INTRODUCTION William Shakespeare’s As You Like It is a masterful pastoral comedy. It delicately weaves themes of love, identity, and transformation by contrasting two worlds—the city and the country, the court and the forest. Set at the dawn of the 17th century, the play explores how characters navigate social hierarchies, familial conflicts, and romantic entanglements. They find refuge in the liberating Forest of Arden, a symbolic “green world” where societal norms are suspended, and new possibilities for self-discovery arise. The...