William Shakespeare’s As You Like It defies the unattainable and idealistic depiction of love that traditional pastoral ideals celebrate. Typically, the pastoral ideals of love include two passionate lovers whose fortunes deter the possibility of having a happily ever after situation. However, As You Like It ridicules this extreme idea of love. Within every love story embedded in the play, which include the pairings of Silvius and Phoebe, Touchstone and Audrey, Oliver and Celia, and Orlando and Rosalind, there is a happily ever after moment for them with their respective marriages in the final act. Pastoral writing highlights love stories in which lovers cannot be with their beloved as shown in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. As You Like It, on the other hand, depicts marriage as a natural consequence of love. Although it gestures to the limits of marriage, it ultimately endorses it.
The pastoral view that is typically depicted is highlighted through eternal longing, which Polyphemus, the Cyclops, has towards Galatea. However, Galatea and Acis are in love. Polyphemus tries to do all that he can do to win Galatea’s affection, such as showering her with compliments, saying that she is “more playful than a young goat, smoother than seashells polished by unceasing waves,” even proclaiming to Galatea, “if you did not flee from me, you would be lovelier than a well-watered garden” (Ovid 463). Love in the pastoral is filled with these compliments, since the love seems to be very pure and