"Man in his Time plays many parts , his Acts being seven ages." Here we are given two different worlds, with colourful characters ranging from "the Lover sighing like Furnace with a woeful Ballad" to the "Last scene of all" when Man revert to their "second Childishness and mere oblivion, sans teeth, sans Eyes, sans Taste, sans everything."

The stage in the Courts and Forest of Arden served not to dish out mere swashbuckling heroes or heroines . In fact, we are presented with the likes of romantic lovers like Orlando and Rosalind. The emphasis on heroism and bravery is left to its minimum and usually these deeds are plot-movers, used to further the play. Amor Vincit Omnia is never more approriate to describe this play .Love is one of the basis of human life and it is usually through love and love-lost that one can gain an insight into the various characteristics of life. "There is sure another Flood toward, and these couples are coming to the Ark" , abundant love is illustrated by the numerous lovers i

Love prattles are aplenty, the love test between Orlando and Rosalind operating incognito as Ganimed, Silvius and Phebe and Phebe's foolish mistake of falling for Ganimed.Love is being examined through the various couplings and the audience themselves may start to categorise their own relationships accordingly. "Love is merely a madness and I tell you, deserves as well as dark House and a whip as Madmen do and the reason why they are not so punish'd and cur'd is that the Lunacy is so ordinary that the Whippers are in love too." During Ganimed's exchange with Orlando, she rises this question on Love. The audience ponder with Orlando the truth in the statement made. If love is so ordinary, it is truly an image of life. Love is also to forgive.The chance encounter between Oliver and Celia affirmed this point. It also seemed that love is reward for human goodness, and in this case, Oliver is the 'reformed' and he gets his reward who is Celia. Does goodness equate reward?

As the play draws to a close after the staging of hymen and the unions of the various couples, it is not difficult to see that Love is the reigning theme in the play. Along with Love, other human conditions are being discussed. "Breaking of ribs" was not meant for ladies and it is being tossed aside along with all the 'baddies' in humanity. The play is not an areana for heroic endeavours instead it dishes moral lessons as well as a introspection of human life.

Orlando is seen as the romantic hero and Rosalind the romantic heroine . Orlando may have overthrown Charles the wrestler but most importantly, he had conquered Rosalind's heart. As Rosalind herself said "you have wrestled well and overthrown more than your Enemies." Even from the very start of their relationship, Rosalind looks upon Orlando as a lover, the "father of my child" and not as the knight in shining armour . Orlando's stint as champion wrestler was but fleeting and afterwhich, we see him dumbstruck, as "passion weight upon his tongue". He moved from the fearless hero to the romantic, lovelorn counterpart of Rosalind. Violence ceased to exist as the characters moved from the courts of the humorous Duke into the healing forest. In fact, by restraining violence to the envious courts, Shakespeare is cancelling violence out of the 'right way of life' , the way humanity should function.As the audience chart Orlando's journey into Arden, we see his thoughts being peppered with the "fair, the chaste and unexpressive She." He is being depicted no more the hero but a lover who hangs his verses in trees, character his thoughts in tree barks as witnesses to his love.

Some common words found in the essay are:
City CourtThe, Oliver Celia, Rosalind Violence, Arden Orlando, Phebe Phebe's, Vincit Omnia, Rosalind Orlando, , Sweet Adversity, Forest ArdenWe, human life, play love, human conditions, orlando rosalind, love merely, gain insight, charles wrestler, golden world, forest arden, life shown,
Approximate Word count = 1762
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)