[Hart maintains that Shakespeare depicts two contrasting worlds in As You Like It : Duke Frederick's court, which is governed by Fortune, and Arden forest, which is dominated by Nature. Here, Fortune signifies not only power and material wealth, but the greed and envy that results from possessing them. By comparison, Nature reflects a more virtuous order that promotes humanity's higher qualities. According to Hart, the corrupt court gradually becomes absorbed by the more harmonious world of Arden until it disappears from the play altogether. The critic ultimately asserts that those characters who have assimilated the lessons from both worlds-significantly, Rosalind, Orlando, and Duke Senior emerge from the forest at the end of the play to redeem the degenerate court, replacing it with a more balanced and harmonious order.]

As You Like It presents an ideal world, just as The Merchant of Venice did. The Forest of Arden...