As You like It is one of the more popular comedies from Shakespeare.
On the surface, it is a love story involving Orlando
and
Rosalind (the main dramatis personae); but the loves of three other couples is interwoven with their tale - Oliver and Celia, Touchstone (the clown) and Audrey, Silvius (the shepherd) and Phebe.
The Senior Duke (who, curiously, remains unnamed) has been banished by his brother
Frederick, who has usurped his domains. But Frederick is unable to win the hearts and minds of the people, or turn them from the love they bear to the righteous Duke or his lovely daughter Rosalind. This is the backdrop under which the main plot unfolds… Little more is heard of Frederick, except when he compounds his folly by banishing Rosalind from his court – or when he moves in (armed) strength against the Senior Duke who is living in the Forest of Arden.
The main character of the play is Orlando, a hot-headed and somewhat rash young fellow (he challenges Charles, the Duke’s wrestler, to a wrestling bout) who is given to romantic poetry; the object of his love being none other than Rosalind. Oliver and Orlando are the sons of Sir Rowland de Boys – who was loyal to the banished Senior Duke – and are therefore out of favor with the current rulers.
There is a sub-text to the play: the interaction between the urban (and urbane) characters from the Duke’s court and the rustic people among whom they are living. This is best exemplified by Touchstone, who – though he is just a clown – considers himself superior to the simple-minded rustic folk. There are some interesting comparisons drawn between life at court, and what the life of a shepherd has to offer in contrast.
Of course, this play is famous in one other respect – it contains one of the most famous quotes (in the words of Jacques, a melancholy Lord who has chosen to keep company with the banished Senior Duke) to be found in any of Shakespeare’s plays:
All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven stages.