"As You Like It". Study Questions

General questions

  1. What are the two main settings of the play?
  2. How does Orlando show he is in love?
  3. Jaques is a conventional stereotype of the melancholic in Renaissance literature, a thoughtful, moral, serious type with a satiric wit and a tendency to moroseness.
  4. Touchstone represents another Shakespearean convention: the court jester as wise Fool, who speaks truth through apparently nonsensical utterances.
  5. Examine his "All the world's a stage" speech. What are its main points?
  6. Evaluate the play's conclusion(s). Have the issues (problems/desires) introduced and represented been resolved/fulfilled?

ACT 1

  1. What is Orlando's complaint against his brother Oliver?
  2. What has happened at court? Where is the old Duke now? Where is his daughter?
  3. Why did Charles the wrestler come to see Oliver? What is Oliver's response?
  4. Why does Oliver so dislike Orlando?
  5. Why is Rosalind sad? How does Celia try to cheer her up?
  6. What happens in the match between Charles and Orlando?
  7. Why is Duke Frederick displeased when Orlando identifies himself?
  8. Why does Duke Frederick banish Rosalind?
  9. Why will Celia go with Rosalind? Where will they go? How will they be disguised? What names will they use? Who will go with them?

ACT 2

  1. How well is Duke Senior responding to exile in the forest? What bothers him about hunting deer there?
  2. What is Duke Frederick's response to the runaways?
  3. How "original" is the complaining of Silvius for Phoebe? How "realistic" does Silvius seem as a shepherd?
  4. Why does Jaques say he avoids Duke Senior?

ACT 3

  1. What is Touchstone's response to country life? How does it differ from Corin's?
  2. What has Rosalind/Ganymede found on the trees? Does she know who put it there?
  3. What happens when Celia/Aliena reveals that the lover is Orlando?
  4. How does Rosalind/Ganymede propose to cure Orlando's love? How does Orlando respond to the idea?
  5. What is Jaques' response to the proposed marriage of Audrey and Touchstone?
  6. What kind of love is Touchstone most interested in? Why does he choose Audrey?
  7. How does Phoebe respond to Rosalind/Ganymede?

ACT 4

  1. Analyze Rosalind's strategy with Orlando. Describe her methods/aims.
  2. How, in general, would you characterize Rosalind/Ganymede's views about love?
  3. What message has Phoebe sent to Rosalind/Ganymede via Silvius?

ACT 5

  1. How does Orlando respond to Oliver's love of Celia/Aliena? How does Rosalind respond to his new seriousness?
  2. What compacts has Rosalind/Ganymede made with the others?
  3. What news does Jaques de Boys bring to the group?