Finding The Forest of Arden
My recent post on Wonder Women in Shakespeare recalls the story of Rosalind and Celia’s bravery in As You Like It as they are forced to run away, in to the Forest of Arden. Rosalind’s father has been deposed and replaced by her despotic uncle. Rosalind’s uncle is a tyrant, and his court is one in which all kinds of cruelty abound. Men are killed for entertainment, and the haves treat the have nots like animals, withholding education, dignity, and other basic rights. When Rosalind’s tyrant uncle turns on her she is forced to flee; if she stays she will be executed. She knows her journey will be dangerous, but those dangers are not as certain as the death that awaits her if she stays. In that respect Rosalind is very similar to many modern day refugees. But that is where the similarity ends. When Rosalind and Celia reach the Forest of Arden they proceed to have a pretty nice time. They are safe, they are well fed. They live on a little farm and spend their days flirting with the locals and with fellow exiles. The refugees from places like Syria and South Sudan who reach Europe are not greeted by a similar fate. In far too many cases they are not safe, they are not well fed or well clothed, nor are the locals good them. Even children and vulnerable people are treated with suspicion, aggression, and sometimes with violence. Nothing could be further from the pastoral idyll of the Forest of Arden. Imagine a version of As You Like It in which the Forest of Arden is a dirty camp full of sewage and barbed wire, and Phebe and Silvius are replaced by a police force throwing gas cannisters. Or imagine a version of the play in which Rosalind and Celia don’t reach the Forest of Arden at all, but die trying to get there.
For most of us, the idea of escaping to the Forest of Arden, is more about the fantasy of avoiding the rules and strains of everyday life. The Forest of Arden, and the wood outside Athens in A Midsummer Night’s Dream are examples of a literary and dramatic trope in which characters flee from (or reject) a corrupt city or court and find retreat or safety in the countryside. This pastoral idyll provides a place free from normal rules, thus allowing all sorts of high jinx to occur, but it also functions as a moral commentary on the city that it both opposes and mirrors. In As You Like It the ousted duke sets up an alternate court in the Forest of Arden. This court, in contrast to his brother’s cruel one, seems kindly, and somewhat egalitarian. They are described like Robin Hood and his merry men. “They say he is already in the Forest of Arden, and a many merry men with him; and there they live like the old Robin Hood of England” (I.1) New supporters flock to him as a morally superior alternative to the corrupt court. The Green World is a space to escape to, that will be better: a place to start afresh.
However, there is something pernicious about the fantasy of the Green World because it relies on the fallacy that somewhere there is an unblemished space going spare. In our world there is no place that is a blank slate, no corner of the world that has not been affected by the swelling human population. It is not possible to escape the questionable politics of your own country, without being confronted with those of another. What’s more, Earth’s literal green world is being eroded through climate change. Even the Great Barrier Reef, that in my lifetime has been an icon of far-away, untouched, paradise, is dying as I type. The death of an entire ecosystem is the terrible consequence of disbelief and negligence, and a dire warning of what else is to come. More than a Shakespearean comedy, our current situation is in danger of being more akin to that of Imperator Furiosa in Mad Max: Fury Road. In the film Furiosa and the captive ‘wives’ flee Citadel where all natural resources are mined (including human organs) and controlled by Immortan Joe, who lives in comfort while the enslaved majority starve. Furiosa speeds through the wasteland outside Citadel towards a “green place” she remembers from her childhood, where water will be easily available and they will be free from oppression. Pursued by the War Boys and Immortan Joe, they race towards the green place, only to find that the place they seek no longer exists. They are forced to return to the violent and unequal metropolis that they left. Their return is not, however, a defeat. Realising the situation they speed back, hoping to reach Citadel before Immortan Joe. They reach the city gates before him and his War Boys, and they shut them out. The women release the water to the starving people who have been living under oppression. The film ends with the suggestion that Furiosa and the wives will transform the place into a more equal society. Climate change, the management of resources, and the refugee crisis are not unrelated problems.
