A Penchant for Escape in as You Like It and a Midsummer Night's Dream

Abstract

The contrast between countryside and city is fore grounded in many of Shakespeare's works. The city is a place of order, of law, governed by magistrates, princes, dukes, and, ultimately, kings. The countryside, however, is a place not so much of disorder, but of a lack of formal order, a place of escape. This paper looks at two of Shakespeare's "bucolic” plays” "As You Like It” and "A Midsummer Night's Dream” and considers the roles of the "rustics””such as Jaques”and their place not just in the hierarchy but in the pecking order of love.