Plot Synopsis
As You Like It is the epitome of Shakespeares romantic comedies. Based on the pastoral entertainments of the early Renaissance, the play features shepherds and shepherdesses, love at first sight, redemption, and happy endings, all set against the backdrop of the Forest of Arden.
While the play involves several plot lines, it is fairly straightforward. A young nobleman, Orlando de Boys, has been refused the education and training decreed in his late fathers will. His older brother, Oliver, dislikes Orlando and punishes him for being more popular with the people. Orlando decides to challenge the dukes champion, Charles, in a wrestling match in hopes of earning some money to fund a new start in life. When he arrives at the match, he meets and falls instantly in love with Rosalind, the daughter of the deposed Duke Senior. She has remained at court with her cousin, Celia, the daughter of the usurping duke, Frederick. Orlando wins the match and learns later that his brother plans to have him killed. He escapes with a faithful servant to the Forest of Arden. Duke Frederick banishes Rosalind. She, Celia, and the court jester Touchstone disguise themselves and go to the Forest of Arden. In the forest, Touchstone falls for the shepherdess Audrey, Oliver and Orlando come to terms and the redeemed Oliver falls in love with Celia. Rosalind and Orlando meet and, despite her disguise as a young man, conduct a kind of courtship. The play ends with four weddings and the sense that the gods have provided redemption for those deserving such reward and contemplation for those who are not yet ready to be redeemed. As You Like It is famous for its music, the fully developed character of Rosalind, and Jaques soliloquy, All the worlds a stage and all the men and women merely players. |
