This quote sums up the feelings and emotions in 'As You Like It' as it describes what many of the characters experience. Love is a running theme throughout the play, the most notable romance is that of Rosalind and Orlando. However, love is not limited to human romance. It can be read as the love the characters of the play feel for their freedom and the emotions they feel when in the Forest of Arden.
             The freedom of the forest is obviously something the characters enjoy and appreciate. This 'love' for the forest contrasts with their distaste for the courtly life where they are oppressed and unable to express their emotions without question. The whole prospect of lords and nobles being banished to an unfamiliar world can certainly be labelled as 'madness'. It seems that everyone who travels into the Forest of Arden has to learn to cope with a major change in lifestyle.
             Then there is the typical meaning of love, for example the hero/heroine romance between Rosalind and Orlando. Both characters have to cross certain barriers in order to be together. Rosalind has to keep up the charade of being 'Ganymede' surviving in the forest. She has to try and counsel Orlando out of his love for her in order to be successful at fooling everyone. Even though the whole situation of Rosalind/Ganymede is cleared up at the end of the play, it is still an important determining factor of Rosalind and Orlando's relationship. Their relationship is certainly far from simple, unlike that of Touchstone and Audrey, whose love is not based on romance at all.
             The line 'Love is a kind of madness' can also be applied to the situation of Duke Senior and his followers. His men must show a great deal of respect to follow him into the Forest of Arden, banished along side him. This respect is a kind love for him and the man he is. It would be understandable that if he were still in charge of the Court th...