1. The Pastoral Life-In Elizabethan Pastoral romances, life in the country is idealized as simpler, healthier and happier than life in the city. Country natives are simple, hardworking people. City people who come to the country are embraced if they are virtuous, and are converted if they are evil. Although people in the country are exposed to hardships and the often cruel weather, they deal with it with philosophical and humble acceptance.

2. Satire of the Pastoral Life-Shakespeare uses this play to expose the absurdity of the pastoral ideal. Duke Senior goes on and on about how he has come to love his life in Arden, characterizing it as the Garden of Eden, yet he heads back to the city first chance he gets. Shepherds like Corin and William are not just simple, they're downright stupid, and Silvius and Phebe aren't even real shepherds. And who ever heard of raising sheep in a forest where there are also lions?

3. Fortune and Nature-"Nature" according to the Elizabethans referred to the qualities a person was born with. "Fortune" referred to the circumstances a person was born into. Orlando's nature is honest, virtuous and noble, but Fortune has given him an evil older brother who mistreats him. Oliver is jealous and mean, but Fortune has given him wealth and power that, in our view, he doesn't deserve. The same situation is found in the two Dukes.

4. Natural versus Artificial-Artificial behavior is a frequent target of Shakespeare's satire. Touchstone serves the function of presenting the ridiculousness of "courtly" behavior. Courtiers seem to be so sophisticated and civilized, but in reality they are arrogant, deceitful and conniving. Natural people like Corin, William and Audrey, while somewhat dull intellectually, are forthright, honest and hardworking, in contrast to the artificial characters of Silvius and Phebe. The truly noble characters are the ones who are kind and forgiving, regardless of the Socio-economic status they were born into. Rosalind breaks down the artificiality of the conventions of courting, and shows how they do not fit with the realities of life.

5. Order versus Disorder-Elizabethans believed that God established order in the universe, and that all people and things had a place in that order. Whoever disturbed that order committed a sin. Duke Fred upset God's natural order when he stole the throne from his older brother. Oliver upset the order when he refused to fulfill his father's wishes by educating Orlando (thus Oliver is often referred to in the play as "unnatural"). When God's natural order is disrupted, nothing works right. Good, noble characters suffer unfairly, and evil, "unnatural" characters can't enjoy the advantages they've stolen. By the end of this play, as in all Shakespearean comedies, the unnatural characters have recognized their sin and become converted, restoring the natural order.

6. Role Playing-"All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players" (II, vii, 149-150). Jaques' observation, one of the most famous lines in all of Shakespeare, touches on a fundamental truth of human nature: people play a variety of roles in life-student, teacher, child, parent, friend, enemy-and wear a variety of masks and disguises, some for good and noble reasons, some for evil and deceitful reasons. Shakespeare has a male actor play the part of a female character (Rosalind) who is disguised as a man (Ganymede) who is playing the role of a woman (Rosalind). His audience cannot follow that kind of intricate trail without thinking really hard, and that is exactly the point. Shakespeare is asking his audience to think deeply about not just the roles played by his characters, but their own roles and disguises as well. Are the roles we play good roles? Are they played for the right reasons? Did we choose our roles, or allow them to be chosen for us? What are our disguises intended to hide?

In the play, Rosalind uses her role-playing to force Orlando to ask and answer some of these same questions. Not only does she want Orlando to carefully consider his role (and hers) in the relationship, she also wants to make him aware of her expectations. She is in this for the long term, and she wants to make sure he is too. Celia's disguise, on the other hand, has a more mundane purpose-she simply wants to escape the court and her wicked father. Touchstone role-plays to gain intellectual advantage. He pretends to be a fool, but aspires only to be the cranial superior of every person he meets. Silvius appears to be madly in love with Phebe-is he really, or is he in love with the idea of love, playing the role he thinks he is supposed to play? Duke Senior appears to be happy in Arden-is he really, or is he pretending to be? Who is he role-playing for, and why?

7. Types of Love-The Elizabethans had generation gaps just like we do today. The older generation supported the institution of arranged marriages, believing that love would be the result of marriage, not the justification for it, while the younger generation wanted to make their own choices based on their personal feelings. In this play, Shakespeare presents his perspective on the issue by presenting different types of love.

a. Romantic Love-The essence of romantic love in literature is that it must remain unrequited. The lovers are separated by distance, class, fate or whatever, and never fulfill the relationship. This type is seen in Silvius and Phebe, but clearly ridiculed in the way they are presented.
b. Sexual Love-No interest in developing a relationship here. There are needs to be met, and marriage is a socially acceptable method of meeting those needs. Touchstone clearly does not see in Audrey and intellectual equal, but that aint what he's looking for.
c. Friendship Love-true friends feel each other's pain and share each other's joy. There is no envy, but plenty of self-sacrifice, as when Celia leaves everything she knows to accompany Rosalind. This type of relationship, referred to by Shakespeare as love, should not be confused with the other types.
d. Balanced Love-Rosalind and Orlando represent the middle ground, the ultimate and appropriate combination of the other three types. They were certainly physically drawn to each other, and felt all the joy and excitement of romance, but they went on to establish the groundwork for a long-term relationship that would outlast any sexual attraction, based on the respect and self-sacrifice of true friends.

The test over As You Like It will include the following sections: