Synopsis
With his early association and familiarity with Nature acquired, no doubt, in his formative years from the salubrious surroundings of Stratford-on-Avon it is no coincidence that Shakespeare makes a significant use of natural elements and nature imagery in his plays. Although substantial critical analysis has been devoted to Shakespeare’s use of Nature, its various aspects and the imagery that grows from it, none have dwelt specifically on the forest, which is a dominant Nature element.
The purpose of this thesis is to examine Shakespeare’s use of the forest and its intrinsic role in the selected plays; a role that goes far beyond merely serving as a backdrop. This study includes six of Shakespeare’s plays in which the forest is used prominently and in which this hypothesis is demonstrated. The plays are Titus Andronicus, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, As You Like It, Henry IV Part II, Timon of Athens, and The Two Gentlemen of Verona.
As is his wont, Shakespeare draws heavily from established tradition in depicting the forest and forest life, and, at the same time, transforms tradition in a meaningful way to suit his purpose – human and artistic. In the process, he creates a whole range of living symbols for the forest. The study examines briefly the various forest traditions that have come down from Old English literature to more recent times, and also includes relevant references to the forest in Indian literature, especially the epics.
Different aspects of the forest as they emerge from Shakespeare’s adoption of traditions as well as the significance he invests them with, have been covered by this study. The latter include the forest as an antithesis to Court Life; its various perspectives as revealed by the different characters who view it; its influence on the characters – benign, magical and sometimes fearsome; its realistic and dangerous nature; its reflection of the mood of the action and character; and, importantly, the symbolic significance it is invested with.
The detailed analysis of these aspects of the forest in the selected plays, attempts to establish that the forest is a dominant nature element and has a dramatic role to play in developing the action and characterization in these plays,
Chapter I gives in broad outline the important contexts in which the forest occurs in English literature in general, and, more specifically, as it is used by Shakespeare in the selected plays. Through the ages, Nature has been a creative and stimulating influence on poets and dramatists. From Beowulf to Chaucer, from Spenser to Wordsworth, elements of Nature have heightened life perceptions that have dramatized or portrayed in English literature.
Shakespeare’s own use of Nature images is briefly stated and, in this context, leads on to what is according to this study, the most significant Nature image used in his plays – the forest. Different natural variants of the forest such as the garden, island, park have also been traced and, more importantly, they, along with forest, are used to highlight the traditional contrast between town and country life.
This chapter also reveals Shakespeare’s indebtedness in his depiction of the forest, to the four major traditions – the Germanic, Mediaeval Romance, Mediaeval Christian, and the English Sherwood tradition. Reference has been made also to the use of the forest by the poets Swinburne and Tennyson, and by novelists like W.H. Ainsworth and Maurice Hewlett. Many of the literary references and images of the forest result from the positive attributes and virtues associated with it. This is a prominent feature of literary tradition. Equally, as has been pointed out by Jung’s theory of ‘collective unconscious’, the forest represents a universal experience of the negative aspects of life – of danger, fear, death, destruction and evil. These too, are the attendant features of the forest in the six Shakespearean plays selected for this study.
Chapter II In the monarchial system of Elizabethan times, the Court was the focal point of all activity – of learning, splendid high society, entertainment and, inevitably, of corruption and unbearable evil. As a representative of Nature, the forest is invariably depicted in the literature of the times as the antithesis to the evils of Court life. The Chapter, therefore, examines in detail, the several evils prevalent at the Elizabethan Court, which are also reflected in Shakespeare’s portrayal of Court and city life.
Ambition for power and material gain is seen to be the primary evil. It is the stimulus for treachery, deceit, hypocrisy and false friendship which, in turn, are the motive forces in fulfilling a particular ambition. It is what creates tyrannous dukes, avaricious brothers, cruel kings and threatening parents. The Court is seen to be the fountainhead of evil so oppressive that the characters are compelled to flee to the forest which is to them a haven of peace.
Chapter III Moving away from the stifling life at Court, the Chapter is a study of life in the forest as a sharp contrast. The forest is seen as a place of healing and self knowledge, where peace, contentment, freedom, even merry-making and gay abandon are experienced. These aspects of the forest are best portrayed in the three major plays - As You Like It, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In these plays, the forest is in keeping with personal tradition as a place of idyllic beauty. Such an environment is then the ideal setting for positive values of life to be known. For all those who sought shelter in it, the forest becomes a refuge for both the harassed mind and body.
Once within the forest, the characters soon discover bountiful Nature and come under the stimulating influence of the forest. More than shelter, sustenance and peace, the most important that the forest provides is freedom, which finds the most visible expression in the informal, egalitarian gathering of disparate characters around Duke Senior. The lawless society formed by gentlemen outlaws, is in the tradition of Robin Hood and his merry band of followers in the Sherwood Forest, and is in sharp contrast to the rigorous laws of the king’s Court.
Various other aspects of freedom have also been dealt with in detail – freedom from oppressive hierarchical class structures, which encourage inequality and enmity instead of fraternity; freedom from the bondage of time, which provides leisure, relaxation, happy pastimes and the enjoyment of life; freedom to be one’s true self, and hence, self - discovery and freedom of expression; freedom from societal pressures, which find expression in true love, irrespective of class and creed.
