As You Like It

As You Like It surprised me most with its blatant dealing with sexuality and sexual identity. Shakespeare dealt with a great deal of issues here that I never would have expected to see brought up here. This play was not a typical romantic comedy. This is perhaps what I admire most about him as a playwright, his ability to push the boundaries and limits of his time. There are clearly a great deal of homosexual …

…there are four marriages (between a man and a woman), which we are led to believe live “happily ever after.” Each character assumes his or her “natural” identity. Does this then argue for the value of one type of love over another? Or that one way is the right way? I don’t think it does. For as advanced as Shakespeare was, I don’t think even he could have ended it any other way.