As You Like It

One of Shakespeare’s sunniest comedies sends its heroine, Rosalind, out of a treacherous court and into the Forest of Arden, where she takes shelter disguised as a young man named Ganymede. There she encounters Orlando, who has been pinning love poems to the trees in her honor, and sets about schooling him in courtship while hiding that she is the very woman he adores. Around this playful deception Shakespeare gathers a cast of exiles, shepherds, and fools, including the brooding Jaques, whose speech beginning “All the world’s a stage” has outlived the play itself. Wit, disguise, and four weddings carry the story to its close. This free PDF and EPUB edition offers the complete text.