As you Like it
By William Shakespear
Act 1, Scene 1.
The play opens with Orlando lamenting his sorry fate to Adam,
his servant: Orlando’s father, upon his death, granted most of his estate to
his other son, Oliver, and instructed him to raise his brothers, Orlando
and Jacques,
well. While treating Jaques fairly, however, Oliver has routinely denied
Orlando all of the money, education, and basic respect that he deserves.
Orlando concludes his lament by declaring that he will no longer tolerate
Oliver’s tyranny, though at the same time acknowledging the impossibility of
resisting it.
Oliver approaches and Adam slips away to observe the brothers’ exchange.
Oliver orders Orlando to quit his idleness and Orlando replies by
complaining of his forced poverty. He proceeds to argue that, although Oliver’s
age renders him legally superior, Orlando is still their father’s son and
should be treated more like an equal. Oliver strikes him and calls him a
villain.
Orlando
expresses offense at the mere possibility that their father, Sir Rawland De
Boys, could be said to have had villains for sons. He swears that he would kill
Oliver if they weren’t brothers. Adam tries to intervene but Orlando
continues to demand that Oliver grant Orlando either the bearings of a civil
existence or the money that was left for him in his father’s will. Oliver
orders that Orlando leave, hastily promising to Orlando that he “shall have
some part of” his will. Orlando exits.
Oliver orders his servant Dennis to call in Charles, the duke’s
wrestler, who has been waiting to see him. Charles informs Oliver that Duke
Fredrick has usurped and banished his older brother, Duke Senior, whom
several lords have since willingly joined in exile. He adds that Rosalind, the
banished duke’s daughter, has remained in court with her beloved cousin Celia (Duke
Frederick's daughter), and that the old duke has retreated to the Forest of
Arden, where he and his men live like Robin Hood.
Charles informs Oliver that he is scheduled to wrestle
the next day with Orlando, who plans to fight in disguise. Because he must win
every match in order to preserve his reputation, Charles advises Oliver to
prevent Orlando from fighting if he cares for his brother’s well being.
Oliver feigns gratitude and falsely claims that he has already
tried to dissuade Orlando from fighting. He goes on to describe his
brother as “the stubbornest young fellow of France” and “a secret and
villainous contriver.” Charles leaves newly resolved to beat Orlando and, if he
does not win, to never wrestle for money again.
The scene ends with Oliver acknowledging in a soliloquy his
irrationally extreme hatred for his brother: “my soul, yet I know not why,
hates nothing more than he.”
Act 1, Scene 2.
Celia coaxes Rosalind to be “merry.” Rosalind asks how
she is supposed to feel merry given that her father has been banished from
court. Celia tries, and succeeds, to convince Rosalind to consider Celia’s
father as her own, even promising that Rosalind shall be heir to the throne.
Rosalind, with renewed gratitude and merriment, goes on to ask Celia
what she thinks of falling in love. Celia answers that she thinks of it as a
sport, and that one should not love in earnest or let her honor be threatened.
The two cousins joke about the roles of Fortune and Nature in
determining a person’s appearance and character. Their conversation is
interrupted by the arrival of Touchstone, whose dullness is a source of
humor, “the whetstone of the wits.” Touchstone reports to Celia that
her father desires to see her and makes various jesting side-comments. He
remarks, for instance, that fools are never considered wise, though they may
speak wisely, while wise men are always assumed wise, though they may speak
foolishly.
Monsieur Le Beau, who is one of Duke Frederick's courtiers, enters, and
Celia, Rosalind, and Touchstone continue jesting with him in the same
vein. Le Beau tells of three brothers, all of whom wrestled with Charles and
were defeated, leaving their father in mourning. Rosalind asks if there is more
wrestling to be seen and Le Beau answers that there is, and that it will happen
very shortly, right where they are currently standing.
The upcoming opponent, Orlando, enters with Duke Fredrick, Charles, and
various attendants, and Celia remarks on how young Orlando looks. Duke
Fredrick confirms that he should not fight on account of his youth, and
encourages Celia and Rosalind to try to dissuade him. The sisters call
Orlando over and try to convince him not to fight. When he insists on fighting,
the girls promise to support him.
