Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Tyler on AYL Final Pairings

AYL Final Four (Tyler Damerall)


Helen Mirren as our lovely Rosalind/Ganymede
 
The two final pairings that are arranged by Rosalind, being Orlando with herself, and Silvius with Phoebe, are conventional in terms that a comedy is usually concluded with a wedding and that the characters who truly are in love are the ones paired despite any obfuscation during the rest of the play.  The act of pairing is unconventional as it is done by Rosalind, a woman.  As we have seen in other plays by Shakespeare, the authority of matchmaking was traditionally reserved for men.  Nonetheless, it follows Rosalind’s unconventional personality.  She has been shown to act assertively and, though she initially dresses up as a man to bear only semblance of power, her actions while disguised as Ganymede for the greater part of the play prove her real potential.  While still disguised in Act V, scene ii, Rosalind plans that Orlando shall marry Rosalind; and Phoebe shall marry Silvius if he cannot Ganymede.  The first pairing is rather obvious as a plot device. The second, however, is a clever sleight of hand over which she has total control, since once she assumes again her proper identity, then Ganymede will be impossible to marry.  The marriage is carried out in Act V, scene iv and so the pairs of lovers are rightfully married and the divine order is “atone,” to borrow a word from the god of marriage, who shows up to suggest the union of Orlando and Rosalind is divine will.  Thus, at the end of the play, there is love and mirth, and all is set right not just in the world, but also the heavens.


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