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Oliver is Orlando’s older brother and the sole inheritor of the de Boys estate. He is initially characterized as a heartless, vindictive young man. As the eldest son, he has the ability to control Orlando’s inheritance, and his livelihood in general. In the play’s opening scene, Oliver abuses his position of authority and denies Orlando a gentlemen’s education out of pure spite. Oliver explains that he “hates nothing more than [Orlando]” because he has an innate nobility and is preferred by Oliver’s subjects. Here, Shakespeare reflects on the origins of gentility. Elizabethans were supremely interested in whether this quality could be developed or if one had to be born with it. Shakespeare presents Orlando and Oliver as a case study. Orlando has been denied a formal schooling but he possesses the wit, charm, and honor of a gentleman anyway. Oliver, on the other hand, lacks the generosity and grace associated with the ideal nobility—even though he is one on paper.
Oliver is initially presented to the reader as one of the play’s key villains but he undergoes an impressive change of heart about halfway through the text. At the start of Act 3, Oliver heads into the Forest of Arden to bring Orlando back, dead or alive. However, in 4.3, we learn that Orlando came across Oliver’s ragged form and saved him from a lion attack even though Oliver previously treated him terribly. Orlando’s kind and selfless gesture causes Oliver to feel a powerful remorse, and the two brothers quickly make amends. This reconciliation is largely attributed to the transformative power of the natural world. Oliver becomes the loving brother he never was before almost immediately after he enters the country. Once removed from the politics and pressures of life at court, the obstacles, greed, and petty jealousies that separated the brothers dissolve. As a result, Oliver can be interpreted as Duke Frederick’s double because both men learn to love their brothers and see the error of their ways after they are removed from the artificial and corrupt hierarchies of the man-made world. Oliver’s total transformation is solidified by his falling in love with Celia, whom he believes to be a shepherdess. Through their budding romance, Shakespeare indicates that Oliver has fully embraced a kinder, happier lifestyle.
