As You Like It Lesson Plan

What do we learn about each pair of siblings (including Rosalind and Celia, though they are cousins) in the first act? How do their relationships compare? How does inheritance and property factor into their relationships?

Both pairs of brothers are enemies, separated from one another by struggles over inheritance. In the case of Orlando and Oliver, the elder brother has inherited everything through primogeniture, leaving the younger frustrated and unable to fulfill his potential. In the case of the dukes, however, the younger brother has overthrown the elder, subverting the law of primogeniture. Despite these differences, there are clearly similarities between the two...