Michael Finocchiaro's Reviews > As You Like It

What an absolutely extraordinary play. I absolutely am in love with Rosalind (as I was with Beatrice and so many other Shakespearean heroines!) In fact, I think that she is up there with Dalia Rideout as my favorite heroine of all time. Her sense of humor, her ability to change and adapt, and her sharp wit make this play so alive.

I read this using a copy I had in high school (Coral Gables, Class of '87) and found "Michelle" wrote me a note about drinking some green beer for St Patrick's Day. Well, I truly have no recollection if I had green beer eons ago at the bequest of this maiden, but if she should read this lowly commentary, perhaps she can let me know? I checked and there were only three Michelle's in my senior class, one of which went by "Shelly", but I don't recall a friendship with either of them. So, please Michelle, if you are out there, how was that beer?

Back to the Bard, there is so much to recommend this fantastic play: Jaques (pronounced "Jakes" as in British slang for "toilet"), the melancholic poser; Touchstone, the adorable, bawdy clown; the wonderful impersonation of Rosalind by Ganymede played by Rosalid and the three love stories. More later...

Fino's Reviews of Shakespeare and Shakespearean Criticism
Comedies
The Comedy of Errors (1592-1593
The Taming of the Shrew (1593-1594)
The Two Gentlemen of Verona (1594-1595)
Love's Labour's Lost (1594-1595)
A Midsummer Night's Dream (1595-1596)
The Merchant of Venice (1596-1597)
Much Ado About Nothing (1598-1599)
As You Like It (1599-1600)
Twelfth Night (1599-1600)
The Merry Wives of Windsor (1600-1601)
All's Well That Ends Well (1602-1603)
Measure for Measure (1604-1605)
Cymbeline (1609-1610)
A Winter's Tale (1610-1611)
The Tempest (1611-1612)
Two Noble Kinsmen (1612-1613)

Histories
Henry VI Part I (1589-1590)
Henry VI Part II (1590-1591)
Henry VI Part III (1590-1591)
Richard III (1593-1594)
Richard II (1595-1596)
King John (1596-1597)
Edward III (1596-1597)
Henry IV Part I (1597-1598)
Henry IV Part II (1597-1598)
Henry V (1598-1599)
Henry VIII (1612-1612)

Tragedies
Titus Andronicus (1592-1593)
Romeo and Juliet (1594-1595)
Julius Caesar (1599-1600)
Hamlet (1600-1601)
Troilus and Cressida (1601-1602)
Othello (1604-1605)
King Lear (1605-1606)
Macbeth (1605-1606)
Anthony and Cleopatra (1606-1607)
Coriolanus (1607-1608)
Timon of Athens (1607-1608)
Pericles (1608-1609)

Shakespearean Criticism
The Wheel of Fire by Wilson Knight
A Natural Perspective by Northrop Frye
Shakespeare After All by Marjorie Garber
Shakespeare's Roman Plays and Their Background by M W MacCallum
Shakespearean Criticism 1919-1935 compiled by Anne Ridler
Shakespearean Tragedy by A.C. Bradley
Shakespeare's Sexual Comedy by Hugh M. Richmond
Shakespeare: The Comedies by R.P. Draper
Tyrant: Shakespeare on Politics by Stephen Greenblatt
1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare by James Shapiro

Collections of Shakespeare
Venus and Adonis, the Rape of Lucrece and Other Poems
Shakespeare's Sonnets and a Lover's Complaint
The Complete Oxford Shakespeare