ACT I

SCENE I. Orchard of Oliver's house.

NARRATOR: Orlando, the youngest son of the recently-deceased Sir Roland de Boys,
is treated harshly by his eldest brother, Oliver. 

ORLANDO: Adam, as far as I can remember, my father left me an inheritance, but

Oliver keeps it hidden from me. The way Oliver treats me is really harsh. The spirit of
my father, which I believe is within me, begins to mutinyl against this servitude. I will no
longer bear it, despite the fact that I have no way of avoiding it.

ADAM: My master, your brother, is coming.

ORLANDO: Go apart, Adam, and thou shalt hear how he will shake me up.

Oliver enters

NARRATOR: Orlando and his brother Oliver had a conversation, which did not go well
because Oliver considers Orlando as a villain. Bitter and angry, Orlando challenges the
court wrestler, Charles, to a fight. When Oliver learns of the fight, Oliver tells Charles to
injure Orlando if possible. 

Duke Frederick has recently deposed his brother, Duke Senior, as head of the court.
But he allowed Senior's daughter, Rosalind, to remain, and she and Celia, the new
Duke's daughter, watched the wrestling competition. During the match, Rosalind falls in
love with Orlando, who beats Charles. Rosalind gives Orlando a chain to wear; in turn,
he is overcome with love.

CELIA: Sweet cousin, let us go ahead and express our gratitude and encouragement to
him.  (walked towards Orlando)
My father's rough and envious disposition sticks me at heart. Sir, you have well
deserved. If you do keep your promises in love but justly, as you have exceeded all
promises, your mistress shall be happy.

ROSALIND: Gentleman, (Giving him a chain from her neck). Wear this for me, one out
of suits with fortune, that could give more, but that her hand lacks means. Shall we go,
coz?

CELIA: Fare you well, fair gentleman.

ORLANDO: Can I not say, I thank you? My better parts are all thrown down, and that
which here stands up. Is but a quintain, a mere lifeless block.
ROSALIND: He calls us back: my pride fell with my fortunes. I'll ask him what he would
do. Did you call, sir? Sir, you have wrestled well and overthrown more than your
enemies.

CELIA: Will you go, coz?

ROSALIND:
Have with you. Fare you well.

Exeunt ROSALIND and CELIA

SCENE III. A room in the palace.
NARRATOR: Duke Frederick couldn't take seeing his enemies' children get along so
well, so he made Rosalind disappear by claiming that she was a child of a traitor and
that she, too, must vanish like his father.

DUKE FREDERICK: Mistress, dispatch you as quickly as possible and bring you to our
court.

ROSALIND: Me, Uncle?

DUKE FREDERICK: Yes, You! All traitors act in the same way.  If their purgation
consisted just of words.  They're as pure as the grace itself. Let it suffice to say that I do
not trust thee. 

ROSALIND: I'm not a traitor because of your mistrust. Tell me where the probability is
based.

NARRATOR: However, Duke Frederick insisted that Rosalind must be exiled because
her father was a traitor. 

Celia said that she cannot live without her cousin that’s why she said she must be exiled
too. 

CELIA: Dear sovereign, hear me speak.

DUKE FREDERICK: Celia, we stay'd her for your sake, else had she and her father
ranged along.

CELIA: I’m not saying that she must stay. I’m convinced that she is a traitor, but we’re
just the same. We slept together, we ate together, and stayed together.

DUKE FREDERICK:  People pity her when you speak to them.  She takes your name
away from you, and you are a fool.  And you'll shine brighter and appear more virtuous
as a result when she is no longer here. My fate is set in stone and cannot be changed. 
Which I have passed on to her,  she has been expelled.

CELIA: Pronounce that sentence then on me, my liege I cannot live out of her
company.

