Animals
Animal imagery abounds in As You Like It, firstly because of the wooded setting but also because of the importance of animal metaphors to the larger themes of the play. References to deer appear over and over again, which serve as allusions to the "sport" of love (it was a common early modern English trope to compare the pursuit of a beloved to that of a hunter). Animals can also indicate danger or anxiety, as in the case of the she-snake and she-lion who attack Oliver, or the numerous references to wearing "horns" – a euphemism for becoming a cuckold.
Roses
Rose imagery appears most frequently is association with Rosalind, whose name is often shortened to "Rose" by her cousin, Celia, or Orlando, who perceives his beloved as a perfect flower. However, the rose is also the perfect image of love's paradoxical nature, as Touchstone points out that roses might smell sweet but that they often also have sharp thorns that can wound.
The Stage
More so than other self-referential Shakespeare plays, As You Like It features a number of elaborate descriptions of the stage. This "stage" is a metaphorical one, of course, as Jacques and other characters argue that life is itself a performance. However, for early modern audiences watching the play, the figurative stage the characters so frequently describe would have been indivisible from the one on which they themselves were standing.
The Forest
Throughout the play, the greenery and relative isolation of the Forest of Arden is presented in stark contrast to the court, especially from the perspective of Duke Senior. For Senior and the other characters who retreat into the forest, the setting becomes a place of freedom, vibrancy, and possibility, set against the drab and anxious background of the city and the courtly power struggles that occur there.
