.......As You Like It is a stage play in the form of a comedy. Its rural locale and subject matter also qualify it as a pastoral romance. Pastoral means having to do with shepherds and rural life.
.......Shakespeare wrote the lines of the play in verse and in prose. For more information about Shakespeare plays that mix verse and prose, click here.

Key Dates
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Date Written: 1599 or earlier.
First Printing: 1623 as part of the First Folio, the first authorized collection of Shakespeare's plays.

Source

.......Shakespeare based As You Like It on Rosalynde: Euphues Golden Legacie (1590), a prose romance by Thomas Lodge  (1557-1625). Lodge based his romance, in turn, on The Tale of Gamelyn, an anonymous poem of 900 lines written in the middle of the 14th Century. This poem tells the story of Gamelyn de Boundys, a young man whose brother confiscates his inheritance. Gamelyn is forced to live as a forest outlaw but eventually recovers what is rightfully his. 

Title Meaning

.......In explaining the title of the play, Shakespeare scholar G.B. Harrison wrote, "[As You Like It] is a lighthearted comedy which appeals to readers at all stages and in all lighter moods. It pleases some by its idyllic romance, others by its optimistic philosophy of simple goodness, and yet others by its cynical irony. Indeed, you can take this play just as you like it."—G.B. Harrison, ed. Shakespeare: The Complete Works. New York: Harcourt, 1952 (Page 776)..

Settings
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.......The action takes place in a palace in northern Europe and in the Arden Forest. There is an Arden Forest in Warwickshire, England, and an Ardennes Forest in continental Europe. The latter forest encompasses parts of Belgium, Luxembourg, and France. Thomas Lodge, who wrote a play that Shakespeare used as the source for As You Like It, earned a medical degree in France and practiced medicine in Belgium, not far from the Ardennes forest. 

Characters
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Protagonist: Rosalind
Antagonist: Duke Frederick
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Duke Senior: Rightful duke living in banishment with his followers in the forest of Arden. He is reminiscent of Robin Hood.
Duke Frederick: Duke Senior’s brother, who usurps Senior's dominions. 
Amiens, Jaques: Lords attending on the banished duke. 
Orlando, Oliver, Jaques de Boys: Sons of Sir Rowland de Boys. Orlando is in love with Rosalind, daughter of Duke Senior. Oliver, the eldest son, maltreats Orlando and denies him his full share in their father's bequest. Jaques (not to be confused with the lord of the same name) is away at school, prospering. 
Rosalind: Daughter of Duke Senior. She is the ideal heroine—intelligent, beautiful, courageous, cheerful, morally upright. 
Celia: Daughter of Duke Frederick and good friend of Rosalind. 
Le Beau: Courtier attending upon Frederick. 
Charles: Wrestler in the service of Frederick. 
Adam, Dennis: Servants of Oliver. Adam, an old man who is mistreated by Oliver, befriends Orlando. 
Touchstone: Clown. His presence in the play makes others react in a way that reveals their qualities; hence, he lives up to his name. Literally a touchstone is a black stone used to assay the purity of precious metals. When a sample believed to contain gold or silver is rubbed against a touchstone, the sample leaves a streak on the stone. Acid is then used to burn away impurities that adulterate the gold or silver in the sample, leaving behind only the precious metal. Assayers then can evaluate the quality of the sample. 
Sir Oliver Martext: A vicar. 
Corin, Silvius: Shepherds.
Audrey: Country wench.
William: Country fellow in love with Audrey. 
Representative of Hymen: Hymen was the god of marriage in Greek mythology. 
Phebe: Shepherdess. 
Minor Characters: Lords, pages, forester, and attendants. 

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Plot Summary
By Michael J. Cummings...© 2003

My father charged you in his will to give me good education: you have trained me like a peasant, obscuring and hiding from me all gentleman-like qualities. The spirit of my father grows strong in me, and I will no longer endure it; therefore allow me such exercises as may become a gentleman, or give me the poor allottery my father left me by testament; with that I will go buy my fortunes. (1. 1. 23)

And this our life exempt from public haunt 
Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, 
Sermons in stones and good in every thing. 
I would not change it. (2. 1. 17-20) 

.......Senior’s daughter, Rosalind, remains behind at the court of Frederick. Rosalind is the central character in the play, the hub around whom the wheel of fortune revolves. At Duke Frederick’s behest, Rosalind is to serve as a companion for his daughter, Celia. It so happens that Rosalind has a sympathizer in Celia, for the two of them have been best friends since childhood. Whenever Rosalind pines for her missing father, Celia is there to comfort her. She says, “I pray thee, Rosalind, sweet my coz, be merry” (1. 2. 3). Rosalind soon will have good cause to be merry, for she is destined to fall in love with Orlando, the young man maltreated by his brother Oliver. Here is what happens: 

Within these ten days if that thou be’st [be] found 
So near our public court as twenty miles, 
Thou diest for it. (1. 3. 27-29) 

Structure
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.......The presentation of the conflicts—as well as the use of Rosalind's disguise to create suspense—takes place quickly in the play. The audience can then settle back and delight in the complications that follow. Overall, the plot structure moves along smoothly and plausibly, with Rosalind—an appealing, well-developed character—controlling the direction of the story. However, the change of heart of the two villains, Oliver and Duke Frederick, seems contrived and forced. Oliver reforms, unqualifiedly contrite, after his brother Orlando saves him from a lion (leo ex machina). Then, Orlando's other brother, Jaques de Boys, pops up from nowhere in Act V to tell us that an "old religious man" has converted Duke Frederick, turning him into an upright man who has yielded his crown to his banished brother, Duke Senior.

