1. by William Shakespeare (1599-1600)
AS YOU LIKE IT
by William Shakespeare ( )

2. Opening suggests a dark world, not a comedy
Begins at a corrupt and suspicious court
Two warring brothers, one is lovable (Orlando) and the other “altogether misprised” (Oliver)
Their enmnity is mirrored by the usurpation of Duke Senior by his brother Duke Frederick
The “good” brothers are banished to the forest

3. Shakespeare’s comedies often begin this way
Ultimately, we are guided to the play’s heroine ROSALIND
The play’s action concerns itself with ‘coupling’ (four couples are wed at the end of the play)
One of the happiest of comedies
Brothers are reconciled
Legitimacy and prosperity is restored
The evil convert
Each lover is appropriately matched

4. Significance of setting
Play’s action is set in the Forest of Arden in Warwichshire
Shakespeare’s mother’s name was Arden
The play suggests both French and English characters and places…seemingly nowhere and everywhere
A magical place where anything can happen

5. Your If is the only peacemaker…
Rosalind invites Orlando to imagine his life IF he had not met “your very very Rosalind”
She poses and solves a complex set of riddles at the climax IF
IF I CAN
IF I COULD
IF EVER I MARRY WOMAN
IF EVER I SATISFIED MAN
IF WHAT PLEASES YOU CONTENTS YOU

6. Villains are miraculously changed
Oliver tells Celia “Twas I. But ‘tis not I.”
Like Eden, Arden is not wholly safe
Arden is cold and people must hunt for food
Lions and snakes threaten sudden death
It is threatened with invasion from the usurping Duke

7. Setting is pastoral Except for Corin, nobody seems to work
All can find plenty of time to sing, philosophize and fall in love
It is not, however, an alternative to civilization. It is “nature” as opposed to “culture”
Perhaps Shakespeare is parodying the pastoral excesses of writers like Philip Sidney in works such as ARCADIA (1590)
It is not simply a play, it is a play about how people write about love
Act One, The Wresling Match A 19th century painting

8. Sources for the play
Thomas Lodge wrote ROSALYNDE, EUPHUES’ GOLDEN LEGACIE in and Shakespeare borrows freely from its characters and plot
He excises a bloody battle between the feuding dukes and replaces it with Frederick’s conversion and retirement
He invents the characters of Jacques, Touchstone and Audrey
John Lyly wrote EUPHUES, THE ANATOMY OF WIT (1579)
The previously mentioned ARCADIA (1590)

9. A musical world
Play contains more songs than any other Shakespeare play
Most famous is “It was a lover and his lass” (V.3)
The song was arranged and published by Thomas Morley in 1600

10. Lovers grow up
Rosalind and Orlando escape the gloom, confinement and danger of court by escaping to the forest…and growing up
This requires Rosalind and Orlando; Celia and Oliver to move from the family they were born into to the family one starts and presides over “from one’s father to one’s child’s father” (1.3)
As with Ophelia (Hamlet), Cordelia (King Lear) and Desdemona (Othello), Rosalind’s relationship with her father is changed
Shakespeare’s Globe
Theatre Production, 2010

11. Celia and Rosalind
As both separate from their father’s; they also outgrow their friendship
The threat to marriage is not only Rosalind’s attachment to Celia, but also Orlando’s attachment to Ganymede (the homo-erotic theme described by some)
Further expressed by Rosalind taking on the identity of Ganymede (Jove’s cupbearer and “lover”)

13. Disguises Rosalind as Ganymede
Celia “darkens” her face to be seen as less “fair”
Ganymede seems to relish being a man…as a woman, she could not buy property, but as a man she buys a “cottage, pasture and flock”
Rosalind’s disguise seems to enhance her confidence while doing the opposite to Celia
Still Rosalind does woo Orlando, not girl to boy, but man to man
Perhaps these disguises are simply pragmatic since boys played the female roles in Elizabethan theatre

15. Four couples Rosalind and Orlando
Marriage offers a different kind of ending, as well as a different kind of beginning for four couples

16. Four couples Celia and Oliver

17. Four couples Audrey and Touchstone

18. Four couples Phebe and Silvius
Marriage offers a different kind of ending, as well as a different kind of beginning, for each of the four couples

19. All the world’s a stage…
Jacques speech from Act Two, scene 7 is rightly one of the most famous in all of Shakespeare
Of the SEVEN AGES, only one really relates to the action of the play…
And then the lover Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad Made to his mistress’ eyebrow
Jacques (and Adam) help to put the marriages into perspective

21. First printed edition Folio edition, 1623
Production was entered into the Stationers Register by the Lord Chamberlain’s Men as one of four plays “to be staied” (withheld from publication)

22. AS YOU LIKE IT on film

23. 'As You Like It' at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre (2010) 149 min
Directed by Thea Sharrock
Michael Benz Silvius
Philip Bird Duke Senior
Sophie Duval Audrey
Naomi Frederick Rosalind
Brendan Hughes Duke Frederick
Jack Laskey Orlando de Boys
Trevor Martin Adam
Tim McMullan Jacques
Jamie Parker Oliver de Boys
Laura Rogers Celia
Dominic Rowan Touchstone

24. As You Like It (2006) Directed by Kenneth Branagh
Bryce Dallas Howard Rosalind David Oyelowo Orlando De Boys Richard Briers Adam
Patrick Doyle Amiens
Romola Garai Celia
Adrian Lester Oliver De Boys
Alfred Molina Touchstone
Kevin Kline Jaques
Janet McTeer Audrey Brian Blessed Duke Senior & Duke Frederick

25. AS YOU LIKE IT (1992) Directed by Christine Edzard Hiding out in an industrial wasteland from the murderous wrath of a regional ruler, a woman, disguised as a boy, gives wooing lessons to the edgy lad who proclaims he loves her.

26. As You Like It (1987 - BBC) Director: Basil Coleman
Helen Mirren Rosalind Brian Stirner Orlando Richard Pasco Jaques Angharad Rees Celia
James Bolam Touchstone Clive Francis Oliver Richard Easton Duke Frederick Tony Church Duke Senior

27. 1936 Film Director: Paul Czinner
Writers: William Shakespeare (play) J.M. Barrie (treatment) Robert Cullen (scenario) Carl Mayer (adaptation)
Cast: Henry Ainley Exiled Duke
Elisabeth Bergner Rosalind
Felix Aylmer Duke Frederick
Laurence Olivier Orlando
Leon Quartermaine Jacques

28. Other adaptations
AS YOU LIKE IT (Williamstown Theatre Festival) 1999 Gwyneth Paltrow starred in a modern setting against a background of modern jazz ALL SHOOK UP (Broadway musical) 2004 The songs of Elvis Presley and source material from Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and As You Like It. AS YOU LIKE IT (India, West Bengal, 2012) Director: Suprio Chakrabarty QAdaptation: Kanchan Amin