View source for As You Like It

{{Infobox play
| name       = As You Like It
| image      = First Folio, Shakespeare - 0203.jpg
| image_size = 220px
| caption    = The first page of ''As You Like It'', from the [[First Folio]]
| writer     = [[William Shakespeare]]
| sources    = ''Rosalynde, Euphues Golden Legacy'' (1590) by [[Thomas Lodge]] 
| characters = Rosalind<br />Orlando<br />Jacques<br />Touchstone
| setting    = Forest of Arden
| premiere   = 
| place      = [[London, England]]
| orig_lang  = English
| subject    = 
| genre      = [[Comedy]]
}}
'''''As You Like It''''' is a [[Play (theatre)|play]] by [[William Shakespeare]]. It is a [[comedy]]. 

The play was [[write|written]] in 1599 or early 1600. Shakespeare rarely [[invent]]ed his own plays. He based his plays on [[story|stories]] by other writers. The story he used for ''As You Like It'' was ''Rosalynde, Euphues Golden Legacy'' (1590) by [[Thomas Lodge]]. 

''As You Like It'' may have been first [[performance|performed]] in 1603. This is not certain though.  The play was first [[publish]]ed in 1623 in the [[First Folio]], a collection of all of Shakespeare's plays. 

''As You Like It'' tells the story of a young woman named Rosalind. She has been [[banish]]ed from her uncle's court. Her uncle does not like her because she is gentle, beautiful, witty, and smart. Rosalind decides to live in the Forest of Arden with her cousin Celia and the court [[jester]] Touchstone. She dresses like a boy for self-protection. Several scenes involve Rosalind and the people who live in the forest. She is finally united with her sweetheart Orlando.    

Some people think the play is not as good as Shakespeare's other plays. Other people think it is a very good play. One of the great speeches in the play begins "[[All the world's a stage]]". 

The play is a favourite with theatre-goers. Rosalind, Touchstone, and a sour old man named Jacques are three of Shakespeare's greatest [[Fictional character|characters]]. The play has been adapted to a [[radio play]], to a [[television]] show, and to [[musical theatre]]. A [[movie]] version of the play made in 1936 stars [[Laurence Olivier]].

==References==
* [http://www.william-shakespeare.info/shakespeare-play-as-you-like-it.htm As You Like It]

== Other websites ==
{{wikiquote}}
{{Commons category}}
* Text of [http://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Library/plays/AYL.html ''As You Like It''], fully edited by [[David Bevington]], as well as original-spelling texts, facsimiles of the 1623 Folio text, and other resources, at the [http://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/ Internet Shakespeare Editions]{{lit-stub}}


[[Category:Plays by William Shakespeare]]