Climax

.......The climax of a play or another narrative work, such as a short story or a novel, can be defined as (1) the turning point at which the conflict begins to resolve itself for better or worse, or as (2) the final and most exciting event in a series of events. The climax of As You Like It occurs, according to the first definition, when Rosalind faints after learning that a lion has wounded Orlando, then decides to reveal her true identity to bring about a resolution to the plot complications. According to the second definition, the climax occurs when a person representing Hymen, the god of marriage in Greek mythology, enters in Act V, Scene IV, with Rosalind no longer wearing her disguise as the male Ganymede. Hymen then unites Rosalind with her father, Duke Senior, and her beloved, Orlando, by reciting these lines: 
.
..............HYMEN.....Then is there mirth in heaven, 
..............When earthly things made even 
..............Atone together. 
..............Good duke, receive thy daughter 
..............Hymen from heaven brought her, 
..............Yea, brought her hither, 
..............That thou mightst join her hand with his 
..............Whose heart within his bosom is. (5. 4. 60-67)
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The others follow up with these lines: 

..............ROSALIND.....[To Duke Senior]  To you I give myself, for I am yours. 
...................................[To ORLANDO] 
...................................To you I give myself, for I am yours. 
..............DUKE SENIOR.....If there be truth in sight, you are my daughter. 
..............ORLANDO If there be truth in sight, you are my Rosalind. 
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Themes
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Love is life's greatest joy and greatest healer. Romantic, brotherly, and humanitarian love all bring great joy to the major characters in the play after they abandon their ill feelings for one another and open their hearts.
Love is a many-splintered thing. Although love triumphs in the end, all of the lovers—except Theseus and Hippolyta—undergo trials that divide them.
Fortune and Nature often work at odds. See "Imagery, Extended Metaphor, Act I." 
Nature heals. Notice that everyone who enters the forest becomes better for the experience. Shakespeare used the "nature heals" theme in other plays as well, including A Midsummer Night's Dream, Love's Labour's Lost, and The Tempest. But nature does not always behave well in Shakespeare. King Lear found that out during a raging storm, and Macbeth fell victim to the trees of Birnham Wood.
All is not what it seems. Rosalind and Celia disguise themselves, fooling everyone. Duke Senior, branded an outlaw, is really the rightful ruler; his brother, the usurping duke, is really an outlaw. 
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Lines 139-166, Act II, Scene VII

All the world's a stage,¹
And all the men and women merely players: 
They have their exits and their entrances; 
And one man in his time plays many parts, 
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant, 
Mewling² and puking in the nurse's arms. 
And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel 
And shining morning face, creeping like snail 
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover, 
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad³
Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier, 
Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard,⁴
Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel, 
Seeking the bubble reputation⁵
Even in the cannon's mouth.⁶ And then the justice,⁷
In fair round belly with good capon lined,⁸
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut, 
Full of wise saws⁹ and modern instances; 
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts 
Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon, 
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side, 
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide 
For his shrunk shank;¹⁰ and his big manly voice, 
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes 
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all, 
That ends this strange eventful history, 
Is second childishness¹¹ and mere oblivion, 
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

.......Following are examples of other figures of speech in the play.

Alliteration
Repetition of a consonant sound

Stand you both forth now: stroke your chins, and swear by your beards that I am a knave. (Touchstone, 1.2.26)

That is another simple sin in you, to bring the ewes and the rams together, and to offer to get your living by the copulation of cattle; to be bawd to a bell-wether, and to betray a she-lamb (Touchstone, 3.2.35)

By my troth, thou sayest true; for since the little wit that fools have was silenced, the little foolery that wise men have makes a great show. (Celia, 1.2.33)

I have trod a measure; I have flattered a lady; I have been politic with my friend, smooth with mine enemy; I have undone three tailors; I have had four quarrels, and like to have fought one. (Touchstone, 5.4.42)

My better parts  
Are all thrown down, and that which here stands up  
Is but a quintain, a mere lifeless block. (Orlando, 1.2.129-131)
Comparison of a man to a quintain, a practice target for knights wielding lances

I shall ne’er be ware of mine own wit till I break my shins against it. (Touchstone, 2.4.37)
Comparison of wit to a solid object

O Rosalind! these trees shall be my books,  
And in their barks my thoughts I’ll character, (Orlando, 3.2.5-6)
Comparison of trees to books and barks to pages of the books

O, what a world is this, when what is comely   16
Envenoms him that bears it! (Adam, 2.3.16-17)
That which is comely (attractive, beautiful) is poisonous.

