As You Like It

About the book

Political and family conflicts send Rosalind and Orlando away from the court into the Forest of Arden. Rosalind travels in disguise with her cousin Celia, creating opportunities to observe and test the language of love without being recognised in her usual role. Around them, shepherds, exiles, fools, and melancholy observers offer competing accounts of what makes a life natural or desirable. Shakespeare treats the forest as both refuge and practical challenge, a place where freedom still requires food, companionship, and negotiation. Much of the comedy comes from performances that reveal sincere feeling while pretending to be play. Songs and verbal contests give the action a spacious rhythm, inviting readers to consider how identity changes when familiar social expectations temporarily lose their force.

• Disguise and identity
• Love and performance
• Exile

Why read it

For Rosalind's inventive command of the comedy and the many voices testing its pastoral dream.

English text