As You Like It LRJ #2

Aaron Fernandez

Ms. Peifer

10IB English Hour 5

March 15, 2009

The Court versus Country is such an important theme throughout the entire story of As You Like It.  The whole story revolves around the characters having their home in either the Country or the Court.  The people who live in the court feel that they are more sophisticated, and that the people who live in the country are but savages, who are not nearly as intellectual.  On the contrary the people who live in the country feel that their lives are more calm, and they live a life that is purer, and and more revolved around nature.  They feel that it was the best decision in their lives to go to the forest, and be united with others who feel the same way.  Shakespeare uses this as a major theme because it explains why there is some controversy in the story.  The theme is that nature can also show  lessons that are needed in life, that school is not the only area were people can learn.     

The people who live in the forest have come to love it, if they were born in the forest they have so much pride in saying that they were born there.  The people who have come to the forest because of exile like Duke Frederick or because they chose to do so are also very satisfied with their new lifestyle.  Duke Frederick tells his friend Amiens, and other lords, "Are not these woods more free from peril that that of the envious court?"(2.1.3-4).  Duke Frederick states that he is much happier living in the woods, that there is so much greed, and unnecessary fighting in the court.  Duke Frederick likes being away from all the problems that the court cause, and he enjoys being able to make his own decisions, and living life to the fullest without the pressures of the big city or the court.  Then Duke Frederick goes on to say, "And this our life, exempt from public haunt, finds tongues in trees, books, in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything"(2.1. 15-16).  He says that knowledge does not have to come from books or from a school, but that nature can teach the way of life, and it can show people what knowledge they need to know in order to succeed on life.  

The Court has an idea in their minds that all the people in the Country are savages who are ill- educated, and foul- mannered.  The Court sends those people who are exiled to the Country thinking that it is a bad thing but in reality, the people who are exiled find themselves enjoying it very much.  The people in the Court have a stereotype that the Country natives are savages, and that they are much less superior to those of the Court.  Orlando expresses this idea when he says to the Duke Frederick, "Speak you so gently? Pardon me, I pray you I thought that all things had been savage here"(2.7. 111-112).  The people in the Court have this idea that all people in the Country are bad and uneducated but they are actually kind, and sophisticated beings.  Court versus Country is a wide spread theme thought the entire story, it is a feud that affects many of the characters daily lives.