The beneficent influence of the forest is seen to enhance human virtues and even exert a benign influence on the cynical ones like Jaques, and the non-virtuous beings like Touchstone. Thus sibling rivalries change to brotherly love, the usurper becomes a generous benefactor, animosities are forgotten and forgiven, divergent philosophies co-exist, and the characters shed their artificial modes of conduct and insincerity, and are naturally inclined to resolve differences and bring about harmony. The beneficent influence of the forest is apparently all-pervasive.
Chapter IV shows that these forests are not so idyllic as to be unreal. They have their dark and dangerous aspects as well. The leafy forest with its bubbling brooks also harbours wild beasts and serpents; and man must still hunt for food and weather the harsh climate. The forest provides shelter to the harmless and the oppressed; but it is also a hiding – place for thieves and robbers, and unescorted maidens need to be wary of lascivious men who dwell there.
As with the idyllic, the harsher realities of the forest are not just descriptive. Rather they are woven in to develop the action or character in the play. A peaceful, lonely forest turns forbidding when it becomes a place where men are overpowered by criminal thoughts and intent. A secluded forest by the sea, far from being the refuge of a lost soul, becomes and enduring symbol of a tortured and depraved mind. Sylvan surroundings turn sinister and full of evil treachery when the forest becomes a hideout for rebel armies and a place where strategies of warfare are planned and executed as in Henry IV Part II.
Traditionally, the dark forest of the night was the haunt of supernatural beings, like fairies, elves, ghosts, and goblins. Shakespeare adopts this tradition in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, introducing mischievously malevolent fairies, and creates a magically surrealistic forest of the night, that is the location of almost all the action.
Chapter V examines Shakespeare’s delineation of the forest and its role through its relationship with the characters. This study covers three distinct methods used by Shakespeare – the varied and changing views of the forest as observed by the characters; the influence of the forest on the multifaceted outlook and philosophies of those who come to live in it; and the delineation of the forest as a reflection of the moods and disposition of these characters.
The bright and cheerful forest of Arden welcomes all who seek refuge in it, though some, like Orlando, Rosalind and Touchstone, enter it with varying degrees of apprehension. Soon enough the benign forest becomes a cheerful home to them all and even Touchstone, who is an important fixture of life at Court, commits himself to a simple country wench. Duke Senior’s sunny disposition, of course blends naturally with the forest and his keen philosophical observations are as much an expression of his own nature as it is an appreciation of the forest’s benevolence. Even Jacque’s cynicism and morbidity are tempered by the forest and, not so surprisingly, he alone among the courtly crowd rejects city life and decides to remain in this forest.
In The Two Gentlemen of Verona the observations about the somber forest is in consonance with the melancholy mood of unfulfilled love, and in Titus Andronicus references to the dark and sinister forest creates the appropriate environment for the murderous and evil intent of the characters. Timon seeks the refuge of the desolate forest and the descriptions of the stark, colourless and gloomy surroundings is a clever dramatization of his own vengeful and misanthropic mind. On the other hand the strategic perspectives of the rebel army leaders converts the forest of Gaultree into a treacherous battlefield.
The lovers in A Midsummer Night’s Dream flee to the forest in the hope of freedom, but immediately fall prey to the web of moonlight magic spun by the fairies. The dark, thick forest with its strange creatures is alive through references to them in the speeches of Puck and the songs of the fairies. It is a place where lovers are lost and overwhelmed – a comical but effective commentary on the confused state of mind of those engaged in the obsessive pursuit of love.
Chapter VI begins with a consideration of the various definitions of symbolism, and presents the forest as a symbol of the worlds of consciousness in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Timon of Athens.
The symbolic mode, it is observed, has been a favourite device used through the ages chiefly by allegorists and romance writers. The most effective symbols are usually those that are taken from common experience to which people can readily relate. Some important works of literature which have made use of the symbolic mode have been referred to; and these include Spenser’s Faerie Queene, Dante’s Divine Comedy and the Indian epics, The Ramayana and The Mahabharata.
Shakespeare’s use of symbolism often depends on tradition. But by investing it with varied significance, he created a rich legacy of highly memorable art of symbols. For instance, midsummer madness, a dark forest and the fairy-tale are long established literary traditions. Shakespeare puts them together in A Midsummer Night’s Dream to symbolize the absurdities and excesses of the obsessively love-stricken human beings. A dark forest is made to symbolize the ignorance and confusion in the minds of lovers regarding the nature of love. The love affair between a common weaver magically transformed into an ass and the beautiful fairy queen, is used to enact the absurdities of blind love. The mischievous fairies and the artificially induced dream, represent the fickleness and transitory nature of human love. The forest becomes here the unreal symbol of the profound reality of love as infatuation.
In Timon of Athens, Shakespeare uses the forest to externalize the state of the tortured soul. A cold, bare, forest, devoid of greenery, and hardly a place for refuge and sustenance as are the forests of the happy comedies, represents the alienation and isolation of a desolate human being. Similarly in T.S. Eliot’s The Wasteland, which is in many respects like Timon’s forest – arid, bare and lifeless – serves to reflect the despair and desolation of a generation suffering from the ravages of war.
Chapter VII presents the conclusions arrived at from a study of both the primary and secondary sources of the Shakespearean forest.
