As You Like It

Love is an important driving force for the characters of As You Like It, though it takes multiple forms and has both positive and negative effects. One form of love is that which Rosalind and Celia express for each other. In Scenes 2 and 3 of Act I, their devotion to each other has some queer overtones. For example, after Rosalind is banished, Celia says, “thou and I are one”, mimicking the language of lovers (I.3.102). This befits the play’s pastoral genre, which historically is known for exploring same-sex love. Despite the overtones, however, Rosalind and Celia’s love for each other is more like that of intense friendship or chosen sisterhood.

Rosalind’s love for Orlando, on the other hand, is a clearer example of romantic or sexual love from the play. The two fall in love with each other at first sight. Then, when Rosalind has been banished, she first encounters Orlando in the forest through his love poetry. Orlando leaves love poetry written around the forest, such as “Heaven would that she these gifts should have / and I to live and die her slave” (III.2.155-156). This expresses the pain and anguish he feels in the absence of his beloved Rosalind, as well as the strength of his desire to be with her. Rosalind, although in disguise as Ganymede, immediately takes advantage of the situation to get closer to Orlando through her plan to cure his lovesickness. She says, “love is merely a madness” and that she can cure it. Ultimately, Rosalind’s plan to get closer to Orlando is very successful, and the play ends by celebrating love in a mass marriage ceremony. Rosalind and Orlando are married, along with the three other couples that emerge during the play: Touchstone and Audrey, Phoebe and Silvius, and Celia and Oliver. This celebration of love gives the comedy the happy ending demanded of its genre.

As You Like It is as much about rivalry as it is about love. One type of rivalry that generates much of the play’s action is fraternal or brotherly rivalry. Two sets of brothers—Oliver and Orlando, and Duke Senior and Duke Frederick—fight over their inheritances. Before the play even begins, Duke Frederick has usurped his older brother and taken over his court, defying the tradition of primogeniture. This rivalry does not extend to the two dukes’ daughters, Rosalind and Celia, who are devoted to each other. It does, however, extend in Duke Frederick’s mind toward his niece Rosalind. Duke Frederick’s distrust of anyone associated with Duke Senior leads him to banish Rosalind, a decision which sets off the main action of the play.

Orlando and Oliver express their dislike for each other in strong terms. In the first scene of the play, Orlando complains that he has been seriously mistreated by his brother. He describes how Oliver has managed his education: “his horses are / bred better” (I.1.10-11). He then says, “I, his brother, gain / nothing under him but growth” (I.1.13-14). Given the importance of a proper education to the noble classes, Oliver’s negligence has a serious impact on Orlando’s quality of life. In turn, Oliver says of Orlando, “he’s gentle, never / schooled and yet learned, full of noble device, of all / sorts enchantingly beloved, and indeed so much in / the heart of the world, and especially of my own / people, who best know him, that I am altogether / misprized” (I.1.163-168). Oliver is jealous of Orlando and the natural talent and graces he seems to have, despite Oliver’s negligence.

Unlike the two dukes, who resolve some of their conflict by the end of the play but remain separated, Orlando and Oliver eventually resolve their tensions. When Orlando saves Oliver from a lioness, it precipitates a major change in Oliver’s character, and Oliver becomes a more loving individual, even offering to give up his estate to Orlando. The two end the play on more equal terms, with Oliver married to Celia and Orlando married to Rosalind.