“All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players!”

As You Like It (AYLI) is a wonderful light-hearted comedy with fantastic characters and very memorable lines. Its source was Thomas Lodge’s Rosalynd, which was itself based onThe Tale of Gamelyn, a poem from the 14^th century. Unlike other Shakespeare plays, we can make a very good guess of when it was written: in 1600 his theater company listed it in the Stationers’ Register to be stayed from publication, perhaps to prevent unauthorized productions from cutting into the immense profits it generated. However, in 1598 Frances Meres published Wits Treasury, a catalogue of the best writers of his age and their works. Although he of course included Shakespeare in this list, AYLI was not mentioned. Therefore it’s almost certain that the play was written and first performed in 1599 or early 1600. Elementary, my dear Watson!

In Touchstone we have one of the finest examples in Shakespeare of The Wise Fool. As we saw in King Lear, no royal court was complete without a court jester, or Fool, to make fun of the king and comment on the action. In other plays, such as Merchant of Venice, there are foolish characters like Gobbo Junior and Senior, who are there to provide comic relief from the tragedy. In AYLI, as in Twelfth Night, the Fool is actually smarter than most of the people around him, and not only comments on the action, but takes part in it.

It’s a little confusing in this play, as there are two characters named Oliver and two named Jaques.

Important: in productions, the name Rosalind is usually pronounced “Rose-a-lined”, and even though it takes place in France, Jaques is not pronounced the French way, but as “Jay-kweez”.

The principle of “cuckold” comes up with astonishing regularity in Shakespeare plays, whether comedy, tragedy or history. Put simply, a cuckold is a man whose wife is having sex with other men. As you can imagine, this is one of the most embarrassing insults possible, at least to a married man, and in Shakespeare’s day, it was related to a reference to horns on the man’s head. It goes like this: a man whose wife is unfaithful is always the last one to find out about it, exactly the way a man who has horns on his head is the only person who can’t see them. When a character jokes that another man has horns on his head, he is calling that man a cuckold.

Special Vocabulary
bawd- pimp
chide- criticize
comely- attractive
erst- before
eyne- eyes
humorous- prone to anger or excitement
libertine- one who pursues pleasure without thinking about society’s rules
yond- that one over there

ACT 1
scene1
Orlando, the youngest son of a nobleman, complains that his oldest brother Oliver always hated him, and never gave him an education. Oliver arranges for Charles, the Duke’s wrestler, to fight and kill Orlando.

scene2
Rosalind (remember, “Rose-a-lined”) is the daughter of the true Duke, who was banished by his brother Frederick into the woods of Arden. She was allowed to stay in court because she is the best friend of her cousin Celia, Frederick’s daughter. Rosalind sees Orlando wrestle with Charles and win.
She and Orlando fall in love with each other. Frederick, who hated Orlando’s father, banishes Orlando too.

scene3
Next Frederick even banishes Rosalind, and Celia and Touchstone go with her. To be safe, Rosalind will dress as a boy named Ganymede and Celia as a shepherdess named Aliena.

ACT 2
scene1
The Old Duke is actually enjoying living in the woods with his friends. They talk about how their friend Jaques (“Jay-kweez”), who loves to be sad, was crying and making comments about a deer that was dying.

scene2
Frederick is angry that Celia ran away from home, and took Touchstone with her. He believes that Orlando is responsible, and demands to see Oliver.

scene3
Adam, Oliver’s servant, warns Orlando that Oliver plans to kill him. They decide to escape together.

scene4
Rosalind, Celia and Touchstone meet Corin, and arranges with him to buy a farmhouse. They overhear Silvius, who is deeply in love with Phebe, a woman who doesn’t love him.

scene5
Jaques listens to sad songs, and shows off his cleverness by discussing them.

scene6
Orlando and Adam are lost in the woods. Orlando goes on ahead to look for food.

scene7
Jaques has met Touchstone in the woods, and he wishes he could be funny like him. Instead of being clever, he wants to be a Fool.
Orlando finds them, and the Duke welcomes both him and Adam to eat. He learns that Orlando’s father was his old friend. Jaques makes a speech about how man changes throughout his life; first a crying baby, then older and stronger, until he’s old and helpless like a baby again.

ACT 3
scene1
Frederick orders Oliver to find Orlando, dead or alive, so he can find Celia.

scene2
Orlando, in love with Rosalind, starts leaving poems about her all over the forest.
Touchstone hears one, and makes fun of it. He also criticizes the countrylife, which he finds boring compared to court life. Jaques also dislikes Orlando’s poetry, and Orlando returns the feeling. Rosalind, still pretending to be a boy named Ganymede, talks to Orlando. In order to maintain her disguise and still hear him say sweet things to her, she tells him that she can cure him of being in love if he pretends that Ganymede is Rosalind.

scene3
Touchstone falls in love with a country girl named Audrey, even though she is simple-minded. He wants the vicar to wed them out in the middle of the woods, but Jaques talks him out of it.

scene4
Rosalind is crying because Orlando promised to come see “Ganymede/Rosalind” and he’s late.

scene5
Rosalind sees Silvius again, trying in vain to get his love, Phebe, to love him in return. “Ganymede/Rosalind” tells Phebe to accept the love of Silvius, but instead Phebe falls instantly in love with “Ganymede/Rosalind”.
She persuades Silvius to take a letter to “Ganymede/Rosalind” which she says is going to be an angry letter.

ACT 4
scene1
Orlando apologizes to “Ganymede/Rosalind” for being late. Rosalind enjoys hearing Orlando say nice things to her.

scene2
Jaques and the others sing a song about hunting, with a double meaning about the deer’s horns (see “cuckold” above)

scene3
“Ganymede/Rosalind” shows Silvius the letter from Phebe, which is really a love letter, but it doesn’t make him stop loving her.
Oliver meets Celia, and they both fall instantly in love. He admits that he wanted to kill Orlando, but Orlando had just saved his life and now he loves his brother. He shows “Ganymede/Rosalind” a cloth with blood that Orlando lost while saving Oliver’s life, and she faints.

ACT 5
scene1
A country boy named William is also in love with Audrey, but Touchstone scares him off.

scene2
Rosalind makes Phebe promise that, if she doesn’t want to marry “Ganymede/Rosalind” that she will marry Silvius instead.

scene3
Two court pages sing a song with Touchstone.

scene4
Rosalind shows that she is really a woman, so Phebe marries Silvius, Touchstone marries Audrey, Oliver marries Celia, and Rosalind marries Orlando. Orlando’s middle brother arrives, saying that Frederick has repented of his evil ways and restored the Dukedom to his older brother.
Oliver likewise gives all his property to Orlando so he can stay on the farm with Celia.