Time As a Tool of Patriarchal Oppression in As You Like It Michele Herrman '95 Illinois Wesleyan University
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Undergraduate Review Volume 7 | Issue 1 Article 6 1994 Time as a Tool of Patriarchal Oppression in As You Like It Michele Herrman '95 Illinois Wesleyan University Recommended Citation Herrman '95, Michele (1994) "Time as a Tool of Patriarchal Oppression in As You Like It," Undergraduate Review: Vol. 7: Iss. 1, Article 6. Available at: http://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/rev/vol7/iss1/6 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by The Ames Library, the Andrew W. Mellon Center for Curricular and Faculty Development, the Office of the Provost and the Office of the President. It has been accepted for inclusion in Digital Commons @ IWU by the faculty at Illinois Wesleyan University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ©Copyright is owned by the author of this document. Herrman '95: Time as a Tool of Patriarchal Oppression in As You Like It es contributed money that helped ~ssential outside support came from Time as a Tool of Patriarchal Oppression the Supreme Court and two in As You Like It ights, at least from time to time, the the evidence to support this is crystal Michele Herrman er and Kennedy went in the army to md Mississippi, federal intervention :he law. Correta Scott king articulated ... 'It is ten o'clock. Jld how prior to Albany, her husband Thus we may see ... how the world wags. on the federal government when he 'Tis but an hour ago since it was nine, the federal injunction against And after one hour more 'twill be eleven; down, Dr. King had nothing, and the And so, from hour to hour, we ripe and ripe, hen President Kennedy gave And then, from hour to hour, we rot and rot; ng freedom riders, that movement And thereby hangs a tale... (II.viii.22-28). ~tside support of the civil rights In the patriarchal court society, which maintains power by <::essary element without whic.h .eve~ perpetuating economic domination, the concept of time presents a It before the heat of Southern inJustIce. problem: No man is immortal, so Time always triumphs. Patriarchal mtribution of early movement centers leaders seek to compensate for the fact that they "rot and rot" from were won, but instead the fact that "hour to hour" by reproducing the status quo with each generation, udes, methods, and conditions were passing on wealth and privilege to their first-born sons. Through the lton Rouge began a learning process process of inheritance, then, men in power defy their enemy, time, ngham protest, which exemplified the maintaining the power structure indefinitely. Since the male elite is able knowledge of how to work toward the to transcend time, and those below are not, these powerful men are able ht. The "beloved community" did not to use time as a tool of oppression. By presenting time as the enemy, ns the black community had learned issuing deadlines for submission which must be met in order to avoid 'reak the chains of oppression that had capital punishment, the patriarchal leaders prevent their subjects from lir. ever claiming time as their own and from using it for their own advantage. In As You Like It, the patriarchy uses its hereditary monopoly on time to coerce Orlando and Rosalind into submission; in the forest of Arden, though, the two lovers are freed from this autocratic construction and disarm the oppressor's weapon by claiming time as their own tool for happiness. They discuss their own relative perceptions of time and negotiate a compromise, forming the basis for an egalitarian relationship, overthrowing the patriarchy in the process. In a patriarchal society those who lack status and material wealth are without value. Orlando, for example, has no role in society because he is not the first-born son and, therefore, has not inherited anything from his dead father. Oliver uses his status to destroy his younger brother, of whom he is extremely jealous. Oliver has "trained [Orlando] like a peasant, obscuring and hiding from [him] all gentIemanlike qualities" (I.i.63-4), stripping him of any chance for success in the court. As a result, Orlando is a social misfit- a man with no status. Lack of wealth and the proper business connections make his chances for attaining power nil; and since men are defined by these standards in a patriarchy, Published by Digital Commons @ IWU, 1994 1 Undergraduate Review, Vol. 7, Iss. 1 [1994], Art. 6 he has no valid role whatsoever. It is no wonder that Orlando is indifferent to death, if not suicidal: upon my body Even till Ish ...if I be foiled, there is but one shamed that was say 'This is no flattery'... (II never gracious; if