Friday, July 06, 2012

Notes on Mr. Shakespeare's "As You Like It"

These are reading notes I did for a Shakespeare co-op class.  I'm just putting them out here in case anyone wants to use them.  The post is incredibly long, and for that I apologize, but it was faster to post everything at once than do twelve different posts.  Also, it might be more convenient for someone wanting to print the entire thing.

Act I Scene I

Characters (in order of appearance)

Orlando de Boys, son of Sir Rowland de Boys
Adam, his faithful old servant
Oliver de Boys, Orlando’s older brother
Dennis, Oliver’s servant
Charles, Duke Frederick’s wrestler

Vocabulary

to breed me well- to make sure I was raised well
mines my gentility- ruins my good birth
be naught- get lost
you are too young in this- you don’t know anything about (fighting)
physic your rankness- cure your insolence
shall acquit him well- will do well

Act I Scene II

Characters

Celia, the daughter of Duke Frederick
Rosalind, the daughter of Duke Senior
Touchstone, a fool in Duke Frederick’s court
Le Beau, one of Sir Frederick’s courtiers (an attendant)
Duke Frederick
Orlando
Charles

Vocabulary

righteously tempered- pure or true
lineaments- features
Nature’s natural- a fool
forsworn- lying
taxation- slander
of what color? what kind?
quintain- a post or object mounted on a post and used as a target in tilting
humorous- temperamental

Act I Scene III

Characters

Celia
Rosalind
Duke Frederick

Vocabulary

working-day: wearisome
hem: cough
curtal-axe: sword
Jove: Roman king of the gods (counterpart of the Greek Zeus)

Act II Scene I

Characters

Duke Senior, the older brother of Duke Frederick (and rightful Duke)
Amiens, a lord one of Duke Senior’s attendants
First Lord
Second Lord

Vocabulary

old custom: experience
forked heads: arrows
cope: argue

Act II Scene II

Characters

Duke Frederick
First Lord
Second Lord

Vocabulary

roynish: troublesome

Act II Scene III

Characters

Orlando
Adam

Vocabulary

priser: champion

Act II Scene IV

Characters

Rosalind
Touchstone
Celia
Corin, an old shepherd
Silvius, a young shepherd

Vocabulary

batler: washing stick
dugs: udder
peascod: peapod
thou shalt have to pay for it of us: we will pay for it
mend your wages: raise your wages

Act II Scene V

Characters

Amien
Jaques, a lord, one of Duke Senior’s attendants

Vocabulary

I’ll end the song—sirs cover the while: I’ll finish the song while you set the table
in despite of my invention: although it isn’t imaginative
an if he will come to me: if he will only come to me

Characters and Vocabulary
Act II Scene VI

Characters

Orlando
Adam

Vocabulary

conceit: vanity, pride
desert: wild, uncultivated area

Act II Scene VII

Characters

Duke Senior
First Lord
Jaques
Orlando
Amiens

Vocabulary

discord in the spheres: disorder in the universe
dial: watch
wags: moves
chanticleer: a rooster from Aesop’s Fables
sans intermission: without stopping
my only suit: my only request
bob: joke
pard: panther
wise saws and modern instances: both old and new rulings (legal precedents)
effigy likeness or image of a person
limned: outlined in clear, sharp detail

Act III Scene I

Characters

Duke Frederick
Lords
Oliver

Vocabulary

I should not seek an absent argument… you present: I wouldn’t look for him with you present
Till thou canst quit thee: till you clear yourself (of charges)

Act III Scene II (Part A)

Characters

Orlando
Corin, the old shepherd
Touchstone
Rosalind (as Ganymede)
Celia (as Aliena)

Vocabulary

parlous: perilous
instance: example
fells: fleece
civet: a type of wild cat
perpend: understand
content with my harm: satisfied with my ill-fortune
the right butter-woman’s rank to market: they plod like dairymaids on their way to market
medlar: a type of fruit that was eaten rotten
half-ripe: partially wise
scrip: a small bag
more feet than verses would bear: in poetry, a foot is a certain number of syllables contained in part of a verse (For example, the word “upon” is two syllables. Its rhythm is short-LONG. It is an iambic foot.)
atomies: specks
holla! Whoa!

Act III Scene II (Part B)

Characters

Celia (as Aliena)
Rosalind (as Ganymede)
Orlando
Jaques

Vocabulary

cipher: one having no influence or value
penury: extreme poverty
cony: rabbit
quotidian: commonplace



(Begin at: “’Tis he; slink by, and note him.”)

