As You Like It Story Timeline | Shakespeare Learning Zone

Timeline

The timeline below shows some of the most important moments from each act.

Act 1

Court

Key Scene

Orlando clashes with Oliver

Orlando and Oliver argue. Orlando is angry that his brother has been mistreating him since their father died and has entered a wrestling match at court to try and escape. Oliver speaks to the man Orlando will be fighting and says that he would just as rather he ‘break his neck as his finger’.

Investigate the opening scene

Orlando wrestles at court

Celia tries to persuade Rosalind to ‘be merry’ rather than thinking about her father, Duke Senior, who has been banished from court and sent away. Orlando then arrives to wrestle and wins the match. When he reveals his identity as the youngest son of Sir Rowland de Bois, Duke Frederick is furious.

Rosalind loves Orlando

As she leaves, Rosalind gives Orlando a chain to wear around his neck. Orlando is warned that his brother Oliver is plotting against him and Orlando decides to run away into the forest.

Rosalind is banished

Duke Frederick banishes Rosalind, saying he does not trust her because she is her ‘father’s daughter’. Celia warns her father that if he banishes Rosalind, he 'pronounce[s] that sentence then on’ her as well, because she cannot live without Rosalind.

Key Scene

Rosalind and Celia flee

Rosalind and Celia decide to run away into the forest together, taking the jester Touchstone with them to raise their spirits. They agree that it would be best if Rosalind disguises herself as a young man. She decides to call herself Ganymede, and Celia pretends to be a peasant called Aliena.

Investigate Rosalind and Celia's plan

View Act 1 scene-by-scene breakdown

Act 2

Forest

Brothers in exile

Duke Senior talks with the loyal lords who have gone with him into the Forest of Arden about how much better this life is than the 'painted pomp' of ‘the envious court’. He suggests they go hunting but then reflects on how harsh this is for the natural world they’re in. A lord agrees with him, saying that ‘the melancholy Jaques grieves at that’. Duke Senior asks to be brought to Jaques so he can hear him speak ‘full of matter’.

Foolish runaways

At the palace, Duke Frederick discovers that Celia, Rosalind and Touchstone are ‘missing’, and is advised that ‘wherever they are gone, that youth [Orlando] is surely in their company’. Frederick summons Oliver and tasks him with bringing his brother Orlando back to court.

Adam helps Orlando

Orlando's family servant Adam warns him about his brother. Adam vows to serve Orlando and promises him all his savings.

Ganymede and Aliena in the forest

Rosalind and Celia are both in their disguises. They are travelling through the forest with Touchstone and are exhausted. Corin then appears, talking to the lovesick Silvius. Corin tells Silvius he has fallen in love a thousand times but Silvius tells him he can't have loved them as ‘heartily’ as he loves Phoebe.

Ganymede and Aliena buy a home

Touchstone attracts Corin’s attention and Rosalind, disguised as Ganymede, asks if he knows where they can ‘rest’ and ‘feed’. Corin explains that the cottage, flock and pastures are all for sale. Rosalind says they will buy the land, and Celia agrees. Corin then takes them away to give them food and sort out the sale.

Adam struggles

Adam is so hungry he faints and Orlando promises to ‘bear’ him ‘to some shelter’, saying ‘Thou shalt not die for lack of a dinner, if there live anything in this desert.’

Jaques wants to be a Fool

Jaques describes how he met a fool in the forest and remembers a conversation he had with Touchstone. He tells the duke that he is also ‘ambitious for a motley coat’ and longs to be a fool.

Orlando meets the banished Duke

Orlando rushes into the band of lords who are with Duke Senior and orders them to ‘eat no more’. Duke Senior asks whether he is upset or just rude but Orlando explains he ‘almost die[s] for food’, so the duke invites him to ‘sit and feed’.

