2 h 37 minAudiobook9 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 2 h 37 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if hiding who you are gives you the freedom to speak your heart?
In William Shakespeare’s five-act comedy As You Like It, a harsh court gives way to the Forest of Arden. Banished Rosalind dresses as a young man called Ganymede, with her loyal cousin Celia beside her. Away from court, her disguise offers more than shelter: it lets her speak freely and test whether Orlando’s love is real.
Orlando faces his brother’s cruelty, while Rosalind must explore love without revealing herself. Around them, the fool Touchstone mocks pretence, the melancholy Jaques studies human folly, and shepherds stumble through desires of their own. From the court’s wrestling match to Jaques’s speech on the seven ages, the play mixes quick talk, songs, and questions about how people change.
What you’ll discover
- Rosalind takes the lead Follow a quick-witted heroine who uses disguise to question love and claim room to act.
- A forest beyond court Enter Arden, where exiles find shelter and distance from the places where power sits.
- Love loses its dignity Watch lovers grow foolish, tender, and confused as desire tangles their lives together.
- Fools with sharp eyes Meet Touchstone and Jaques, whose contrasting humour exposes pretence and probes human behaviour.
- Words made for play Enjoy Rosalind and Celia’s quick jokes, forest songs, and conversations that turn expectations upside down.
Who will love it
You will love this play if you enjoy sparkling dialogue, disguise, teasing love stories, and songs. It suits anyone who likes a comedy with real feeling underneath.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A cheated younger son decides to rebel
- A wrestling match changes two lives
- Banished from court, the cousins choose freedom
- The forest offers shelter, gloom, and kindness
- Rosalind as Ganymede offers a cure for love
- Other lovers in Arden mirror and mock the main pair
- Court and country are weighed and neither wins
- Disguise, play, and song shape how the story is told
Who’s who
- RosalindThe banished Duke's daughter, quick and teasing, who flees to Arden dressed as a boy called Ganymede and tests the love of Orlando.
- OrlandoThe youngest son of Sir Rowland de Boys, wronged by his brother, who wrestles for his future and falls in love at once.
- CeliaDuke Frederick's daughter, who gives up her father's court to stay beside her cousin and travels as the poor Aliena.
- TouchstoneThe court fool, who goes with the cousins into the forest and courts the country girl Audrey with wit and mock learning.
- JaquesA melancholy lord in the exiled Duke's company, who loves sad songs and sharp comment and longs for a fool's freedom.
- OliverOrlando's elder brother, who hates him from envy and plots his harm, and who pursues him into the forest.
- Duke SeniorThe banished Duke, Rosalind's father, who lives in Arden with loyal lords and finds hardship a better teacher than the court.
- PhoebeA proud shepherdess who scorns the shepherd Silvius, and who then falls for the harsh young Ganymede.
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- The same book in bigger, clearer type, once the book texts are online.
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- Read by Lucas Linden, complete. It opens once the recording is online.
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- The key ideas in about 9 minutes, to read today.
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- Hardcover
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- Large print hardcover
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As You Like It
by William Shakespeare · 1623
Two cousins flee a tyrant duke for the Forest of Arden, with Rosalind disguised as a boy for safety on their journey.
Medium level2–5 hours to readEspañol
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In short
Picture a young man with a thousand crowns to his name. His brother feeds him with the farmhands, while the family horses eat better and are trained better than he is.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A cheated younger son decides to rebel
The play opens in an orchard, where Orlando complains to his old servant Adam. Their father left Orlando only a thousand crowns and told the eldest son, Oliver, to give the boy a proper education. Oliver has done the opposite.
Orlando says he is kept at home like an ox. Oliver's horses are better trained than he is, and he eats with the farmhands. Oliver strides in, and the quarrel turns physical. Orlando seizes him by the throat and demands either the training a gentleman deserves or his small inheritance, so that he can make his own fortune. Oliver calls old Adam a dog.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 9 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1623
- Language
- Español
- Reading time
- 1 h 40 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Shakespeare, William. As You Like It. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/as-you-like-it.
Shakespeare, W. (2026). As you like it. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/as-you-like-it (Original work published 1623)
Shakespeare, William. As You Like It. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/as-you-like-it.
@book{shakespeare2026as,
author = {Shakespeare, William},
title = {As You Like It},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/as-you-like-it},
note = {First published 1623}
}
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What is As You Like It about?
It tells of Rosalind and her cousin Celia, who flee a jealous duke and go to the Forest of Arden. There Rosalind, dressed as a boy, meets Orlando and teases him about love while other couples tangle.
Why does Rosalind dress as a man in As You Like It?
Rosalind and Celia fear for their safety on the road, since beauty draws thieves. Rosalind, being tall, decides to dress as a young man called Ganymede, and Celia travels as a poor girl named Aliena.
What does All the world is a stage mean?
These words come from Jaques, who describes life as a play in which each person plays many parts across seven ages, from infancy to old age. It is one of the best-known speeches in English.
The author
William Shakespeare
1564–1616 · English playwright and poet
William Shakespeare was an English playwright and poet, born in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1564. He worked in London as an actor and playwright. He wrote plays, including Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, and Macbeth, and published sonnets in 1609. He died in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1616.
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