DUKE FREDERICK: You are a fool! You, niece, are responsible for the following:
In my honor, if you overstay your welcome and you die in the glory of my message if
you go along with her.
Exeunt DUKE FREDERICK and Lords

NARRATOR: Rosalind dressed up as a young boy named Ganymede, while Celia

dressed up as Ganymede's younger sister, Aliena. They went to the forest of Exile with
Duke Frederick’s jester, Touchstone.
ACT 2
SCENE IV. The Forest of Arden.
NARRATOR: Ganymede, Aliena, and Touchstone are still walking through the forest.
They are all exhausted. 

ROSALIND: Oh Jupiter! My spirits are exhausted.

TOUCHSTONE: If my legs weren't tired, I couldn't care less about my spirits.

CELIA: Please bear with me, I'm sorry I can't go much further.

TOUCHSTONE: For my part, I had rather bear with you than bear you, yet I should bear
no cross if I did bear you, because I believe you don't have any money in your bag.

ROSALIND: Well, this is the forest of Arden.

Enter CORIN and SILVIUS

NARRATOR: Corin and Silvius are talking about love until they leave while Ganymede,
Aliena, and Touchstone are listening. 

Ganymede saw a house while they were walking and they decided to stay there.

SCENE VI. The forest.

NARRATOR: Adam and Orlando are walking in the forest of Arden.

ADAM: Dear master, I can go no further. O, I die for food! I'm going to lay down here,
and I'm going to measure out my grave. Farewell, benevolent master.

ORLANDO: You must lay there and I will go and find some food.

NARRATOR: While Orlando and Adam are talking  a group of people walks by on
where they are and Orlando asks them for food by pointing his sword to Duke Senior.
Even if Orlando waved his sword at them, Duke Senior fed them because he
understood it was because he was hungry. After that they asked each other's name.
ACT 3
SCENE II. The forest.
NARRATOR: Orlando enters with a paper and he posts it on every tree that he sees.

ORLANDO: (posting the letter)

        “Hang there, my verse, in witness of my love:
And thou, thrice-crowned queen of night, survey
With thy chaste eye, from thy pale sphere above,
Thy huntress' name that my full life doth sway.
O Rosalind! these trees shall be my books
And in their barks my thoughts I'll character;
That every eye which in this forest looks
Shall see thy virtue witnessed everywhere.
Run, run, Orlando; carve on every tree
The fair, the chaste and unexpressive she.”

Exit

NARRATOR: Rosalind was wandering when she noticed a letter on the tree and
opened it to read it. While walking she saw again a letter and she read it again”

ROSALIND: (reading another letter that she saw while walking home)
        “From the east to western Ind,
No jewel is like Rosalind.
Her worth, being mounted on the wind,
Throughout the world bears Rosalind.
All the pictures fairest lined
Are but black to Rosalind.
Let no fair be kept in mind
But the fair of Rosalind.”

TOUCHSTONE: I'll rhyme you so eight years together, dinners and suppers and
sleeping-hours excepted: it is the right butter-women's rank to market.

ROSALIND
Out, fool!

NARRATOR: Touchstone also reads the letter that he also saw while wandering
in the forest. After their conversation, Celia enters while reading a letter too.

ROSALIND: Peace! Here comes my sister, reading: stand aside.

CELIA: (Reads)
 Why should this be a desert?
For it is unpeopled? No:
Tongues I'll hang on every tree,
That shall civil sayings show:
Some, how brief the life of man
Runs his erring pilgrimage,
That the stretching of a span
Buckles in his sum of age;
Some, of violated vows
'Twixt the souls of friend and friend:
But upon the fairest boughs,
Or at every sentence end,
Will I Rosalinda write,
Teaching all that read to know
The quintessence of every sprite
Heaven would in little show.
Therefore Heaven Nature charged
That one body should be fill'd
With all graces wide-enlarged:
Nature presently distill'd
Helen's cheek, but not her heart,
Cleopatra's majesty,
Atalanta's better part,
Sad Lucretia's modesty.
Thus Rosalind of many parts
By heavenly synod was devised,
Of many faces, eyes and hearts,
To have the touches dearest prized.
Heaven would that she these gifts should have,
And I to live and die her slave.