Before an audience of Duke Frederick and the sisters, Charles and
Orlando commence the match. Charles is thrown, leaving Orlando the victor.
Duke Frederick, impressed by anyone who can defeat Charles, asks who Orlando
is. When Orlando informs Duke Fredrick that he's the youngest son of Sir
Rowland de Boys, Frederick is displeased: de Boys had been a supporter of Duke
Senior, yet he praises Orlando nevertheless.
Having learned the identity of Orlando’s father, Rosalind declares
that she would have been all the more insistent that he not fight: her own
father dearly loved Sir Rowland de Boys. Celia and Rosalind
congratulate and thank Orlando, and Rosalind gives him a chain as a token of
her respect, leaving him smitten. Rosalind and Celia take their leave.
Le Beau then advises Orlando to leave, since he has
unintentionally displeased the duke. Orlando thanks him, then asks which of the
girls is the daughter of the duke. Le Beau tells him it is Celia, but also
reveals that Duke Fredrick has recently taken a dislike to Rosalind
because she is the banished duke’s daughter. He predicts that this dislike will
soon be made clear.
Act 1, Scene 3.
Celia begs Rosalind to break her silence. She jests, “Cupid has
mercy, not a word?” Rosalind explains that she is distraught not only for her
father now, but also for her “child’s father.” Celia tries to cheer her and
jokes that she must “wrestle with thy affections.” She asks if it is truly
possible that she should fall so suddenly in love with Orlando, to which
Rosalind responds in the affirmative.
Duke Fredrick enters and orders Rosalind to leave the court.
He threatens her with death if she does not comply. Shocked, she asks what
she's done to offend him, and the duke responds simply that she is a traitor,
and that it is enough of an offense that she is the daughter of her father.
Rosalind tries, unsuccessfully, to plead that “treason is not inherited.”
Celia declares that if Rosalind is banished, she will go with her,
maintaining her refusal to leave Rosalind’s side. When Duke Fredrick leaves,
Celia proposes that they disguise themselves as peasants and go seek Rosalind’s
father in the Forest of Arden.
Rosalind agrees, but says that she’ll disguise herself instead like
a man, given her height, and call herself Ganymede. Celia will call
herself Aliena. They decide to bring along Touchstone and Celia concludes
their scheming with a declaration of freedom: “now go we in content / To
liberty and not to banishment.”
Act 2, Scene 1.
In the Forest of Arden, Duke Senior addresses the lords who
have joined him in exile. He remarks on the sweetness, freedom, and safety of
living in the woods, as compared to the “envious court” which is artificial and
full of “painted pomp.” He describes nature as providing nourishment for the
life of the mind, with “tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons
in stones, and good in everything.” Lord Amiens praises the duke for
having such a positive outlook on his unfortunate circumstance.
Duke Senior suggests
that they go hunt for venison, and the First Lord agrees, though adds
that “the melancholy Jaques, one of the duke’s lords (not to be confused
with Jaques de Boys), is known to grieve at their slaughtering of animals, and
was recently found sobbing at the sight of a wounded stag. Jaques, the Lord
recounts, considers hunters to be even worse “usurpers, tyrants” than Duke
Fredrick because hunters kill animals in their “native dwelling
place.” Duke Senior, desiring to console him, asks the Second Lord to
lead him to Jaques.
Act 2, Scene 2.
The scene begins with Duke
Fredrick asking if anyone has seen his daughter and
niece. The First Lord reports that Celia’s chambermaids put Celia to bed
the night before but that her bed was found empty in the morning. The Second Lord enters
and informs the Duke that Tocuhstone, too, is missing, and that Hisperia, Celia’s gentlewoman, thinks the girls are in the company of Orlando, because she’d heard them speaking fondly of him. Duke
Fredrick orders the lords to retrieve Orlando’s brother and send him to find Orlando.
Act 2, Scene 3.
