The Act 1 of AS YOU LIKE IT prepares the audience and the reader for the rest of the play. It is most similar to the prologue of the modern play where an insight to the rest of the play is provided. In the Act the relationships between Orlando and Oliver, Orlando and Adam, Rosalind and Celia, Touchstone and Rosalind and more importantly, the indirect bonding between Duke Fredrick and Oliver is established.

Orlando and Oliver's relationship is based on hatred. It is similar to the relationship between Duke Frederick and the Senior Duke as also in MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING of Duke Prospero and Don John. The usurping of the dukedom by Duke Frederick is similar to that of Prospero by Alonso in THE TEMPEST. The hatred between Orlando and Oliver is such that Oliver asks Charles the wrestler not to show mercy towards Orlando in the match...