NARRATOR: When Celia is left with Rosalind she asked:

CELIA: Ganymede, did these verses reach your ears?

ROSALIND: Yes I heard them all and some of them I already heard them twice.

CELIA: That doesn’t really matter. I saw the one who posted them on trees. 

ROSALIND: Is it a man?

CELIA: Yes and he has a chain, that you once wore, about his neck. 

ROSALIND: Is it Orlando?

CELIA: Orlando.
NARRATOR: And with that they continue their conversation talking about him. 

NARRATOR: Orlando and Jaques are talking.

JAQUES: Rosalind is your love's name?

ORLANDO: Yes, just.

JAQUES: I do not like her name.

ORLANDO: There was no thought of pleasing you when she was christened.

JAQUES: What stature is she of?

ORLANDO: Just as high as my heart.

NARRATOR: When Ganymede and Celia saw Orlando with Jaques at the forest,
Ganymede planned to talk to him about the letters that she saw. 

Exit JAQUES

NARRATOR: They waited until Jaques left Orlando before they walked towards
him.

ROSALIND: Hey forester! What time is it?

ORLANDO:  There is no clock in the forest, so should you ask me what time it is?

ROSALIND: Then there’s no true lover in the forest.

ORLANDO: Why not swift foot of time?

ROSALIND: I'll tell you sir, time moves at different speeds and with different
people.

ORLANDO: Are you native of this place?

ROSALIND: Where she is lit, she lives like the cony you see. 

ORLANDO:  Your accent is something finer than you could purchase in a

dwelling.

ROSALIND: I've heard that a lot, but it was an elderly religious uncle of mine who
taught me how to speak.
ORLANDO: Can you remember any of the principal evils that he laid to the charge
of women?

ROSALIND: There were no leaders; they were all the same.

NARRATOR: They continue to talk about until Ganymede told Orlando about the
letters that she saw in each tree. She said that the man who posts it is love-
shaked.

ORLANDO: I am “he” that is so love-shaked. I pray you tell me your remedy.

ROSALIND: You don't show any of my uncle's scars. He taught me how to

recognize a man in love, and I'm confident you're not a prisoner in that cage of
rushes. 

ORLANDO: What were his marks?

NARRATOR: Ganymede described all the marks and he doesn’t have any of it. 

ORLANDO: Fair youth, I wish I could make thee believe I love.

ROSALIND: I believe it. You must tell her that you love her and I'm sure she will
believe in you. Now tell me, are you ‘he’ that hangs the verses on the trees,
wherein Rosalind is so admired?
ORLANDO: I swear to thee, youngster, that I am that he, that unhappy he, by the
white hand of Rosalind.

ROSALIND: But are you so much in love as your rhymes speak?

ORLANDO: Neither rhyme nor reason can express how much.

NARRATOR: Ganymede said that love is merely a madness and ”he” also said
that the reason why they are not so punished and cured is, that the lunacy is so
ordinary that the wipers are in love too. Orlando asks Ganymede if “he” already
cures any. Rosalind said that yes he already cured some, but Orlando said that he
is incurable. Then Rosalind made a deal.

ROSALIND: If I can cure you, you must call me Rosalind and come to see me
everyday and to cote and woo me.

ORLANDO: Now, by the faith of my love, I will. Tell me where it is.

ROSALIND: Go with me to it and I'll show it to you.

ORLANDO: With all my heart, good youth.

ROSALIND: You must call me Rosalind. Will you come with me, sister?

Exeunt

NARRATOR: And then Ganymede with Aliena and Orlando went to the the house
of Ganymede.
ACT 4
NARRATOR: Orlando arrives an hour late for his lesson in love. As agreed, he
addresses Ganymede as if the young man were his beloved Rosalind and asks her to
forgive his tardiness. Rosalind refuses, insisting that a true lover could not bear to
squander

ORLANDO: Good day and happiness, dear Rosalind!

