Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Allusion #4 - Adam
As You Like It Act 2 Scene 1
DUKE SENIOR ... (this part removed)
Here feel we but the penalty of Adam,
The seasons' difference, as the icy fang
And churlish chiding of the winter’s wind,
Which, when it bites and blows upon my body
... (this part removed)
This is a reference to Adam's punishment for sinning, which was the changing of the seasons. This story coincides with Duke Senior's predicament.
When God made the first man (Adam) and the first woman (Eve), they lived in the Garden of Eden (sounds like Arden, huh? We're getting there). They were innocent and had no idea what living in a world of sin was like. They were allowed to do anything except they could not eat from a certain tree. Well, they did, and after eating, they knew sin and felt ashamed. As punishment, God banished them from the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve had children, and they too could not help but sin and know it, and their children had children had children, and so on.
In both As You Like It and this story in the book of Genesis, the natural world is good: In As You Like It, the Forest of Arden is the Green World where everything is natural, in contrast to the city where brothers plot against their siblings and the Duke banishes his own family. In the biblical story, the Garden of Eden is where Adam lives before understanding sin, and once his heart and mind are tainted with it, he is sent outside of the Garden, which in this case represents the city.
Duke Senior was banished from the city when his brother usurped the throne and took over. Adam (and Eve) were banished from the Garden when they ate the forbidden fruit, and their minds were taken over with sin.
Duke Senior's allusion to Adam is very much like his current situation.
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