Romantic Ideals in 'As You Like It'

... How does Shakespeare use the 'relationship' between Touchstone and Audrey to develop ideas about romantic ideals in As You Like It? Support your answer by close reference to the play. In the novel As You Like It, Shakespeare utilizes the idea of romantic ideals by exploring Touchstone and Audrey's relationship. Shakespeare uses juxtaposition to contrast ideas about romantic ideals. By placing Touchstone, a man from the court, and Audrey, a woman from the countryside, together, he develops a contrast between the two different perspectives of romantic ideals. Touchstone's method of flirting with Audrey is an accurate representation of the way love is in the court. Touchstone uses complex and intelligent wordplay to seduce Audrey, "For honesty coupled to beauty is to have honey a sauce to sugar". Touchstone's use of the metaphor 'honey a sauce to sugar' shows us how a stereotypical courtly lover would seduce his love. The use of a

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