ROSALIND: Why, how now, Orlando! where have you been all this while? You a lover!
you serve me such another trick, never come in my sight more.

ORLANDO: My fair Rosalind, I come within an hour of my promise. Pardon me, dear
Rosalind.
NARRATOR: She goes on to suggest that Orlando’s love is worse than a snail’s, for
though a snail comes slowly, he carries his house on his back. Eventually, though,
Rosalind relents and invites Orlando to woo her. The lesson begins: when he says that
he desires to kiss her before speaking, she suggests that he save his kiss for the
moment when conversation lags. What, Orlando worries, should he do if his kiss is
denied? Rosalind reassures him that a denied kiss would only give him “new matter” to
discuss with his lover

ROSALIND: Come, woo me, woo me, for now I am in a holiday humour and like enough
to consent. What would you say to me now, an I were your very very Rosalind?

ORLANDO: I would kiss before I spoke.

ROSALIND: Nay, you were better speak first, and when you were gravelled for lack of
matter, you might take occasion to kiss.

ORLANDO: How if the kiss be denied?

ROSALIND: Then she puts you to entreaty, and there begins new matter.

ORLANDO: Who could be out, being before his beloved mistress?

ROSALIND: Marry, that should you, if I were your mistress, or I should think my honesty
ranker than my wit.

ORLANDO: What, of my suit?

ROSALIND: Not out of your apparel, and yet out of your suit.
NARRATOR: When Rosalind refuses his affections, Orlando claims he will die. She
responds that, despite the poet’s romantic imagination, no man in the entire history of
the world has died from a love-related cause
ROSALIND: Am not I your Rosalind?

ORLANDO: take some joy to say you are, because I would be talking of her.

ROSALIND: Well in her person I say I will not have you.

ORLANDO: Then in mine own person I die.

ROSALIND: men have died from time to time and worms have eaten them, but not for
love.

NARRATOR: Rosalind then changes her mood, assuming a “more coming-on

disposition”. She accepts and returns Orlando’s declarations of love and urges Celia to
play the part of a priest and marry them.

ROSALIND: Come, sister, you shall be the priest and marry us. Give me your hand,
Orlando. What do you say, sister?

ORLANDO: Pray thee, marry us.

CELIA: I cannot say the words.

ROSALIND: You must begin, 'Will you, Orlando--'

CELIA: Go to. Will you, Orlando, have to wife this Rosalind?

ORLANDO: I will.

ROSALIND: Ay, but when?

ORLANDO: Why now; as fast as she can marry us.

ROSALIND: Then you must say 'I take thee, Rosalind, for wife.'

ORLANDO: I take thee, Rosalind, for wife.

ROSALIND: I might ask you for your commission; but I do take thee, Orlando, for my
husband: there's a girl goes before the priest; and certainly a woman's thought runs
before her actions.

ORLANDO: So do all thoughts; they are winged.

ROSALIND: Now tell me how long you would have her after you have possessed her.

ORLANDO: For ever and a day.

NARRATOR: Rosalind reminds Orlando that women often become disagreeable after
marriage, but Orlando does not believe this truism of his love. He begs leave in order to
dine with Duke Senior, promising to return within two hours. Rosalind teasingly
chastises him for parting with her but warns him not to be a minute late in keeping his
promise.

ORLANDO: For these two hours, Rosalind, I will leave thee.

ROSALIND: Alas! dear love, I cannot lack thee two hours.

ORLANDO: I must attend the duke at dinner: by two o'clock I will be with thee again.

ROSALIND: Ay, go your ways, go your ways; I knew what you would prove: my friends
told me as much, and I thought no less: that flattering tongue of yours won me: 'tis but
one cast away, and so, come, death! Two o'clock is your hour?

ORLANDO

Ay, sweet Rosalind. Adios!

ACT 5
NARRATOR: Orlando finds it hard to believe that Oliver has fallen so quickly and so completely in love
with Aliena. Oliver vows that he has and pledges to turn over the entirety of his father’s estate to Orlando
once he and Aliena are married. 