Sweetest nut hath sourest rind (Touchstone, 3.2.41)
That which is sweet is also sour.

.......In the following prose passage, beginning with line 123, Rosalind and Orlando speak of time as a person.

ROSALIND.  I pray you, what is’t o’clock?  
ORLANDO.  You should ask me, what time o’ day; there’s no clock in the forest.  
ROSALIND.  Then there is no true lover in the forest; else sighing every minute and groaning every hour would detect the lazy foot of Time as well as a clock.  
ORLANDO.  And why not the swift foot of Time? had not that been as proper?  
ROSALIND.  By no means, sir. Time travels in divers paces with divers persons. I’ll tell you who Time ambles withal, who Time trots withal, who Time gallops withal, and who he stands still withal.  
ORLANDO.  I prithee, who doth he trot withal?  
ROSALIND.  Marry, he trots hard with a young maid between the contract of her marriage and the day it is solemnized; if the interim be but a se’nnight, Time’s pace is so hard that it seems the length of seven year.  
ORLANDO.  Who ambles Time withal?  
ROSALIND.  With a priest that lacks Latin, and a rich man that hath not the gout; for the one sleeps easily because he cannot study, and the other lives merrily because he feels no pain; the one lacking the burden of lean and wasteful learning, the other knowing no burden of heavy tedious penury. These Time ambles withal.  
ORLANDO.  Who doth he gallop withal?  
ROSALIND.  With a thief to the gallows; for though he go as softly as foot can fall he thinks himself too soon there. (3.2.121-131)

Now, my co-mates and brothers in exile, 
Hath not old custom¹² made this life more sweet 
Than that of painted pomp?¹³ Are not these woods 
More free from peril than the envious court? 
Here feel we but the penalty of Adam,¹⁴
The seasons’ difference, as the icy fang 
And churlish chiding of the winter’s wind. (3-9)

Use of Disguises

.......Time and again, Shakespeare disguises women as men to further a plot. For example, In All's Well That Ends Well, Helena wears the attire of a pilgrim to get close to Bertram. In Cymbeline, Imogen becomes a page boy to win back Posthumous. Julia also becomes a page boy in The Two Gentlemen of Verona, as does Viola in Twelfth Night. In The Merchant of Venice, Portia disguises herself as a male judge to save the friend of her lover in a court of law. Rosalind, in As You Like It, dons the garb of a man to become a shepherd as she seeks out her love, Orlando. In each of these plays, the women disguised as men eventually reveal their true female identities All of this could have been quite confusing to playgoers in Shakespeare's day, for only men played women's roles. Thus, in the above-mentioned plays, men played women disguised as men who at some point doffed their male identities to reveal themselves as females.

Study Questions and Essay Topics

1. Rosalind falls in love with Orlando upon first seeing him. Likewise, Oliver falls in love with Celia when they first meet. In an informative essay, define “love at first sight” and explain whether it can really be true love or is simply infatuation. 
2. Why does Oliver mistreat Orlando? 
3. Which character in the play is the most admirable? Which character is the least admirable?
4. Duke Senior lives in the Forest of Arden like Robin Hood. Who was Robin Hood? Did Robin Hood actually exist? 
5. After Rosalind disguises herself, she calls herself Ganymede. In Greek mythology, who was Ganymede?
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Notes 
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1. All the world’s a stage: This clause is the English translation of the Latin motto of the Globe Theatre: Totus mundus agit histrionem. The clause begins the extended metaphor in which the world becomes a stage and the people—in various stages of their lives—become the actors.
2. Ballad: Poem.
3. Bubble reputation: Fame is like a bubble: it develops quickly, then bursts. 
4. Pard: Leopard or panther.
5. Even in the cannon’s mouth: To achieve fame, the soldier will even charge when enemy cannons are firing.
6. Justice . . . lined: Some judges in Shakespeare’s time accepted gifts, such as capons (immature roosters that are castrated and well fed to improve the quality of their meat), in return for a favorable ruling.
7. Saws: Proverbs, maxims, aphorisms, sayings.
8. Pantaloon: Foolish old man. Pantaloons were stock characters in a type of Italian comedy called commedia dell’arte, which became popular in the middle of the Sixteenth Century. Actors improvised their parts after receiving an outline of the plot.
9. Hose . . . shank: His knee-high stockings (hose) no longer fit his shrinking, withering shank (lower leg).
10. Second childishness: Senility. 
11. Sans:  French for without. (French pronunciation: sahn, spoken nasally; English pronunciation: sanz. Shakespeare used the latter.)
12. Custom: The experience of life in the forest.
13. Painted Pomp: Life at court, with all of its artificial trappings.
14. Penalty of Adam . . . wind: As descendants of Adam and inheritors of original sin, the men—though they may live in a kind of Eden—do feel the sting of a cold wind.