Pastoral Life Numerous oppositions in As You Like It reveal Shakespeare’s partiality toward the pastoral rustic life of Arden forest to life at court. At Duke Frederick’s court, disorder holds sway. The deterioration of political authority is the most obvious form of disorder, for Duke Frederick has unlawfully seized Duke Senior’s kingdom. This political degeneration…
Tag: As You Like It
As You Like It – Touchstone
A fool in the service of first Oliver, then Rosalind and Celia, Touchstone is all that his name implies: he acts as a touchstone, testing the qualities of the other characters both at Duke Frederick’s court and in the forest. He also is an apt persona for conveying bits and piece of philosophy to the…
As You Like It – Rosalind
The exiled Duke Senior’s daughter and niece of Duke Frederick, Rosalind is the play’s central character, in that she has both the most lines and brings about much of the play’s resolution. She is downhearted from the beginning, as her father has been away in exile, and only when her heart is ‘‘overthrown’’ (1.2.244) are…
As You Like It – Orlando
The youngest son of Sir Rowland de Boys, Orlando serves as the play’s romantic male hero, eventually marrying Rosalind. Orlando’s appearances in the first act well establish his moral virtue, as he craves only ‘‘such exercises as may become a gentleman’’ (1.1.69–70), including a good education, while Oliver, the eldest de Boys brother, professes to…
As You Like It – Jaques
Jaques is a melancholy lord attending Duke Senior in banishment. Jaques is commonly considered Touchstone’s foil, as he provides commentary on the play’s diverse issues from a completely different perspective. Jaques’s misanthropy, or distaste for humanity, initially casts a dark shadow over the events in Arden forest. Where Duke Senior expresses regret at the killing…
As You Like It – Act Wise Summary
Act 1, Scene 1 In the opening scene of As You Like It, Orlando tells the old family servant Adam of his discontent with his brother Oliver’s management of the family fortune and his treatment of him, for he is being allowed no education and thus will have no means to advance in the world….