Page 101 - Shakespeare in the Movie From the Silent Era to Shakespeare in Love

90 I Shakespeare in the Movies

very issue of love, in all forms, from platonic devotion to over-
whelming physical attraction, along the way touching on every pos-
sible in-between emotion. By contrasting the selfless love of Old
Adam for his master, the outcast-aristocrat Orlando, with the
intense but passing romantic yearnings of the superficial shepherdess
Phebe ("Who ever loved that loved not at first sight?"), the Bard
could explore the varying, even contrasting, concepts we unwisely
group under the misleading catchphrase love.
Always anxious to stretch his creative talents, Shakespeare was
intrigued by the concept of the pastoral, which is any portrayal of a
simple life lived near nature and shown as preferable to a sophisti-
cated one in civilization. Such stories date back to Greece's The-
ocritus and Rome's Vergil; more recently, England's Edmund Spenser
(The Shepheard's Calender] and Sir Philip Sidney (Arcadia) Angli-
cized this tradition. Such works idealized the shepherds, presented as
engaged in gentle love play and rarely working—a far cry from real-
ity. Shakespeare combined this escapist concept with his own inter-
est in characters who flee a corrupt court, a plot he had handled in
A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Will reimagined Lodge's story for a broader audience, allowing
shepherds and servants to serve as audience surrogates for
groundlings. The poetic dialogue would be Shakespeare's own, more
rough and ready than Lodge's courtlier approach. Jaques, a solitary
melancholy among the banished Duke's company, is a character
added to Lodge's story via the inspiration of Shakespeare. Jaques
serves as a bridge between Mercutio and Hamlet; he is the sardonic
wit as supporting player, speaking the play's greatest soliloquy, the
Seven Ages of Man, which insists that each of us, naively believing
we live a unique life, repeat a simple pattern that leads solely to the
grave.
Jaques's speech embodies Shakespeare's vision during his darkest
hour, a necessary foil for the general good spirits, offsetting them
without spoiling the happy mood. Shakespeare also added Touch-
stone, the Court Clown, adjusting his big-city attitudes to country
life. His Rosalind resembles Beatrice of Much Ado About Nothing—
bright, witty, and independent. Yet Beatrice's wit could turn nasty,
revealing sadomasochistic torment; Rosalind, no less aware of the
world's pitfalls, remains bright, buoyant, and clever, though never
cutting. Akin to Olivia in the upcoming Twelfth Night, she is
strong-willed and sharp-witted. Yet Olivia falls apart when she falls