The Representation of Communitas in the Forest of Arden: Shakespeare’s As You Like It

In As You Like It, Shakespeare creates the Forest of Arden as a transitional liminal site where the characters undergo a process of becoming and transformation. While it is possible to analyse the individual experience of liminality and focus on the influence of the liminal place on the characters...

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Main Author: Kübra Vural Özbey
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: The English Language and Literature Research Association of Türkiye 2022-04-01
Series:Ideas: Journal of English Literary Studies
Subjects:
Online Access:https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/2401952
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author Kübra Vural Özbey
author_facet Kübra Vural Özbey
author_sort Kübra Vural Özbey
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description In As You Like It, Shakespeare creates the Forest of Arden as a transitional liminal site where the characters undergo a process of becoming and transformation. While it is possible to analyse the individual experience of liminality and focus on the influence of the liminal place on the characters of the play, the play has a revealing case for the examination of the collective experience of liminality as well. Communitas, in Victor Turner’s terms, refers to a group or a community’s going through a rite of passage en masse. Accordingly, the group of exiles living in Arden who escape from the tyranny of Duke Frederick develop a bond of equality and a sense of freedom in an anti-structural attitude. Duke Senior and other courtiers in the forest communally experience liminality during the period between their separation from the court and their eventual return. Moreover, Duke Senior’s daughter, Rosalind, and her cousin Celia are engaged in the same process upon their arrival to Arden. While both of these groups fit into Turner’s definition of communitas and particularly share certain characteristics of ideological communitas, their experience can be grounded on the basis of their gender that divides them into two as male communitas and female communitas. This paper aims to scrutinise how these two groups collectively experience liminality in Arden and to explore the nuances of each communitas by framing the issue in Turner’s conceptualisation of the term.
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spelling doaj-art-658e2aaa4eb2409c8b0dba6fc8c5727e2025-01-05T20:23:22ZengThe English Language and Literature Research Association of TürkiyeIdeas: Journal of English Literary Studies2757-95492022-04-0121114The Representation of Communitas in the Forest of Arden: Shakespeare’s As You Like ItKübra Vural Özbey0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8596-0809Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University In As You Like It, Shakespeare creates the Forest of Arden as a transitional liminal site where the characters undergo a process of becoming and transformation. While it is possible to analyse the individual experience of liminality and focus on the influence of the liminal place on the characters of the play, the play has a revealing case for the examination of the collective experience of liminality as well. Communitas, in Victor Turner’s terms, refers to a group or a community’s going through a rite of passage en masse. Accordingly, the group of exiles living in Arden who escape from the tyranny of Duke Frederick develop a bond of equality and a sense of freedom in an anti-structural attitude. Duke Senior and other courtiers in the forest communally experience liminality during the period between their separation from the court and their eventual return. Moreover, Duke Senior’s daughter, Rosalind, and her cousin Celia are engaged in the same process upon their arrival to Arden. While both of these groups fit into Turner’s definition of communitas and particularly share certain characteristics of ideological communitas, their experience can be grounded on the basis of their gender that divides them into two as male communitas and female communitas. This paper aims to scrutinise how these two groups collectively experience liminality in Arden and to explore the nuances of each communitas by framing the issue in Turner’s conceptualisation of the term.https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/2401952shakespeareas you like itliminalitycommunitas
spellingShingle Kübra Vural Özbey
The Representation of Communitas in the Forest of Arden: Shakespeare’s As You Like It
Ideas: Journal of English Literary Studies
shakespeare
as you like it
liminality
communitas
title The Representation of Communitas in the Forest of Arden: Shakespeare’s As You Like It
title_full The Representation of Communitas in the Forest of Arden: Shakespeare’s As You Like It
title_fullStr The Representation of Communitas in the Forest of Arden: Shakespeare’s As You Like It
title_full_unstemmed The Representation of Communitas in the Forest of Arden: Shakespeare’s As You Like It
title_short The Representation of Communitas in the Forest of Arden: Shakespeare’s As You Like It
title_sort representation of communitas in the forest of arden shakespeare s as you like it
topic shakespeare
as you like it
liminality
communitas
url https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/2401952
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