As You Like It
William Shakespeare (1599)
“Shakespeare's wittiest heroine disguises herself as a man, teaches her own lover how to love her, and dismantles every romantic convention while building the greatest comedy in the English language.”
Short Summary
Rosalind, daughter of the banished Duke Senior, is exiled from court by the usurping Duke Frederick. She disguises herself as a young man named Ganymede, flees to the Forest of Arden with her cousin Celia and the fool Touchstone, and discovers that Orlando — the man she loves — is also hiding there, pinning love poems to trees. As Ganymede, Rosalind convinces Orlando to practice his courtship on her, creating a layered game of identity in which she is simultaneously the object, the teacher, and the critic of romantic love. In the Forest, multiple couples form, the melancholy Jacques philosophizes about human futility, and pastoral life is tested against courtly reality. The play resolves with Rosalind shedding her disguise, four marriages, and a reformed Duke Frederick who abandons his usurpation after a religious conversion in the forest.
Detailed Summary
The play begins at the court of Duke Frederick, who has banished his older brother Duke Senior and seized power. Duke Senior now lives in the Forest of Arden with a band of loyal followers, living a rustic life that the play presents as both genuinely attractive and slightly ridiculous. Orlando de ...