As You Like It Allusions

Major Literary Sources

• Thomas Lodge's Rosalynd or Euphues' Golden Legacy (c. 1586-1590)
• The Tale of Gamelyn (Middle English narrative)

Literature, Philosophy, and Mythology

• Luke 15, the story of the prodigal son (1.1)
• Robin Hood (1.1)
• Helen of Troy (3.2)
• Atalanta and her race with Hippomenes (3.2)
• Lucretia (3.2)
• Troilus, of Troilus and Cressida (4.1)
• Hero and Leander (4.1)
• Cupid (4.1)
• Noah's ark in Genesis 6-9 (5.4)
• Christopher Marlowe's Hero and Leander, published 1598 (3.5, 4.1)
• The death of Christopher Marlowe. Touchstone says "When a man's verses cannot be understood, nor a man's good wit seconded with the forward child understanding, it strikes a man more dead than a great reckoning in a little room" (3.3). Some critics find here a reference to Marlowe's death in 1593. It was held that Marlowe had died ("great reckoning") instantly after being stabbed above the eye during a quarrel over the bill in a pub ("little room"). (Evans, G. Blakemore, The Riverside Shakespeare, 2nd ed. 421.)
• Ganymede from Roman mythology (throughout)