killed, but one dead that is willing to be so. I shall do my friends no wrong, for I have none to The "penalty of Adam," the burde lament me; the world no injury, for in it I have nothing. the patriarchal world, has been lifte< Only in the world I fill up a place, which may be better the woods, he finds that patriarchy, . supplied when I have made it empty (I.ii.170-176). change, but not even the harshest WE The patriarchy can take away the time Orlando has by killing him, as "peril" of the "envious court." Oliver would very much like to do; or it can make the time Orlando has When Orlando first arrives i left so miserable that he welcomes death. In either case, patriarchal causes him to slip into a patriarchal ( control over time through inheritance alienates Orlando from his own companion, Adam, is near starvatior life. attempting to claim the supremacy 0 In the court of Duke Frederick, the patriarchal monopoly on believing powerful men possess: "1 1 time has even more dire consequences, for the Duke has enough power bring thee not something to eat, I wil to not only alienate his subjects from time but also to use time itself as a diest before I come, thou art a mocke tool of oppression. While the Duke is hardly immortal- not above the man, Orlando has been socialized to power of time, himself- his status in the hierarchy alIows him to from his oppressive brother, he beeO] actually surpass the aging process by imposing capital punishment on automaticalIy tries to seize food froro his subjects. The Duke threatens Rosalind with death, not through any him to share. The egalitarian values I guilt of her own, but simply through her relationship to her father. As utterly foreign to him, so he is astoul1 in any patriarchal society, the daughter is defined by the status of her calmed by this uncommon generosil) father, and since her father is Duke Frederick's enemy, she has no worth. of life does not find time threatening: Delivering his ultimatum, the Duke demonstrates his control over time by setting a deadline for Rosalind's flight from the court: "Within these ... But whate'er you are ten days if that thou beest found/ So near our public court as twenty That in this desert inaccessibl miles,! Thou diest for it ..." (I.iii.38-4U. As sovereign, the Duke claims Under the shade of melancho time as his executioner, reminding Rosalind again, "If thou outstay the Lose and neglect the creepin~ time, upon mine honor,! And in the greatness of my word, you die" ... Let gentleness my strong I (I.iii.84-5). Honor and greatness, the values used by the patriarchy to 112, 118). justify male dominion, are at stake should the Duke allow a guiltless Orlando, thus, makes the connectio female to live. and freedom from the oppressive con Only in the forest of Arden can the patriarchal dominion, the "briers he sees that freedom from patriarchal of the working-day world" (I.iii.11-12), be overthrown, and can a non action results in freedom from the pa threatening notion of time be constructed, based on egalitarian values. of oppression. Adam is not in dangel Relieved of his patriarchal inheritance by the usurpation of his younger entered a realm where his needs wiIl brother, Duke Senior sets the precedent for the discovery that time is not way of life actually extends his time, ominous: In the forest, perceptions of ti to authoritarian control. Thus, Orlan. Are not these woods o~portunity t~ negotiate the concept More free from peril than the envious court? Here feel wllI affect theIr relationship. The )OVI we not the penalty of Adam; The seasons' upon their first meeting in the forest, difference, as the icy fang And churlish chiding man: of the winter's wind, Which, when it bites and blows http://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/rev/vol7/iss1/6 2 ROSALIND: I pray you, whc Herrman '95: Time as a Tool of Patriarchal Oppression in As You Like It It is no wonder that Orlando is upon my body Even till I shrink with cold, I smile and J: say 'This is no flattery/ ... (II.i .3-10). :but one shamed that was :>ut one dead that is willing to The "penalty of Adam/" the burden of competition and materialism in ds no wrong, for I have none to the patriarchal world, has been lifted from Duke Senior's shoulders. In injury, for in it I have nothing. the woods, he finds that patriarchy, not time, is his enemy; the seasons ?a place, which may be better change, but not even the harshest weather proves as threatening as the Ide it empty (I.ii.170-176). "peril" of the "envious court." he time Orlando has by killing him, as When Orlando first arrives in Arden, a confrontation with death 10; or it can make the time Orlando has causes him to slip into a patriarchal attitude toward time.