Gender Fluidity
Early modern English comedies almost always provide some commentary on gender and sexuality, and Shakespeare's comedies are perhaps the most cited in this category. In As You Like It, as in Twelfth Night and The Merchant of Venice, a woman disguises herself as a man in order to keep herself safe and manipulate those around her: when Rosalind retreats into the forest, she becomes Ganymede, and gets closer to Orlando through her use of disguise. This cross-dressing suggests that gender is fluid and performative, and the theme is also complicated by the fact that Rosalind would have been played by a boy or young man in drag on the English stage.
Love
As with most Shakespearean comedies, a central theme of As You Like It is love and desire. The play presents a number of romantic pursuits throughout its five acts, culminating with four marriages at the very end. The nature of love, however, is not altogether celebrated in the play; more often, the play offers a critical eye toward the concept of the Petrarchan lover (usually through the character of Orlando) who is so plagued by feelings of desire that it even affects his physical state. Furthermore, while the play ends with four marriages, it does not altogether endorse marriage and heteronormativity as idyllic manifestations of love. Phoebe, for instance, marries Silvius simply because she has promised to do so, suggesting that their relationship is born of duty rather than emotional connection.
Meta-theatricality
Shakespeare is famous for his investment in meta-theatrical commentary, or theater that comments on the nature of theater and performance. As You Like It is no exception, in that it, too, entertains the audience through self-referential dialogue and plot points. Rosalind's disguise as Ganymede, for example, alludes to the cross-dressing convention of the early modern English stage, in which all female roles were played by young men. Furthermore, Jacques utters what is perhaps the most famous quote from the play, which happens to be about the relationship between performance and reality: "All the world's a stage, / And all the men and women merely players" (2.7). Through these references to performance, the play suggests that drama is a natural part of life and vice versa.
Foolishness
The play's often ironic representation of love reveals its deeper investment in the nature of foolishness and folly. Many characters are presented as absurd or ridiculous, including Orlando and his Petrarchan conception of courting. Notably, the character who speaks most wisely about this foolish behavior is Touchstone, the "licensed fool" of the performance. This was a common trope in early modern English theater, in which a self-described "fool" often becomes the voice of reason, offering insight into the other characters' motivations. Ultimately, however, the play does not condemn folly but instead acknowledges it as a central part of humanity that can be celebrated at the same time it is ridiculed.
Philosophy and Idleness
While characters traverse the Forest of Arden, there exists an overwhelming sense of idleness to their behavior: they appear to be simply wandering around, searching for entertainment or simply enjoying refuge from the dangers of the city. This idleness is paired, notably, with an investment in philosophical inquiry; nearly every character in the play expresses an opinion about the nature of life, love, family, and humanity in general. In some ways, this philosophical rumination is presented as an ironic product of idle wandering and idle minds (the play does not actually answer any of the large questions its characters address). However, this idleness is not necessarily condemned in the play, and is, like performance, seen as a healthy and a natural part of life.
Change and Transformation
Despite not featuring any explicit magic or supernatural phenomena, the setting of As You Like It appears to have some sort of transformative power over the characters. When characters enter the Forest of Arden, they experience major changes – some physical, like the transformation of Rosalind into Ganymede, and others psychological, like Oliver and Duke Frederick, who dispel with their malicious behavior. In this way, the play presents the forest as a type of refuge from the pressures and expectations of daily life, in which characters are meant to follow particular rules (regarding gender, inheritance, power, etc.) that can be freely abandoned once they exit the city.
Family and Inheritance
As You Like It features two notable representations of sibling relationships: the first is between Orlando and his oldest brother, Oliver, and the second between Duke Frederick and Duke Senior. Both of these brotherly bonds are markedly dysfunctional, with both Oliver and Duke Frederick perceiving their brothers as enemies for, seemingly, no reason at all. In fact, the only "healthy" familial relationship that seems to exist in the play is between cousins Rosalind and Celia – a detail that suggests how gender influences one's familial bonds. In these various representations of rivalry, the play suggests that the concept of primogeniture (in which the first-born son inherits everything) is problematic in the way it pits siblings against one another. Of course, the play's genre as a comedy means that these conflicts do not last and are resolved by the fifth act.
