ABSTRACT
Anthropologists such as Victor Turner have argued that a society dramatizes its collective myths and history in cultural performances. The Elizabethan period saw a campaign launched by religious reformers to stamp out what were now regarded as the traces of pagan beliefs and idolatry in popular ritual. This chapter argues that the play exploits popular nostalgia as a major selling point in a highly competitive market for cultural goods. Robin Hood plays were flooding the market; As You Like It might be seen as the Globe’s bid to meet the demand. One of the most hilarious episodes where this is exemplified is in the encounter between the shepherd Corin and Touchstone. Corin inquires politely how Touchstone has taken to life in the countryside. In shepherd’s creation of the figure of Touchstone, an addition to the play not found in his sources, Shakespeare quarries another source of popular cultural memory, quite distinct from nostalgia for a Merry England of never-ending revelry.