View Act 2 scene-by-scene breakdown

Act 3

Forest

Oliver must find Orlando

Oliver reports to Duke Frederick that he hasn’t seen Orlando since their recent argument. Duke Frederick tells him to ‘find out [his] brother, wheresoe’er he is’ or he will be banished. The duke seizes all Oliver’s lands and belongings until he can hand over Orlando.

Verses in the Forest

Orlando can't stop thinking about Rosalind and how much he loves her. He starts hanging love poems about her on the trees in the forest, saying ‘O Rosalind, these trees shall be my books’. Rosalind and Orlando then meet again and Rosalind, in disguise as Ganymede, offers to cure Orlando of his love-sickness.

Touchstone will marry Audrey

Touchstone and Audrey walk through the forest, while Jaques listens to them. They plan to marry there and then.

A love triangle

Silvius begs Phoebe not to ‘scorn’ him, but she tells him to ‘come not […] near’ her. Rosalind appears, dressed as Ganymede, and confronts Phoebe for being so unfair on Silvius. Rosalind soon realises that Phoebe has fallen for her, as Ganymede, because of his cruelty, and warns her directly: ‘Do not fall in love with me, For I am falser than vows made in wine.’ When they leave, Phoebe resolves to write a letter to Ganymede, which Silvius will deliver.

View Act 3 scene-by-scene breakdown

Act 4

Forest

Key Scene

Celia ‘marries’ Rosalind to Orlando

Orlando arrives late for his meeting with Ganymede. In her disguise, Rosalind tells him off and orders him to practise wooing her, pretending that Rosalind will not accept him as a lover. Rosalind gets Celia to stage a fake wedding for them and Orlando then leaves, promising to come back.

Investigate a lesson in love

Hunting in the Forest

Jaques is in the forest with some of the lords who support Duke Senior. One of them has killed a deer so they walk through the forest singing a hunting song, to present the deer ‘to the duke like a Roman conqueror’.

Phoebe’s Love letter

Rosalind worries that Orlando is late for his lesson and then Silvius arrives with Phoebe's love letter to Ganymede. Rosalind tells Silvius off for being in love with ‘such a woman’ as Phoebe, and orders him to tell Phoebe that if she really loves Ganymede then she must love Silvius.

Oliver brings news

Oliver is in the forest, looking for Ganymede and Aliena. He reports that Orlando saved his life and that they are now reconciled but Orlando is injured and is sorry he missed his lesson. Rosalind is upset and faints at the thought of his injuries.

View Act 4 scene-by-scene breakdown

Act 5

Forest

Audrey will marry Touchstone

Touchstone tells Audrey that there is a young man called William in the forest who ‘lays claim’ to her. When William enters Touchstone questions, mocks and threatens him until Audrey tells him to leave.

Orlando blesses Oliver

Oliver reveals to his brother Orlando that he has fallen in love with Aliena and that the two of them want to marry. Orlando gives his blessing.

Key Scene

Ganymede to the rescue

Orlando tells Ganymede he is longing for the real Rosalind. Ganymede tells Orlando that ‘he’ is a magician, and will make it possible for Orlando to marry Rosalind the next day. When Silvius and Phoebe arrive, Rosalind says that they will both be married tomorrow as well, along with Touchstone and Audrey, and Aliena and Oliver.

Investigate What 'tis to love

Ganymede becomes Rosalind

Orlando, Oliver, Phoebe, Silvius, Audrey, Touchstone and Rosalind and Celia (as Ganymede and Aliena) all gather with Duke Senior and his men. Ganymede and Aliena leave to go and 'get' Rosalind and return, without their disguises, as Rosalind and Celia. Duke Senior rejoices to see his daughter and niece, and marries Orlando and Rosalind, Oliver to Celia, Touchstone to Audrey and a disappointed Phoebe to Silvius.

A converted Duke

News arrives that Duke Frederick has found religion, and is restoring the dukedom to the rightful Duke Senior. Everyone joins together to dance in celebration, and then Rosalind speaks directly to the audience.

View Act 5 scene-by-scene breakdown