rosalind lives with her sweet and devoted cousin, Celia (who is disguised as Ganymede's sister, Aliena), and Duke Frederick's fool Touchstone. Eventually, Rosalind is reunited with her father and married to her faithful lover, Orlando.

Rosalind is one of Shakespeare's most recognized heroines. Admired for her intelligence, quick wit, and beauty, Rosalind is a vital character in "As You Like It." Most commonly seen next to her beloved cousin Celia, Rosalind is also a faithful friend, leader, and schemer. She stays true to her family and friends throughout the entire story, no matter how dangerous the consequences. Rosalind dominates the stage. Her true decision-making skills can be seen in the last scene of Act V (5) where she has to present herself as Rosalind to her father and to Orlando, but at the same time change Phebe's opinion to marry Silvius. She is the main character of the play who extracts the clarity of important traits in other characters.”

reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosalind_(As_You_Like_It)

Research

‘As You Like It’ was written by one of the most influential writers of all time, William Shakespeare (1564-1616). Shakespeare's works were collected and printed in various editions in the century following his death and by the early eighteenth century his reputation as "the greatest poet ever to write in English" was well established. William Shakespeare also wrote other plays such as Macbeth, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Hamlet, and Much Ado about Nothing and many more. By the time Shakespeare wrote it in 1599, he already had seven other comedies under his belt, including A Love's Labour's Lost (1594) and Midsummer Night's Dream (1595). It is believed that As You Like It could have been amongst one of the first Shakespeare play’s to be performed at the globe theatre in 1599; also in this year other plays were performed at the globe theatre such as, Henry V and Julius Caesar. There are many themes in As You Like It, one of the many themes entwined in this play is city life versus country life. This theme has a lot to do with the Pastoral genre that was very popular around the time of William Shakespeare’s life and which this play belongs to that literary tradition. Typically, a pastoral story involves exiles from urban or court life who flees to the refuge of the countryside, where they often disguise themselves as shepherds in order to converse with other shepherds on a range of established topics, from the relative merits of life at court versus life in the country to the relationship between nature and art. 

(To see more on my research of the context, please look at my context blog)

Back Story

Past: Rosalind has always been the girl living in a small town along the south coast with the sea view just around the corner. In the play (present day) her father is mentioned to be in exile in the Forest of Arden, however I do not reconcile any mentioning of her mother. I feel with this little past story,  it can help to develop and explore my character in many more ways than others if so as I have structure to her past but not a lot giving me the chance to add to this and develop or characteristics. In her past, her father was exiled by the Duke, her uncle and father to cousin Celia, leaving her with no parent form but the support and as close a sister’s relationship with her cousin. She has grown up with a bold and strong spine personality without having the mother figure around. I feel this is why she transforms herself into such an excellent man and she has the courage and bravery already at heart.

Present: At this present moment, in act one – scene three, she is becoming weak and her status and bravery drops when she is being manipulated and sentenced to exile for the court. She discovers this news and has to make plans to support herself. However, with the great support from her cousin, Celia, they decided to run away together. Rosalind is falling for Orlando at this present moment too.

Future: Rosalind has an exciting and eventful future with all of the travelling to the forest of Arden and the events that will occur on their way there and when they arrive. She hopes to woo Orlando and make him a better man, when she finds him, but is undecided to show her true identity as a so called love triangle occurs between them and other characters. She finally reveals herself and all is well which concludes in marriages and they all live happily ever after!

Description of the Character

Costume: My costume in the present moment for this scene will be barefoot and dressed up attire. I am still undecided but anything that is party or restaurant appropriate will be suitable for this scene. This costume is suitable for the adaptation we have created as the entering of this scene is in the morning where me and Celia arrive at the mansion after a night out and we try to sneak in barefoot without or heels on to avoid creating any loud noises. Rosalind will be carrying shoes but not wearing them so I feel they are more under the prop section.

Vocal Aspects: I believe that Rosalind should have a clear and feminine voice but not pitch wise, I feel that the pitch should be very normal being not too high pitch but enough to create the feminine voice. My main inspiration for the vocal aspects is Emma Watson. The way she is spoken had always been a big influence on me with my own voice as she has extremely well-spoken English which is not too much to make her overly posh but enough to give a lovely clear and soothing. For our adaptation, I do not want to go overboard with the voice so I am going to keep it very similar to my own and with the inspiration of Emma Watson’s voice. Here is an example of the way she is spoken: 

Posture: Rosalind would have naturally good posture coming from such an upper class area, she is very confident and does not shy away and I feel this shines through in her posture.

Personality: Rosalind has a fun and outgoing personality; she is very bold and confident as herself but even more so when is in her Ganymede disguise.

Conclusion

Overall, this character study will help me to expand on my character and help develop my skills as an actor for the screen at performing Shakespeare in a naturalistic way this unit!