establish a real location for the tale, Shakespeare uses both English names (Charles, Oliver, Adam) and French names (Jacques, Amiens, Le Beau) for the inhabitants of his mythical land. His forest is neither in England nor in France. Rather, it exists in his imagination.
Shakespeare’s play thus has a mythic and universal feeling or atmosphere that contributes to the major themes of the play.
Literary critics refer to one of the play’s central ideas as the Two Worlds Theme. And this theme is found in several of Shakespeare’s plays. It can be found directly in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and somewhat less directly in Much Ado about Nothing. In both of these plays, as well as in As You Like It, visitors from the city or the urban world come to the country or rural world for a brief stay. That stay, however, transforms them or converts them. They are no longer so strict or cruel or judgmental or needy. They become better, or the best, versions of themselves.
One of the foremost delights of the play is the character of Rosalind. Like the character of Viola in Twelfth Night, Rosalind is witty and clever and charming. And also like the character of Viola, Rosalind dons the disguise of a young man in order to function in a man’s world and to survive the perils that a woman in such urgent circumstances would find difficult or impossible to overcome.
Unlike Viola, however, Rosalind is an active force. Where Viola allows fate to take her wherever it will, Rosalind plays a dynamic role in shaping her