As You Like It

''We that are true lovers run into strange capers.''Four centuries after its publication in the Folio, As You Like It''s capacity to entertain and instruct remains evergreen. This edition provides a friendly yet authoritative introduction to the play, upholding it as a crowning expression of the Elizabethan Renaissance while underscoring its appeal to twenty-first century readers as Shakespeare''s most intrepid exploration of gender, sexuality, and the environment. Its double-cross-dressed heroine dominates the plot (and their love interest Orlando) to conduct a masterclass in gender fluidity. The melancholic Jaques unmasks the fundamental theatricality of existence and questions humanity''s prerogative to displace and harm other species. Through the clown Touchstone, the comedy tests the possibility that we might laugh ourselves wise, especially when we learn to laugh at ourselves. In the Forest of Arden, we encounter Shakespeare''s most beguiling vision of the natural world as a real