As You Like It is so uneven to me... I enjoy some parts quite a bit! And then the Phoebe thing. There are other frustrating aspects, but that's the one that just turns the whole taste of the play sour. It doesn't ruin the good bits, but I come away going, "well, that part... sure did happen, huh."
I tend to think that Rosalind is at least partly joking/overcompensating to present as macho with the misogyny -- it's more fun and more funny that way -- but the whole Phoebe plot does make it harder. And poor Celia deserves so much better. It really does feel like the forest of Arden is under a big mind-alteration field that gives people weird crushes and changes of heart, tbh.
However Viola is nowhere near as much of a dick! Other characters are real jerks to Malvolio (himself a snooty officious jerk, but he doesn't deserve the prank they play in return) but Viola isn't part of that, and generally reacts to misogyny with either awkward deflection or defending women's honor. I don't know if you'll like Twelfth Night or not (I mostly do) but I don't think you'll dislike it for that same reason, at least.
no subject
I tend to think that Rosalind is at least partly joking/overcompensating to present as macho with the misogyny -- it's more fun and more funny that way -- but the whole Phoebe plot does make it harder. And poor Celia deserves so much better. It really does feel like the forest of Arden is under a big mind-alteration field that gives people weird crushes and changes of heart, tbh.
However Viola is nowhere near as much of a dick! Other characters are real jerks to Malvolio (himself a snooty officious jerk, but he doesn't deserve the prank they play in return) but Viola isn't part of that, and generally reacts to misogyny with either awkward deflection or defending women's honor. I don't know if you'll like Twelfth Night or not (I mostly do) but I don't think you'll dislike it for that same reason, at least.