BOOK REVIEW: As You Like It by William Shakespeare

By Berniegourley @berniegourley
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This play tells the tale of Rosalind, the daughter of an exiled Duke whose dominion was usurped by his brother, Fredrick. Rosalind goes into the woods with her best friend - the daughter of Fredrick, Celia - where her father is living in banishment. For a twist, she adopts the disguise of a man. As it happens the [proper] Duke's forest attracts several other visitors in addition to its usual country folk, including the three sons of Sir Rowland de Boys, one of whom - Orlando - falls madly in love with Rosalind (who has by that point disappeared into the guise of a young gentleman.)

This play uses several of the common plot devices of Shakespearean comedies, including: mistaken identity, girls dressed as boys, the love triangle, and letting the audience in on a joke about which the play's characters are kept in the dark. As it's a comedy, you can correctly assume that all works out for the key characters - in fact, things work out quite neatly for everybody. In fact, Rosalind-in-disguise, conducts a scheme that results in a four-way wedding including not only her and Orlando, but also Orlando's brother Oliver to Celia, a shepherd to a shepherdess, and a clown to a wench.

Of course it's good, it's Shakespeare. As for how it compares to the other comedies, I'd put it in the same ballpark as "Much Ado About Nothing" and slightly better than the middle of the pack. However, I have seen that some consider it the best of the comedies. I didn't find it to have the tension of "The Merchant of Venice" or the intrigue of "Tempest" or "Midsummer Night's Dream," but it's clever and has some well-known pieces of writing, probably most famously the "All the world's a stage..." speech. If you haven't read it, get on it.

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