As You Like It - Pheobe Character Study

I play Pheobe in Act 3, scene 5. Having to make our scene contemporary, we have decided to set ours on the street, outside a house party. Transferring this scene to a modern setting was fairly simple. This scene was originally set in the Forest of Arden, which isn’t a vital setting towards the script, therefore our group had a wide range of options and ideas to choose from for our contemporary rendition. We decided on this particular setting because we thought the scenario fits perfectly with the scene, and will then show the great modern take on these traditional characters. As well as the contemporary setting, I have made Pheobe’s personality and physical traits modern.

It was very easy when thinking of an age for my character. As Pheobe is emerging from a house party, I thought her out to be between the ages of 17-19 seeing as this would be then an easy yet suitable choice. Her age isn't specified in the play, and she is only described to a “country-maiden and a shepherdess” so it gave me a lot of freedom on choosing what age I was going to play as Pheobe.

Pheobe's personality isnt at all hard to discover when reading the scene. In the beginning of the scene, Silvius is chasing Pheobe out of the house, begging her to stay and confessing his love for her. Her first line of response is “I would not be thy executioner, I flee thee for I would not injure thee!” This means that she is trying to avoid him so she won't hurt him, as she doesn't feel the same way. This shows the little care she has for Silvius, that although he is very persistent about his feelings for her, she belittles him for it and thoroughly enjoys the attention. Having previously been told that there is murder in her eyes, in her first paragraph she talks about how this is a lie. She says, “That eyes, that are the frail'st and softest things..” She is saying that she thinks her eyes are too frail and too soft to hurt anyone, and is truly offended when told otherwise. She belittles Silvius by trying to show his stupidity with his comment about her eyes, and says “If mine eyes can wound, now let them kill thee, now counterfeit to swoon, why now fall down..” making it obvious that her eyes did not hurt him physically and trying to make him feel stupid. In her next response to Silvius, she shows how slim her pity and understanding towards his feelings are. Silvius is saying that she will know his pain when she falls in love, to which she replies with “But till that time, come not though near me, afflict me with thy mocks, pity me not as till that time I shall not pity thee.” She is growing tired of his persistence. When Rosalind as Ganymede enters, telling Pheobe what she needs to hear, she instantly falls inlove with who she thinks is a man. During Rosalind's long beginning speech, she continuously insults Pheobe. Her aim to is knock sense into Silvius, but instead has Pheobe spark an interest in her. Pheobe is told by Ganymede (Rosalind) that she has no beauty, that Silvius is a thousand times a properer man than she is a woman, and that she should accept Silvius' love as she will not get anyone better. Although surprised and only merely insulted by Rosalind's words, her overwhelming and unexpected feelings for her overrule all of it. After Rosalind's speech, Pheobe says, “Sweet youth, I pray you chide a year together. I had rather hear you chide than this man woo!” Although numerously insulting her, Pheobe would much rather hear that than hear Silvius try and seduce her for a minute. This again shows how little the interest she has in Silvius and the great mass of interest she now has in Ganymede. I think this shows she can fall in love very easily, and when she falls, she falls very hard. It is obviously said that Ganymede is not interested in Pheobe, but that doesn't stop her feelings for him even when he's throwing insults at her. This is ironic because that is Silvius' position with Pheobe exactly.

Pheobe is a country-maiden, so therefore she isn't very well articulated and overall doesn't speak very well. As making a contemporary version of this character, I found it suited to turn her into a chav. She isn't at all bright, and I figured that with a lack of clarity to the voice and slightly dumb tone, it would show this. It would also show this with the lack of articulation with pronouncing the 't's in words aswell. An example of the voice I want to use as this character is Bianca from eastenders:

Her status is questionable throughout the scene. In the beginning, it is very obvious that she has a higher status than Silvius. He is the one following her around, and she tends to treat him as a puppet and plays with his feelings, although he is very persistent with his feelings towards her. When Ganymede enters, Pheobe instantly falls inlove with him and her status immediately drops the moment he starts to talk. Ganymede insults her, but it doesn't bother her because she just wants to listen to him speak. Ganymede has definitely got the highest status in the scene because of what he says, and because no one challenges him. I think that even when he leaves, Pheobe's status is still lower than his but higher than Silvius'. Pheobe's end paragraph is her confusing feelings for Ganymede, debating whether she loves him or not, and I think its these feelings that Ganymede is putting on Pheobe means for his continued higher status.

Her costume was very easy to decide. I again used Bianca from eastenders as an influence towards her costume. As she is coming from a house party, I chose for her to wear a tight crop top and a tight fitted short skirt. This would show a slight slutty side to her that would also link to her chavvy persona. I also picked big gold hoop earrings to finish the look.