Be sure to finish the play for Tuesday, and if possible, re-read the final act to keep it in mind for Tuesday's discussion. Also read Chapter 6 of Bevis which discusses the line between savagery and satire, and why we delight in the nastiness of humor so much--and what this might say about us and the people who write comedy.
Here are some ideas from Bevis to consider relating to the play:
* What does he mean when he says "Behind the smile, then, may lie a socialized snarl; and behind the laugh, a play fight. But behind both of these facial expressions lie real snarls and real fights" (78)? Where do we see in As You Like It a sense of play becoming "serious"?
* Bevis quotes Alexander Pope, the writer of the great mock-epic poem, The Rape of the Lock, as saying "'Tis a sort of writing very like tickling" (81). Why is tickling the perfect metaphor for satirical comedy, and much of what we see in As You Like It?
* Bevis writes that "comedy can teach you to be both a fatalist and a moralist at the same time" (83). How might this describe most of the fools in Shakespeare's plays, and especially someone like Jacques?
* Bevis writes "to be a witness [in a comedy] is to be an accomplice" (85). When do we feel guilty for laughing or enjoying a laugh in this play? When is the laughter also cruel or uncomfortable? What things do we laugh at in the play that we wouldn't laugh at in real life?
* One of my favorite quotes in the chapter comes at the very end when he writes, "comedy is a story of how taunting becomes teasing becomes treasuring" (88). How might this work in As You Like It?
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