As You Like It: Third Series

With its explorations of sexual ambivalence, 'As You Like It' speaks to the twenty-first century. Juliet Dusinberre demonstrates that Rosalind's authority in the play grows from ideas about women and reveals that Shakespeare's heroine reinvents herself for some age. But the play is also rooted in Elizabethan culture, and through it Shakespeare addresses some of the hotly debated issues of the period. Dusinberre's introduction begins with a brief analysis of the play to preface an exploration of characters, cultural context, sources, setting, staging, literary and legendary influences, themes of love, politics, and gender.