As You Like It & Top Girls: Relationships Between Women in Drama

As You Like It & Top Girls:

The Divergent Relationships of Women

             The young women in As You Like It by William Shakespeare and the women in Top Girls by Caryl Churchill have extremely contrasting interactions with one another. The characters of the women in these two plays display the diverse and subjective aspects of how women act.—Rosalind and Celia from As You Like It are supportive, loving cousins and friends, while Marlene and her dinner guests from Top Girls are catty, competitive acquaintances.  The differing relationships in these two plays serve to show how different any two women can be from one another, as well as illustrate the nature of women in correlation to interacting with members of the same sex.

             The devoted friendship of Shakespeare’s Rosalind and Celia act to represent the soft, warmly-feminine aspect of women’s nature. Celia suggests that the two young women flee the palace and run to the forest together, so that they can be with each other—The girls do not hesitate to leave the lavish and comfortable royal court in order to stay together as loyal friends. Celia is introduced as comforting her friend and cousin, “I pray thee, Rosalind, sweet my coz, be merry…..By mine honor I will, and when I break that oath, let me turn monster. Therefore, my sweet Rose, my dear Rose, be merry,” (I.iii.1, 17-19). Rosalind, in turn, wants to appear to be happy so her friend will feel better, “Well, I will forget the condition of my estate to rejoice in yours… From now on I will, cousin, and I’ll think of all kinds of games for us,” (I.ii.11-12, 20-21). Each of the young ladies is acting thoughtfully in order to please and make the other happy; Rosalind is trying to be selfless for Celia’s benefit and vice versa. The cousins are very devoted and loving to one another, which further strengthens their bond as friends, while showing their compassionate nature as women.

             Alternatively, Top Girls exemplifies the bitchy, more malicious nature of women through Marlene and her fictional dinner party.  The unique crowd of women from different eras in history seemingly gather to rejoice in the success and promotion of Marlene in her employment agency—However, the celebration ultimately turns into a competitive and catty round table debate wherein the ladies are constantly interrupting and trying to ‘one-up’ each other.  During dinner (Act I, scene i), it appears the women each just talking aimlessly, constantly interrupting, and without really listening or paying attention to one another, “Isabella: “When I was 40 I thought my life was over. Oh I was pitiful. I was sent.”  Nijo: “I didn’t say I felt it for 20 years. Not every minute.” Isabella: “On a cruise for my health and I felt even worse…..”  Nijo:”You were homesick.” (Gret steals a bottle of wine), “ (Churchill, 18).The women of the party are similar in that they each have sacrificed their personal lives, and/or children, been abused by men, and lost contact with women who did not become ‘top girls’ themselves, which is a plausible explanation as to their aggressive temperaments. 

             The two extremely contrasting plays of As You Like It by William Shakespeare and Top Girls by Caryl Churchill help to serve as a vehicle to represent the contrasting styles of interactions and relationships women have with other women. Rosalind and Celia embody the compassionate and loving friendship two women can have, while Marlene and her lively dinner guests embody the more narcissistic, catty connections women can have with one another. The nature of women in these plays is very subjective, as it is in life, and show how ever-changing and different the characters of any group of women can be.