ORLANDO and  OLIVER enter.

ORLANDO: Is it really possible that you could like her right after meeting her? And fall in love
with her after merely seeing her? And as soon as you fall in love, with her, woo her? And as
soon as you woo her, have her accept? And do you really mean to marry her?

OLIVER: Don’t question the foolish haste of it all—or her poverty or our short time together or
the abruptness of my courtship or the abruptness of her consent—but say with me, “I love
Aliena.” And say with me that she loves me. Agree to this match, so we can enjoy each other. It
will be to your advantage, because I’ll leave our father’s house and all his property to you, while
I live and die a shepherd here in the forest.

NARRATOR: Orlando gives his consent and orders a wedding prepared for the following day.
Oliver leaves just as Rosalind, still disguised as Ganymede, arrives.

ORLANDO: You have my consent. You can be married tomorrow if you want. I’ll invite the duke and all
of his followers. Go get Aliena ready—because, look, here comes my Rosalind.

ROSALIND  enters.

ROSALIND: Hello, brother.

OLIVER: And hello to you, fair sister.

He exits.

ROSALIND: Oh, darling Orlando, it’s so hard to see you wearing your heart in a sling.
ORLANDO: Actually, it’s my arm.

ROSALIND: I thought your heart had been wounded by a lion’s claws.

ORLANDO: My heart has been wounded, but by a lady, not a lion.

ROSALIND: Did your brother tell you how well I pretended to faint when he showed me the
handkerchief?

ORLANDO: Yes, and he told me some things that were even more amazing.
ROSALIND: It was as sudden as two rams rushing at each other, and as quick as Julius Caesar's I
came, I saw, I conquered. Your brother and my sister had no sooner met than they gave each other a
good once over; they fell in love. And in this way, degree by degree, they've built a staircase toward
marriage. And they had better climb those stairs immediately, or else they'll end up in bed before they
ought to.

ORLANDO: They’ll be married tomorrow, and I’ll invite the duke to the ceremony. But, oh, it makes
me bitter to look at happiness through another man’s eyes. Tomorrow I’ll be at the depths of my misery
thinking about the happiness my brother has achieved, in having what he wished for.

NARRATOR: Orlando confesses that though he is happy to see his brother in love, he is also pained to
be without his Rosalind. Rosalind asks—with a hint of a sexual double entendre—if Ganymede cannot fill
Rosalind’s place, and Orlando admits that he has tired of wooing a young man in his lover’s stead.
Assuring Orlando that she can work magic, Rosalind promises that he will marry as he desires when
Oliver takes Aliena for a bride.

ROSALIND: Well then, can’t I act as Rosalind for you tomorrow?

ORLANDO: I can’t live by pretending anymore.

ROSALIND: I won’t exhaust you anymore with idle chitchat. You should know that I think you’re a
smart man. I really mean it. I’m not telling you this, so you’ll think well of me And I’m not trying to
enhance my own reputation, but only to do you good. Believe me, then, that I have special powers.
Since I was three years old, I’ve been in contact with a powerful but virtuous magician—no black magic
here. If you love Rosalind as much as you say you do, you will marry her when your brother marries
Aliena. I know where she is and, if you don’t mind, I will set her before you tomorrow, whole and
unharmed.

ORLANDO: Are you serious?

ROSALIND: I swear on my life, which I take pretty seriously, even if I am a magician. So put on your
best clothes and tell your friends to come. Because if you want to be married tomorrow, you will, and if
you want to be married to Rosalind, you will.

NARRATOR: Just then, Phoebe and Silvius appear. Phoebe accuses Ganymede of
“ungentleness,” and Rosalind encourages her to devote her attentions to Silvius. The lovers
take turns professing their various loves until Rosalind tells them to stop howling. She promises
that Ganymede will marry Phoebe on the following day if Ganymede will ever marry a woman
and makes everyone promise to meet the next day at the wedding. They all agree. The group
parts until Oliver’s wedding.
On the following day, Duke Senior asks Orlando if he believes that Ganymede can do all that he has
promised. With them, Oliver, Celia disguised as Aliena, Amiens, and Jaques have gathered to see
whether the miracle of multiple marriages will be performed. Rosalind enters in her customary disguise.

