The idea of the pastoral setting was that it was a retreat to a perfect place, often characterised by innocence, from the world of harsh experience and city society. The absence of unpleasant features, such as illnesses, wickedness and the treachery and shallowness of the courts is also noted, as well as the presence of pleasant features, such as plenteousness of food and kindly weather. Education could sometimes be found in the pastoral setting, where …
showed first 75 words of 1195 total

showed last 75 words of 1195 total
…not idealised, since it displays many features similar to court life, and contains some cruel characters. For it to be truly idealised, it cannot have any features of the town, since the court certainly does not represent and idealised pastoral setting. Touchstone's comparisons, the savageness of the Forest and certain characters such as Phoebe all contain elements of court life, therefore, I cannot honestly say that the Forest of Arden is an idealised pastoral setting.