As You Like It:
A study guide for the SW
fall production
by William Shakespeare
The Story
Duke Senior has been forced into exile by his jealous brother,
Frederick. He takes refuge in the Forest of Arden with a band of
followers. Rosalind, his daughter, stays on as a companion to her
cousin Celia, Frederick's daughter.
Orlando de Boys, the youngest son of the late Sir Rowland de
Boys,
has
been kept in poverty by his brother Oliver since their
photo of the First Folio
father's death. Orlando decides to wrestle for his fortune at
Frederick's court, where he sees Rosalind and they fall in love.
The Duke banishes Rosalind, fearing that she is a threat to his rule. Celia, refusing to be
parted from her cousin, goes with Rosalind to seek Duke Senior in the Forest. For safety they
disguise themselves - Rosalind as the boy Ganymede and Celia as his sister Aliena - and persuade
the fool Touchstone to accompany them.
On hearing of a plot by his brother to kill him, Orlando also flees to the Forest. Posting
love lyrics through the forest, Orlando encounters Rosalind disguised as Ganymede. She suggests
that he should prove his love by wooing Ganymede as if he were Rosalind.
Elsewhere in the Forest, the shepherd Silvius suffers unrequited love for Phebe, who has
fallen for Ganymede, while Touchstone is pursuing the goatherd, Audrey.
Oliver, sent into the Forest to hunt down Orlando, has his life saved by his brother,
becomes filled with remorse for his past behavior, and falls in love with Aliena.
Frustrated by the pain of his love for Rosalind, Orlando is unable to continue wooing
Ganymede, so Ganymede promises he will conjure up the real Rosalind and that all the lovers
will finally be wed...
Adapted from www.rsc.org
The Play’s Background & History
As You Like It has been one of Shakespeare’s most popular plays throughout history, and many
famous actresses have played Rosalind. There is also evidence to suggest that Shakespeare played the role
of Adam. The play also contains one of Shakespeare’s most famous passages, “The Seven Ages of Man”
spoken by Jaques in Act II.
This play has more prose than most of Shakespeare’s plays. Many scenes switch back from prose
to verse in the middle of a scene. While often it is Shakespeare’s high status characters who speak in the
poetic form of iambic pentameter, in As You Like It, it is usually the simple country folk who speak in
verse, and characters from the court who speak in the everyday language of prose. The play makes fun of
Orlando’s poetic tributes to Rosalind, and includes a scene where Jaques says to Orlando in Act IV, “Nay
then, God be with you, an you talk in blank verse,” meaning “I’m leaving if you’re going to speak in
poetry.”
The source of the plot of As You Like It is the story Rosalynde, Euphues’ Golden Legacie by Thomas
Lodge, first published in 1590. Most of the characters and situations in As You Like It are directly taken
from the story. Unlike today, there was no expectation of originality in Elizabethan drama, and many
writers borrowed ideas or whole passages of text from the work of others. As You Like It is categorized as
a pastoral play, where country life is romanticized as a utopia similar to the Garden of Eden. In As You Like
It, the characters are able to return to a simpler life by going to the forest of Arden. It is there that
Rosalind and Orlando, as well as Celia and Oliver can leave the complications of the city and discover
perfect love.
1599, the year of its production, marked an amazingly productive
time in William Shakespeare’s career. During this year or just before it, he
probably wrote Much Ado About Nothing, Henry V, Julius Caesar, Hamlet,
and As You Like It. The comedies of Much Ado and As You Like It have
strong women characters, and as Elizabethan actors were only men, this
indicates that the company had at least two young actors whose strength
was in playing women. These two plays also marked a very different style
of comedy. Previously, the company’s lead comedian was William Kempe,
whose specialty was physical, full of falls and comic dancing. In early 1599
he quit and was replaced by Robert Armin. Armin’s had a much more
William Kemp
intellectual performance style, emphasizing work play and singing. Robert
Armin would have likely played Dogberry in Much Ado and Touchstone in As You Like It. The change in
style affected Shakespeare’s writing and led to comedies with more verbal humor.
In 1598, Shakespeare’s company, The Lord Chamberlain’s Men (named
after their patron who supported them financially), had lost the lease to the
property where they performed. The theatre building, which had the name
“The Theatre,” was built and owned by the company, but the landowner
decided he should have ownership of the building after the lease on the land
expired. To avoid a legal battle, the company disassembled the entire structure
during the landlord’s Christmas holiday in the country. In the spring they
reassembled the theater across the river in the neighborhood of Bankside,
where they could also avoid London’s taxes and restrictive laws. While there is
no definitive evidence for which play was the first to open the new theatre,
most Shakespeare scholars believe that the first production was As You Like It
or Julius Caesar.
"Rosalind" by Robert Walker
Today, As You Like It is one of Shakespeare’s most popular plays. It has
Macbeth
many
current
productions, and many adaptations and interpretations in art,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rosalind__Robert_Walker_Macbeth.jpg
radio, film, and television, as well as the stage.
Discussion and Journal Questions
1. What different kinds of love are portrayed in As You Like It? Does the play seem to favor any
particular kind of love as being better or longer lasting?
2. Compare and contrast the following characters’ views of love: Orlando, Rosalind, Silvius,
Phebe and Touchstone. Which character most closely represents your own attitude toward
love?
3. Why do you think Jaques enjoys being melancholy? Why does he admire Touchstone, the
fool?
4. Rosalind gets dressed as a boy to protect herself and to teach Orlando about women. What
does this play say about gender roles? Is there still any truth to these expectations today?
5. As You Like It is full of people pretending to be someone else for different reasons. Jaques also
compares living to acting out a role in a play. What are the advantages and disadvantages of
playing these roles to the characters in the play? Is it the same in our own lives?
6. How do the costumes, lighting, set, and sound complement the story and message of the play?
Sources Consulted
"As You Like It." History of the Play. Royal Shakespeare Company, n.d. Web. 10 Nov. 2013.
“As You Like It.” “Robert Armin.” “Thomas Lodge.” “William Kempe.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 10 Nov. 2013
“Rosalynde, or Euphues’ Golden Legacy.” LibriVox. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Nov. 2013.
Shapiro, James. A Year in the Life of Shakespeare: 1599. New York: Harper Collins, 2005.