Orlando, about to enter his home, is met with a long soliloquy by his
servant, Adam, who seems to both praise and regret his master’s virtuousness:
“Why are you virtuous?... And wherefore are you gentle, strong, and valiant?”
The servant elaborates that Orlando’s virtues serve him not as graces but as
enemies, as “sanctified and holy traitors.”
Orlando asks
what’s the matter, and Adam responds that Orlando cannot enter his own
home, because his brother is inside. Oliver, it seems, has heard of Orlando’s
success in the wrestling match and intends to burn down Orlando’s house, with
the intent of killing him. Adam insists that Orlando leave, but Orlando does
not know where to go, despairingly claiming that he would rather face his
brother than lead a beggar’s life.
Adam
offers to give his master his own savings of five hundred crowns, and to remain
his servant in exile. He swears that, because he never drank too much in his
youth, he is stronger than his old age might suggest. He promises to do all the
jobs that a younger man would.
Orlando praises Adam’s ethic of servitude—prizing duty over reward.
He adds that this attribute was more common in ancient times than it is in
modern times, in which, Orlando describes, it is more common that a person work
hard only for public recognition and promotion. While praising Adam’s work
ethic, however, Orlando also pities him, for pruning “a rotten tree that cannot
so much as a blossom yield in lieu of all they pains and husbandry.”
Nevertheless, he agrees to take Adam along with him in his banishment.
Adam promises to follow Orlando forevermore, and reflects
on his departure from the court, where he has served since he was seventeen
years old. He recognizes that it is too late for him to embark on a new
ambition and that he would be happy to die in the service of his master.
Act 2, Scene 4.
The scene opens with Rosalind (disguised as Ganymede) rejoicing in her
merry spirits and Touchstone complaining of tired legs. Rosalind
admits that she, too, is weary, but, because of her disguise, must play the
part of the strong and untiring man. Touchstone quips that he is more foolish
in Arden than he was at court, but determines that “travellers must be
content.”
A young man and an old man, Silvius and Corin, enter, in
serious conversation. Silvius is saying that Corin cannot understand how deeply
Silvius is in love. Silvius asks Corin how many ridiculous things he has
done out of love, and Corin replies up to a thousand, but all of which he’s
forgotten. Silvius launches into a poetic monologue, accusing Corin that, if he
cannot remember his love-borne follies or has not shown other such traits of
love, then “thou hast not loved.” He concludes by calling out the name Phebe three
times.
Rosalind and Touchstone are touched by Silvius’s speech, which they
have overheard. Touchstone fondly remembers his old lover, Jane Smile, and
muses that “all is mortal in nature, so is all nature in love mortal in folly.”
On Celia’s request, Rosalind approaches Corin and asks if he
has any food for Celia, who’s become faint with hunger. Corin regrets that he
is merely a shepherd to a coarse employer, but he invites Rosalind to come see
their sheep-cottage and pastures, which are now for sale. Rosalind and Celia,
on an apparent whim, order Corin to buy the cottage, pasture, and flock for
them with their money, which he happily agrees to do.
Act
2, Scene 5.
Amiens enters, singing an ode to nature, which invites its listener
to “come hither” to the greenwood tree. Jaques persistently begs Amiens to keep
singing, despite Amien's warning that it will make him melancholy (Jaques
retorts that he could “suck melancholy” out of any song.)
Before finishing the song, Amiens mentions that Duke Senior has been
looking for Jaques all day, and Jaques admits that he’s been avoiding him.
Jaques hands Amiens a poem he’s written, which describes a man who
leaves his wealth to live amongst fools. Amiens sings it aloud. It includes the
word “ducdame,” which seems invented, though Jaques claims it to be a Greek
word. Jaques and Amiens split ways, the former to “rail against
the first-born of Egypt,” and the latter, to find the duke.
Act 2, Scene 6.
As Orlando and Adam enter the Forest of
Arden, Adam complains that he can go no further and will die
of hunger. Orlando tries to lift his spirits and orders Adam to
persist at least while he goes to find something for him to eat.
Act 2, Scene 7.
