This may be intended as the Ardennes, a forested region covering an area located in southeast Belgium, western Luxembourg and northeastern France, or Arden, Warwickshire, near Shakespeare's home town, which was the ancestral origin of his mother's family-whose surname was Arden.įrederick has usurped the duchy and exiled his older brother, Duke Senior. The play is set in a duchy in France, but most of the action takes place in a location called the Forest of Arden. Rosalind and Celia, James Archer (c.1854–1858) Hymen, officiates over the weddings in the end God of marriage, as appearing in a masque.Jaques, a discontented, melancholic lord.Duke Senior, Duke Frederick's older brother and Rosalind's father.
Dennis, the servant who announces Charles's arrival in Oliver's orchardĮxiled court of Duke Senior in the Forest of Arden:.Adam, a faithful old servant who follows Orlando into exile.Jacques de Boys, the second son, announces Frederick's change of heart.Oliver de Boys, the eldest son and heir.Household of the deceased Sir Rowland de Boys: Lords and ladies in Duke Frederick's court.Celia, Duke Frederick's daughter and Rosalind's cousin.Duke Frederick, Duke Senior's younger brother and his usurper, also Celia's father.The play has been adapted for radio, film, and musical theatre. Historically, critical response has varied, with some critics finding the play a work of great merit and some finding it to be of lesser quality than other Shakespearean works. Jaques provides a sharp contrast to the other characters in the play, always observing and disputing the hardships of life in the country.
In the forest, they encounter a variety of memorable characters, notably the melancholy traveller Jaques, who speaks many of Shakespeare's most famous speeches (such as " All the world's a stage", "too much of a good thing" and "A fool! A fool! I met a fool in the forest"). The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wilton House in 1603 has been suggested as a possibility.Īs You Like It follows its heroine Rosalind as she flees persecution in her uncle's court, accompanied by her cousin Celia to find safety and, eventually, love, in the Forest of Arden. First page of As You Like It from the First Folio of Shakespeare's plays, published in 1623Īs You Like It is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 and first published in the First Folio in 1623.