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As You Like It - William Shakespeare - Scene-by-scene summary
A scene-by-scene summary of Shakespeare's As You Like It
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As You Like ItLecture Notes
The play was definitely written after 1598, and probably around 1599. It seems like Shakespeare had
a contract with his theatre group that he would write two plays a year: one history and one comedy.
Later, he stopped writing histories and started writing tragedy. This doesn’t fully line up with all the
plays Shakespeare has written, because there was a time during the Plague that the theatre
company travelled, so then you do not need any new plays since you have new audiences each time.
The play has contrasting people. The courtiers in court are uptight and strict, whereas the exiled
courtiers are having fun, are making music, and are relaxing. Inside the forest are also the pastoral
characters, and there is an ‘outsider’, in this case Jacques.
‘Sad’ in Shakespeare almost always means ‘serious’.
Shakespeare was very rich. Like. Loaded.
Summary
Act 1 Scene 1
Orlando is talking to Adam, the former servant of his father Sir Rowland, about how he has inherited
a thousand crowns1 now that his father is dead. His brother Jaques is at school and doing well, but
Orlando is stuck at home. His oldest brother Oliver has inherited the most, but he does not treat
Orlando as a brother, even having him eat with Oliver’s farm hands. He wants to be treated better.
Oliver enters and Orlando confronts him. It quickly goes wrong and the two wrestle. Adam tries to
intervene but fails to do so. Oliver agrees to give Orlando a part of his inheritance and orders him
and Adam to leave, which they do. Oliver has his servant Dennis get the Duke’s wrestler, Charles.
Charles tells that the Duke has been banished by his younger brother, the new Duke. A few lords
have gone into voluntary exile with the old Duke. Oliver asks if Rosalind, the Duke’s daughter, was
banished with him, but Charles says she did not, because her cousin (the daughter of the new Duke)
loves her so much. The old Duke2 is in the Forest of Arden. Charles is due to wrestle before the new
Duke3 and says he has heard that Orlando wants to wrestle him in disguise. Oliver says that Orlando
will cheat and that Charles should definitely not go easy on him.
Act 1 Scene 2
Celia, the daughter of Duke Jr, encourages Rosalind to be happier. She, however, says that she is
already pretending to be happier than she actually is. Celia promises that when her father dies, she
will reinstate Rosalind’s inheritance and give the throne. Rosalind is happier from there, and the two
discuss Fortune and Nature and their roles in men’s life. Touchstone the Clown enters, who comes
to fetch the ladies. When they ask who bids them, he mockingly tells of a knight without honour that
does swear by his honour. Monsieur Le Beau arrives and tells them there will be a wrestling match.
Duke Jr4, Orlando, Charles and a group of lords and attendants arrive. Duke Jr. greets the ladies
kindly and gives them permission to watch the wrestling match. Rosalind exchanges some words
with Orlando, and she and Celia try to convince him not to fight, for they fear that he will lose. He
wrestles with Charles anyway, and he wins. He announces his name and heritage, and Duke Jr. says
1
About £25,000, or €29345.00 according to https://blog.oup.com/2016/01/money-shakespeare/
2
From now on Duke Sr.
3
From now on Duke Jr.
4
Whose name is apparently Fredrick.
, that Orlando’s father Sir Rowland was his enemy. Rosalind and Celia congratulate Orlando on his win
and Rosalind shares how much her father loved Orlando’s father. She gives him a chain to wear for
her, and then she and Celia leave. Orlando is absolutely smitten with Rosalind and gets tongue-tied.
Le Beau advises Orlando to leave, because Duke Jr. will soon be angry at him for his parentage.
Orlando asks which of the two ladies was Duke Jr.’s daughter, and Le Beau answers, also stating that
Duke Jr. is getting angry at Rosalind for the simple reason that people praise her virtues and pity her
for her father’s sake. Orlando flees.
Act 1 Scene 3
Celia wonders how Rosalind could have fallen in love this quickly. Duke Jr. arrives, who looks very
angry. He sends Rosalind away, announcing that if she is found within twenty miles of the court she
will die. Rosalind asks why, and Duke Jr. calls her a traitor. Rosalind says she will never betray him,
but according to Duke Jr. it’s enough that she is the daughter of Duke Sr. Even though Rosalind
pleads her case, he does not want to change his mind. Celia announces that if Rosalind is a traitor so
is she because she constantly is with Rosalind. She says that she will leave with Rosalind. Her father
tells her that everyone will like her more after Rosalind is gone, and leaves. Celia tells Rosalind they
will go to her father in the Forest of Arden, and Rosalind comments on how dangerous that journey
is for two women. She proposes, as she is quite tall, that she will dress up as a man and call herself
Ganymede, and then Celia will disguise herself as the sister of Ganymede and call herself Aliena.
They decide to convince Touchstone to go with them.
Act 2 Scene 1
Duke Sr. is thoroughly enjoying his time in the forest. He proposes to hunt some venison, although e
grieves the fate of the deer that is violently slaughtered by the natives of the forest. The lords agree
with him, one of them saying that Jaques has previously already commented on the terrible fate of
the poor deer. The second lord says the last time they saw Jaques he was crying about the deer.
Duke Sr. and the lords go to him in order to argue with him, because it’s fun.
Act 2 Scene 2
Duke Jr. discovers that Rosalind and Celia have disappeared, as well as Touchstone the Clown. One
of Celia’s servants has said she had overheard Rosalind and Celia talk about the wrestler who fought
Charles, so everyone thinks that Rosalind, Celia and Touchstone are on their way to Orlando. Duke
Jr. orders Orlando’s brother to be brought to him.
Act 2 Scene 3
Orlando meets Adam, who tells him that Oliver intends to burn the place where Orlando sleeps to
the ground in the hope to kill him. He encourages Orlando to flee, no matter where. Orlando says
that he has no financial aid to just disappear, and Adam gives him five hundred crowns 5 that he
saved up whilst working for Orlando’s father. He asks to be Orlando’s servant, who is incredibly
touched and agrees.
5
“£12,500 today. As a servant, he would have been paid between 5 and 10 pence a day – between £10-15 a
year. Nearly 80 now, he’s been part of the establishment for about 60 years (as we read at 2.3.71). He’d have
earned between £600 and £900 in all, during that time. So he was putting away perhaps a quarter of his wages
each week, on average. A thrifty man, indeed. And he is prepared to give it all up for Orlando.”
https://blog.oup.com/2016/01/money-shakespeare/
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