The Characters of Shakespeare
The Characters of Shakespeare
1.Introduction
Characters have always been and still are the focal point of every play. This is not surprising, since it is they who make up the whole story. Judging by the way they talk and gesticulate, they do not only determine their own personality but they also develop the plot, the social context, the atmosphere and the theme of the whole play.
Language is the most important factor, when it comes to identifying and analysing a certain character type. The picture that we, as the reader, get of a character is, on the one hand, a reflection of what he says, and, on the other hand, of how he says it. This will become clear if we look at the opening scene of As you like it. Here, Orlando complains in an inexorable stream of words about his upbringing - if he has had one at all -, in which he was treated like the black sheep of the family.
He keeps me rustically at home, or, to speak more
properly, stays me here at home unkept...His horses
are better bred, for, besides that they are fair with
their feeding, they are taught their manage. (1.1. 6-11)
This extract from Orlando’s first speech is ‘a shout of protest.’ (Doebler, 111) In twenty-three lines Orlando gives vent to his wrath, a wrath he has choked back for much too long. He tries to portray himself as an uneducated and foolish person, a person who has been kept like a menial. Yet, it is made quite clear to the reader that this is not the case at all. Orlando draws a parallel with his brother’s cattle, thus, becoming aware of the fact that even the horses and oxen are superior to him, for ‘they are taught their manage.’ (1.1. 11) Orlando chooses here the word ‘manage’, a technical term that derives from the French word ‘manege’ (Shakespeare, Commentary) referring to the action and paces to which a horse is trained in the riding-school, particularly for military purposes.
Orlando expresses himself in such a sophisticated manner, which a person who had not obtained a good education would have never been able to do. But it is not only the choice of words used that suggest that Orlando is actually far from being reduced to the state of an animal, but it is the length of this passage as well. Orlando does not...