IX
THE SOURCE OF THE PLOT
Shakespeare's Variations from Lodge.
Compare Lodge's 'Rosalind' with 'As You Like It.'
(For this story, see "Shakespeare's Library" or Extracts in Notes and
Comment in Sources in "First Folio Edition").
Is the story better without the parts Shakespeare leaves out (e. g., Adam's proposal to Rosader to cut his veins and suck the blood; his nose-bleed; the incident of the robbers accounting for Aliena's sudden love, etc.)? Why is the "Green and gilded snake" added? Isn't the "lioness" enough? Is Rosader or Orlando the finer character, and why? The new characters introduced—Audrey and William—considered as embodying real instead of ideal pastoral life. Do Shakespeare's changes affect the plot, the characters, or the moral of the story? (For an examination of the plot of the play, see 'An Inductive Study of "As You Like It,"' in Poet-lore, Vol. III., p. 341.)
A Sketch of Lodge's Life and Work. (See 'An Elizabethan Lyrist: Thomas
Lodge,' in Poet-lore, Vol. III., p. 593, Dec, 1891.)
QUERY FOR DISCUSSION
Is Shakespeare's framing of the plot of 'As You Like It' not to be admired, because it is borrowed?