The Old King and the Elder Brother: As You Like It, Scripture, and the Problem of Political Resistance

Abstract

This article argues that Shakespeare's As You Like It stages Reformation-era concerns over political theology, specifically regarding the question of resistance to a superior. It contends that in the relationship of the feuding brothers, Oliver and Orlando, Shakespeare makes two significant allusions to the Bible: the parable of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15 and the story of David and the tyrannous king Saul in 1 Samuel. Critics of the play dispute whether it should be read as a conservative endorsement of established power or a subversive attack on it, but the article asserts that Shakespeare's view of the matter is too subtle for such a binary. He recognizes that the scriptures overtly uphold temporal authority, even as they implicitly challenge and chasten it. As You Like It suggests that if princes and elder brothers possess authority by right of birth they are at the same time accountable for it.