With society as it is now, with bigotry, terrorism, pollution, climate change, nuclear threat, and our ludicrous political system, the fantasy of escape and starting afresh is very appealing. But instead of fantasising about the Forest of Arden, we need to start thinking about how the society we already live in can be turned into that ideal green world in both ecological and ethical terms. Help Refugees’ slogan “Choose Love”, urges people to choose love not hate, and treat refugees as people. I wholeheartedly agree with this message. The wonderful thing about this slogan is that in a wider sense, we can apply it to the rest of our lives. It is a call to reject bigotry on a wider scale. I think it can also be applied on an environmental level, urging us to choose to love our world, to choose love over greed or convenience, and seriously address our climate change problems. When Peter Marsh of ashmorevisuals and I decided to do a shoot based on the character of Rosalind for our Shakespeare’s Women series, I began to think about her experience as a refugee in The Forest of Arden. She fled, terrified, from certain death in her home, but she was greeted by comfort and kind people. I want our country to be more like the Forest of Arden, a safe haven for those in need. Instead, in what seems like a nightmarish parody of Rosalind's experience, there are hundreds of refugees who had hoped to come to Britian, hiding in forests in Northern France, dodging police brutality. I want our country to be a place that welcomes and cares for refugees: we need to choose love. Visit Help Refugees’ website to find out what you can do.
For most of us, the idea of escaping to the Forest of Arden, is more about the fantasy of avoiding the rules and strains of everyday life. The Forest of Arden, and the wood outside Athens in A Midsummer Night’s Dream are examples of a literary and dramatic trope in which characters flee from (or reject) a corrupt city or court and find retreat or safety in the countryside. This pastoral idyll provides a place free from normal rules, thus allowing all sorts of high jinx to occur, but it also functions as a moral commentary on the city that it both opposes and mirrors. In As You Like It the ousted duke sets up an alternate court in the Forest of Arden. This court, in contrast to his brother’s cruel one, seems kindly, and somewhat egalitarian. They are described like Robin Hood and his merry men. “They say he is already in the Forest of Arden, and a many merry men with him; and there they live like the old Robin Hood of England” (I.1) New supporters flock to him as a morally superior alternative to the corrupt court. The Green World is a space to escape to, that will be better: a place to start afresh.
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| Photograph by Peter Marsh at ashmorevisuals |
However, there is something pernicious about the fantasy of the Green World because it relies on the fallacy that somewhere there is an unblemished space going spare. In our world there is no place that is a blank slate, no corner of the world that has not been affected by the swelling human population. It is not possible to escape the questionable politics of your own country, without being confronted with those of another. What’s more, Earth’s literal green world is being eroded through climate change. Even the Great Barrier Reef, that in my lifetime has been an icon of far-away, untouched, paradise, is dying as I type. The death of an entire ecosystem is the terrible consequence of disbelief and negligence, and a dire warning of what else is to come. More than a Shakespearean comedy, our current situation is in danger of being more akin to that of Imperator Furiosa in Mad Max: Fury Road. In the film Furiosa and the captive ‘wives’ flee Citadel where all natural resources are mined (including human organs) and controlled by Immortan Joe, who lives in comfort while the enslaved majority starve. Furiosa speeds through the wasteland outside Citadel towards a “green place” she remembers from her childhood, where water will be easily available and they will be free from oppression. Pursued by the War Boys and Immortan Joe, they race towards the green place, only to find that the place they seek no longer exists. They are forced to return to the violent and unequal metropolis that they left. Their return is not, however, a defeat. Realising the situation they speed back, hoping to reach Citadel before Immortan Joe. They reach the city gates before him and his War Boys, and they shut them out. The women release the water to the starving people who have been living under oppression. The film ends with the suggestion that Furiosa and the wives will transform the place into a more equal society. Climate change, the management of resources, and the refugee crisis are not unrelated problems.
With society as it is now, with bigotry, terrorism, pollution, climate change, nuclear threat, and our ludicrous political system, the fantasy of escape and starting afresh is very appealing. But instead of fantasising about the Forest of Arden, we need to start thinking about how the society we already live in can be turned into that ideal green world in both ecological and ethical terms. Help Refugees’ slogan “Choose Love”, urges people to choose love not hate, and treat refugees as people. I wholeheartedly agree with this message. The wonderful thing about this slogan is that in a wider sense, we can apply it to the rest of our lives. It is a call to reject bigotry on a wider scale. I think it can also be applied on an environmental level, urging us to choose to love our world, to choose love over greed or convenience, and seriously address our climate change problems. When Peter Marsh of ashmorevisuals and I decided to do a shoot based on the character of Rosalind for our Shakespeare’s Women series, I began to think about her experience as a refugee in The Forest of Arden. She fled, terrified, from certain death in her home, but she was greeted by comfort and kind people. I want our country to be more like the Forest of Arden, a safe haven for those in need. Instead, in what seems like a nightmarish parody of Rosalind's experience, there are hundreds of refugees who had hoped to come to Britian, hiding in forests in Northern France, dodging police brutality. I want our country to be a place that welcomes and cares for refugees: we need to choose love. Visit Help Refugees’ website to find out what you can do.
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| "Rosalind" Photograph by Peter Marsh at ashmorevisuals |
For more information about the images in this post click here.
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