DUKE SENIOR Orlando, do you really believe that this boy can do everything he’s promised?
ORLANDO Sometimes I do and sometimes I don’t. I’m afraid of hoping, but I hope anyway.
ROSALIND, SILVIUS, and PHOEBE enter.

ROSALIND (as Ganymede) Be patient for a bit longer while I go over the terms of our agreement. (to
DUKE SENIOR ) You say that if I bring Rosalind here, you will give her to Orlando in marriage?

DUKE SENIOR Yes, even if I had whole kingdoms to give along with her.
ROSALIND (to ORLANDO ) And you promise to marry her, when I bring her here?
ORLANDO I will, even if I were king of all kingdoms.
ROSALIND (to PHOEBE ) And you say you’ll marry me, if I’m willing to marry you?
PHOEBE Yes, even if I die an hour later.
ROSALIND But if you decide not to marry me, you’ll marry this faithful shepherd instead?
PHOEBE That’s the deal.
ROSALIND (to SILVIUS ) And you agree to marry Phoebe, if she is willing?
SILVIUS Even if marrying her meant I died.

ROSALIND I’ve promised to make everything right. Duke Senior, keep your promise to give away your
daughter. Orlando, keep your promise to marry his daughter. Phoebe, keep your promise to marry me,
and to marry this shepherd if you choose to refuse me. Silvius, keep your promise to marry Phoebe if
she refuses me. I’ll leave now, to set all these things right.

ROSALIND and CELIA exit.

While they are gone, Duke Senior notes the remarkable resemblance of Ganymede to his own daughter
—an opinion that Orlando seconds.

DUKE SENIOR This shepherd boy reminds me quite vividly of my daughter.

ORLANDO My lord, when I first saw him I thought he was your daughter’s brother. But, my lord, this
boy was born in the forest and has been schooled not in the usual subjects but only in magic. His uncle,
who the boy says is a great magician and lives concealed within the boundaries of this forest, taught
him.

Touchstone and Audrey join the party. Touchstone entertains the company with the description of a
quarrel he had. As he finishes, Rosalind and Celia return, dressed as themselves and accompanied by
Hymen, the god of marriage.
HYMEN enters with ROSALIND and CELIA, dressed as themselves. Soft music plays.

HYMEN There is laughter in heaven

When earthly affairs are put right

And people unite. Good duke, come receive your daughter.

Hymen brought her from heaven

Yes, brought her here.

ROSALIND (to DUKE SENIOR ) I give myself to you, for I am yours.(to ORLANDO ) I give myself to you,
for I am yours.

DUKE SENIOR If my eyes don’t deceive me, you are my daughter.

ORLANDO If my eyes don’t deceive me, you are my Rosalind.
PHOEBE If my eyes aren’t deceiving me, goodbye, love.
ROSALIND (to DUKE SENIOR ) If you won’t be my father, I won’t have any.
(to ORLANDO ) If you won’t be my husband, I won’t have any.

(to PHOEBE ) If you won’t be my wife, I won’t have any.

HYMEN Quiet! Stop chattering until I’ve made everything clear. There are eight people here that I will
join in marriage, if the truth you see before you pleases you. (to ORLANDO and ROSALIND ) No hardship
can part you. (to OLIVER and CELIA ) Your hearts are together. (to PHOEBE ) You must consent to having
Silvius as your husband, unless you’d rather be married to a woman. (to TOUCHSTONE and AUDREY )
You are bound to each other as closely as winter is to bad weather. (to all the married couples) While we
sing a wedding hymn, satisfy your curiosity with questioning. Your surprise will fade, and you’ll learn
how all this came to be.