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Cover of As You Like It

As You Like It

by William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

  • Free to read
  • 2 hours to read
  • Reading level: 6th grade

"As You Like It" by William Shakespeare is a pastoral comedy written in 1599. When Rosalind flees her uncle's court to escape persecution, she seeks refuge in the Forest of Arden with her cousin Celia. There they encounter an array of memorable characters, including the melancholy Jaques, who delivers one of Shakespeare's most famous speeches. In this verdant setting, Rosalind navigates disguise, wit, and the complexities of love, while the forest becomes a stage for exploring life's hardships and joys.

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  • Comedy plays
  • Fathers and daughters
  • Exiles
  • Pastoral drama

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Executive Director's Notes:

In addition to the notes below, and so you will *NOT* think all the spelling errors introduced by the printers of the time have been corrected, here are the first few lines of Hamlet, as they are presented herein:

Barnardo. Who's there?
Fran. Nay answer me: Stand & vnfold
your selfe

Bar. Long liue the King

As I understand it, the printers often ran out of certain words or letters they had often packed into a "cliche". . .this is the original meaning of the term cliche. . .and thus, being unwilling to unpack the cliches, and thus you will see some substitutions that look very odd. . .such as the exchanges of u for v, v for u, above. . .and you may wonder why they did it this way, presuming Shakespeare did not actually write the play in this manner. . . .

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About this edition

This free edition of As You Like It by William Shakespeare comes from Project Gutenberg eBook #2244, released 2000-07-01. It is in the public domain in the United States, so you can read it here in full at no cost, on any phone, tablet or computer. Genre: Plays/Films/Dramas, Classics of Literature, British Literature.

Other editions: eBook #1523 (most read), eBook #1121, eBook #1786.

Summary provided by Project Gutenberg (automatically generated).

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