Act III Scene III

Characters

Touchstone
Audrey, a goatherd
Jaques
Sir Oliver Martext, a country vicar

Vocabulary

Aside: a stage direction that indicates speaking privately (to oneself or the audience)
feign: pretend
a foul slut: a dirty, sloppy woman
I thank the Lord I am foul: Audrey is thanking the Lord she is unattractive?
wainscot: wooden paneling
horns: represent strength and honor; also sometimes indicate a husband’s loss of honor due to the unvirtuous behavior of his wife
bawdry: sin

Act III Scene IV

Characters

Rosalind
Celia
Corin

Vocabulary

dissembling: pretending
Judas: the apostle that betrayed Jesus with a kiss
verity: honesty, truth
concave: empty
tapster: tavern-keeper
puisny tilter: young, unskilled knight

Act III Scene V

Characters

Phebe
Silvius
Celia (as Aliena)
Rosalind (as Ganymede)
Corin

Vocabulary

cicatrice/impressure: a scar left by a leaf or seed on a plant
Thou hast my love: you have my friendship
earst: earlier
carlot: peasant

Act IV Scene I

Characters

Rosalind (as Ganymede, and eventually as Ganymede playing Rosalind!)
Celia (as Aliena)
Jaques
Orlando

Vocabulary

censure: ridicule
emulation: rivalry
politic: crafty
nice: fussy
rumination: thought
humorous: moody
blank verse: non-rhyming poetry in iambic pentameter (most of this play is written in blank verse)
I’ll warrant him heart-whole: I guarantee he is not in love
jointure: offer
leer: face
graveled:
suit: courtship
die by attorney: die by proxy
videlicet: namely
I might ask you for your commission: I might ask what right you have
casement: window

Act IV Scene II

Characters

Jaques
Lords

Act IV Scene III

Characters

Rosalind
Celia
Silvius
Oliver

Vocabulary

this is a letter of your own device: you wrote (devised) this letter
eyne: eyes
perlieus: outskirts
sheepcote: shepherd’s cottage
bottom: valley
osiers: willows

Act V Scene I

Characters

Touchstone
Audrey
William, a country boy in love with Audrey
Corin

Vocabulary

flouting: jeering, mocking
cover thy head: William has taken off his cap to salute Touchstone and Audrey; Touchstone bids him put it on again.
ipse: (Latin) he
trip: hurry


Act V Scene II

Characters

Orlando
Oliver
Rosalind (as Ganymede as Rosalind)
Phebe
Silvius

Vocabulary

thrasonical: boastful
incontinent: without control
I can live no longer by thinking: I cannot pretend anymore

Act V Scene III

Characters

Touchstone
Audrey
Two Pages

Vocabulary

woman of the world: married woman

Act V Scene IV

Characters

Duke Senior
Amiens
Jaques
Orlando
Oliver
Celia
Rosalind
Silvius
Phebe
Touchstone
Audrey
Hymen, the mythological god of marriage
Jaques de Boys, brother to Oliver and Orlando (the other Jaques)

Vocabulary

purgation: being cleansed of an accusation, esp. by a trial of fire, water or combat (ie., if you survived the trial, you were declared innocent)
copulative: that which unites or couples
sententious: abounding with sentences
bear your body more seeming: watch your posture
addressed a mighty power: gathered a great army
good wine needs no bush: in Shakespeare’s time, it was customary to drape branches of ivy in tavern windows as an advertisement for wine.

5 comments:

Angi said...

oh very nice! thanks for sharing! just *today* I was over at the Charlotte Mason archives and came across a digitized copy of what appeared to be a hand-typed script of As You Like It (golly, i DO think that was it!) that was rewritten for a small school performance. It was lovely to see marginal notes, etc.

Katie said...

I found the most useful thing when I was working on the cast list for As You Like It earlier this year-- an Excel spreadsheet listing line counts and which scenes each character appears in (!). It was SO helpful. I hope to find a similar spreadsheet for Hamlet for this year!

Katie said...

I'll have to go over and see if I can find that digitized copy in the archives-- the kids would love to see it! Do you happen to have the link?

Angi said...

yes, here it is. Sorry i didn't have it earlier but i found it for ya!

This is how it is cataloged:
"Miss Ada Rehan(?)’s Prompt Books (2) for ‘As You Like It’, given to Charlotte Mason for student performance –cmc473"

And here are the TWO links (PDF so do a save link as first, then open.)


http://charlottemason.redeemer.ca/Box53/cmc473/p01-p25cmc473.pdf

and

http://charlottemason.redeemer.ca/Box53/cmc473/p26-p55cmc473.pdf

Further notes on it say, "There is a ripped corner of a page left at the end of the notes; it seems a page had been torn off. The Armitt 'Manifest' (finding aid) states that there are 2 books, but only one was digitized. 1 Script (55 pages)"

Katie said...

Thanks, Angi!