As you like it

4th one in Jiahe’s 2021

This story is another great work of Shakespeare. But I don’t say much about it, because I can’t enjoy it when I read it.

The cover of As you like it

You  probably want to know why. And my reason is very simple— it gave me an impression that I am reading a book written by Qiong Yao.

There are so many poems in the book, and it’s inevitable that make you feel confused . I am going to cite a part for you, then you may agree with me.

“It is to be all made of fantasy,    All made of passion , and all made of wishes;                                  All adoration, duty, and observance,                                  All humbleness , all patience, and impatience,                                All purity, all trial, all obedience;      And so am I for Phebe.”

As you can see, this is a love story, too. Orlando is our main male character, who is the youngest son of his father.Before died, his father made a will that Orlando’s elderly brother Oliver should take care of him, and give him a plenty of property. However, Oliver never followed his father’s will, on the opposite, he wanted Orlando could die, therefore he can inherit all the properties which should belong to Orlando. Then he arranged a wrestle game for Orlando, hoping the wrestler would kill Orlando for him.

But he failed, Orlando won the game and escaped to the forest of Arden. Before the wrestle game, he fall in love with Rosalind who’s the daughter of senior Duke of the city in his first sight. And now, the senior Duke was exiled to the forest of Arden. So they encountered each other in the forest.

Celia is the current Duke’s daughter. She was very fond of her cousin Rosalind. Despite her father was willing to exile Rosalind, she kept her as a good companion . After the wrestle game, the current Duke hated Orlando, and ordered Oliver to catch him. Rosalind and Celia can’t endure the current Duke, so that they escaped from the palace, and moved to a farm beside the forest.

Then they met Orlando accidentally in the forest, because Orlando carved a lot of love poems on the trees to show his longing to Rosalind.

Ultimately, Rosalind married to Orlando, Celia married to Oliver, the senior Duke returned to the city and got his properties back.

Another happy ending, even though there’s a lot of parts you can’t connect with common logic. But this is a comedy written by Shakespeare. So I guess maybe it has its unique form, and also need us to improve our language skills then can really enjoy it.

In my opinion, if you have some desire to read masterpieces written by celebrities, then you definitely couldn’t ignore this one. But if you are not good at ancient English and poems, then I suggest that you’d better read some contemporary and modern works. They may improve your English skills more.