Duke Senior is saying of someone that he must have become an animal,
because he cannot be found anywhere. Just as he is ordering his lords to go
find this missing man, however, Jaques, the man in question, approaches. Jaques proceeds
to describe a fool he rants into in the forest, who philosophized on the
passing of time, musing “thus we may see how the world wags. … from hour to
hour, we ripe and ripe, and then, from hour to hour, we rot and rot.” He
describes the fool fondly.
Jaques concludes by declaring his own wish to be a fool and his
ambition to have “a motley coat.” He elaborates that, when he becomes a fool, Duke
Senior must still consider Jaques to be wise and that Jaques must be
granted great liberty to speak with whomever he pleases, as all fools are. He
theorizes on why those who are most galled by a fool’s folly are likely to
laugh most at the fool, and suggests that it is because people whom fools mock
do not want to appear foolish before the fool’s perceptive eye, and so protect
themselves with laughter. Jaques asks the Duke to allow him to assume the role
of the fool and promises in return to cleanse the Duke’s “foul body of
th’infected world” with his honest criticisms.
Duke Senior accuses Jaques of being hypocritical in pointing out
the sins of others, having himself committed sins of the flesh. Jaques goes on
to wax eloquent on the subject of pride, calling it a self-exhausting trait,
and arguing that his criticisms will do no harm to those for whom they are
inaccurate, and that, for those to whom they ring true, they will only point
out the ways in which the victim “hath wronged himself.”
Orlando enters and orders, “eat no more!” With drawn sword he
demands food. Duke Senior and Jaques are taken aback, and the former
inquires if the intruder is distressed or simply poorly mannered. When Orlando
continues to plead for food, they answer his entreaties very civilly, welcoming
him to their table and thus shaming Orlando for having been so uncivil. Orlando
apologizes, explaining that he assumed that all manners in the woods were
savage. He gives an elegant lament, hopes that the men have lived some time in
a more civilized circumstance and have been to church, and that they might therefore
accept his renewed gentleness as compensation for his temporary misbehavior.
Duke Senior attests that they have seen better days and have been
to church, and that they accept his forgiveness and hope to fulfill his
needs. Orlando asks if they will wait a moment to eat their food
while he goes to find his old servant, and the Duke accepts his request.
Duke Senior and Jacques comment on how their own unhappiness is
matched by the unhappy situations of so many others. Duke Senior compares life
to a theater and speaks of how many “woeful pageants” are played out in it.
Jaques declares, “All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely
players,” and goes on to describe all the parts that a single man might play:
infant, schoolboy, lover, soldier, justice, old man.
Orlando and Adam return, and Amiens sings a
depressing song about the unkindness and invisibility of man’s ingratitude, and
the folly of love and friendship.
Duke Senior, having recognized Orlando as the son of Sir Rowland de
Boys, tells Orlando that he truly loved his father and thus welcomes him all
the more to his cave and asks him to tell his story.
Act 3, Scene 1.
Duke Fredrick instructs Oliver to go find Orlando, wherever he is. He says that if
Oliver does not bring Orlando to him, dead or alive, within a year that he will
seize all of Orlando's lands and belongings. Oliver promises that his heart is
very much in the task, because he never did love his brother. Duke Frederick
calls Oliver “more villain” and tells him that his officers will make an
inventory of his estate while he is gone on his task.
Act 3, Scene 2.
Orlando is reading what appears to be his own poetry from a piece
of paper in his hand. The poem is overly sentimental and alludes to the Queen
of Night, the huntress Diana, describes the moon as a pale sphere in the sky,
and includes a resolve to post poems about Rosalind on
every tree in the forest. Having finished reading the poem in his hand, Orlando runs
off to continue posting the verses all about the forest.
Touchstone and Corin enter, with Corin asking Touchstone
whether he likes the shepherd’s life. The fool answers in the affirmative, but
then proceeds to equivocate, saying such things as, “in respect that it is
solitary, I like it very well; but in respect that it is private, it is a very
vile life.” When asked if he has any philosophy of his own, Corin responds with
a list of obvious facts of the world, expressed in dull-witted fashion, such
as, “the more one sickens the worse at ease he is” and “a great case of night
is lack of the sun.”
