Rosalind!

Thirlwell, Angela. Rosalind: Shakespeare's Immortal Heroine. Pegasus Books, 2017. Summary: Rosalind: Shakespeare's Immortal Heroine is a unique biography exploring the gender bending heroine of As You Like It, seen through the eyes of the artists who have brought her to life.

Perhaps it’s for sentimental reasons that Rosalind is my favorite Shakespearean character and As You Like It my Shakespeare play of choice [1]. By explanation: while attending a conference in Britain in 1985 I was privileged to catch a Royal Shakespeare Society production of As You Like It at Stratford, with Juliet Stevenson as Rosalind, Fiona Shaw as Celia, and the late Alan Rickman, he of the darkly resonant baritone voice, as the melancholic Jaques. I now admit with some shame that, still feeling the effects of jet lag, I nodded off during at least part of the performance. Not that it mattered so much really: I was at the time so untutored in all things Shakespeare that I wasn’t able to fully appreciate the incredible artistry onstage before me.

In any event I’m still not a connoisseur by any means, but, inspired by programs like Shakespeare Uncovered and various cinematic treatments, I’ve acquired a new appreciation and, more important, curiosity about the bard’s works. And that’s a good start. But, good or no, a start is still a start. Today I count myself at most a casual fan; I’ve seen only a handful of plays either on stage, television or film. Yet another humbling reminder of intellectual lacuna on my part.

But to get back to our gender-ambiguous heroine: Rosalind is of course a rebel, a poet and wit. Accordingly she’s the woman who can’t stop talking: she has more lines than any other Shakespearean female character, outpacing even such luminaries as Juliet and Beatrice. Her message of freedom and all the many-faceted textures, shadings, and indeed contradictions, a woman – or man, for that matter – can potentially, and gloriously, possess resonates with Twenty-first century sensibilities. But, as Thirwell points out in her ever vigilant survey, Rosalind has spoken to audiences of other eras with equal vigor. Still, if a poll were taken today of the Shakespeare buff’s favorite female character, I suspect Rosalind might well take the palm, with Beatrice a close second.

Whatever the case, Thirwell’s superlative opus, a self-described ‘biography,’ is in reality a blend of perspicacious literary critique along with her personal recollections of, and sometimes interviews with, the great Rosalinds who have graced the stage – and screen [2]. There’s also a goodly amount of cultural and political history covered, along with the usual suspects that bespeak a scholarly treatment: index, source notes, extensive bibliography, etc. Thus the book is not necessarily an easy or fast read. On the other hand for the susceptible among us it’s relatively accessible, further buttressed by the many well-chosen photos. In sum, Rosalind is a must read for the true Shakespeare fan and an inspiration for the novice.

Further reading: Mark Anderson, “Shakespeare” by another name: the life of Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford, the man who was Shakespeare, Gotham, 2005; Joseph Sobran, Alias Shakespeare, Free Press, 1997

[1] By way of what’s called full disclosure these days I fess up that I fall in with the Oxford Theory crowd on the Shakespearean authorship question, i.e. that the immortal works attributed to the man from Stratford were actually ghost written by someone else, most likely Edward De Vere, 17^th Earl of Oxford. Not that I’m totally and uncritically convinced, but I find the balance of evidence, to coin a legalistic metaphor, persuasive. But … however compelling the evidence may be, it’s unlikely that the Oxford theory will ever win the argument and be accepted by the general public, much less the academic cognoscenti, within our lifetimes anyway. Orthodoxy and tradition die hard, and wholesale re-writings of history don't happen overnight.
In any event, I offer this somewhat long-winded explanation in footnote form as an apologia for my current sympathies as to the authorship question, but in present post I opt for using ‘Shakespeare’ for clarity and consistency.
[2] Update: recently I was fortunate to catch on tv the 1936 film version of As You Like It, directed by Paul Czinner and starring Laurence Olivier as Orlando and Elisabeth Bergner as Rosalind. I’d never seen the film before and while the production values are creaky by today’s standards, this interpretation veritably explodes with energy via its sprightly direction and über-British cast. Miss Bergner in particular shines as Rosalind in her memorable take on the role. The supporting cast does yeoman work and everyone seems to be having a rousing good time in this, one of the bard’s most fanciful and playful creations.