As You Like It: Act I Scene III Solved Contextual Question

As You Like It: Act I Scene III Solved Contextual Question

Extract II

Duke Frederick:     Thus do all traitors:

If their purgation did consist in words,

They are as innocent as grace itself:

Let it suffice thee that I trust thee not.

Rosalind: Yet your mistrust can not make me a traitor:

Tell me whereon the likelihood depends.

Duke Frederick: Thou art thy father’s daughter; there’s enough.

i) What did Duke Frederick accuse Rosalind of? What arguments did she give to defend herself?

            Duke Frederick accused Rosalind of a feigned (artificial) innocence like that of the traitors who try to prove their blamelessness with mere words instead of concrete proof. Simply put, he bluntly accused Rosalind of being a traitor.

            Rosalind asserted that her uncle’s not trusting her could not make her a betrayer. She then wanted to know on what ground he could level such a grave allegation at her. When Frederick said he did not trust her because she was the daughter of her father, Rosalind quipped back saying that it was strange that he could rely on her when he took the dukedom and banished her father. She further said confidently that sedition (treachery) is not inherited or, if treason automatically passes from a father to his daughter, it did not affect her because her father was not a traitor. Then she firmly defied being called a traitor because she was wretched and poor.

ii) How did the Duke react to her defence? State why the Duke does not trust Rosalind?

            The Duke only said that her being her father’s daughter was enough reason to banish her from his court.

            Frederick has the same reason for mistrusting and hating Rosalind as Oliver has for hating his brother. The Duke tells Celia—

            Thou art a fool; she robs thee of thy name,

            And thou wilt show more bright and seem more virtuous

            When she is gone.

iii) Give the meaning of:

            If their purgation did consist in words,

            They are as innocent as grace itself.

            If traitors could vindicate (prove right) themselves by talk alone, they would be able to prove themselves to be as innocent as innocence (grace) itself.

iv) After this extract how does Rosalind try to convince the Duke that “Treason is not inherited.”

            Rosalind calmly asserts that treason is not something that by design passes from a father to his son or daughter or, if at all it does so, how that affects her since her father was not a traitor. She appeals to the unfeeling Duke not to misjudge her just because she was wretched and poor.

v) Where does the scene take place? Who are present at the scene?

            The scene is enacted in a room of Duke Frederick’s palace.

            Rosalind, Celia, Duke Frederick and some Lords are present at the scene.    

© SOMNATH MITRA 2010        

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