Touchstone calls Corin damned for never having lived in
court; he reasons that Corin has not learned good manners and must therefore
have wicked manners and that wickedness is sin. Touchstone and Corin proceed to
banter about the suitableness of court manners in the country and country
manners in the court, and specifically about the possibility of shepherds
adopting the practice of kissing each other’s hands. Corin says that
he is content to lead a simple life and care for his ewes and lambs. Even
this, Touchstone critiques, declaring it a sin to make a living off
of the forced “copulation of cattle.”
Rosalind, dressed as Ganymede, enters, reading one of Orlando’s poems that
she has pulled from a tree and is holding in her hands. Touchstone, hearing the
poem, tries to compete with its rhymes and so improvises a series of six
senseless and poorly metered couplets about Rosalind. Touchstone insults then
insults the original poems, to which Rosalind takes offense.
Celia enters, reading another of Orlando’s tree poems, which
describes Rosalind as the synthesis of all the best features of
Helen, Cleopatra, Atalanta, and Lucretia. At Celia’s request, Touchstone walks
away with Corin to leave Celia and Rosalind alone. Celia tells
Rosalind that she knows who is behind these badly written poems. Rosalind is
impatient to know, and Celia teases her, declaring the man “wonderful,
wonderful, and most wonderful,” and then finally revealing him to be Orlando.
Rosalind is very excited by this news and asks many questions about Celia’s
discovery of his identity.
Celia recounts having found Orlando under a tree, dressed
like a hunter. Rosalind comments that Orlando is dressed that way
because he has come to kill her heart. Then she pardons herself for her
constant interruptions by explaining that she is a woman, and, like all women,
must speak when she thinks.
Orlando and Jacques enter, bickering. Jaques insults Rosalind’s
name, and tells Orlando that being in love is the worst fault. He
says that he had been looking for a fool when he came across Orlando, and
Orlando tells him to look in the brook to see the fool he was looking for, but
Jaques catches on to the trick (that he will simply see himself in the brook).
When the two men part, Jaques calls Orlando “Signor Love,” and Orlando calls
Jaques “Monsieur Melancholy.”
Rosalind (still disguised as Ganymede) approaches Orlando and
asks what time it is. When he answers that he doesn’t know because there is no
clock, Rosalind quips that a lover would serve just as well to tell the time,
because a true lover sighs on the minute and groans on the hour.
Orlando doubts that Rosalind, who he takes for a country
shepherd, could have acquired her manner of speaking in the countryside, but
she claims to have had an articulate and religious uncle. She then thanks God
that she is not a woman, in light of all the womanly evils her uncle used to
speak of.
Rosalind mentions the poems on the trees and expresses her
desire to meet and advise the love-swept poet who’s posted them. Orlando admits
to being the very poet. Though Rosalind (as Ganymede) at first pretends to
express doubts that Orlando is truly in love (just to hear Orlando's
declarations of love for Rosalind), she then pretends to be convinced and
offers to try curing him of his lunatic love. She tells Orlando that he must
imagine her (or him, rather, as she is dressed as Ganymede) as his mistress and
woo her, while she acts moody, shallow, and undesirable. This method, she
claims, has succeeded before in driving a man in a similar position out of mad
love into pure madness, and finally into monastic retreat.
Orlando agrees to try her method, which begins with calling her by the
name Rosalind.
Act 3, Scene 3.
Touchstone enters, talking to a goatherd named Audrey. He compares
himself to Ovid, saying he is amongst Audrey’s goats just as Ovid was amongst
the Goths. When Audrey doesn't understand, Touchstone expresses regret that
she's not more “poetical.” He elaborates that “the truest poetry is the most
feigning, and lovers are given to poetry,” and explains that Audrey need not be
honest because she is already beautiful, and it is excessive to be both honest
and beautiful. Throughout their exchange, Jaques stands nearby and
makes occasional asides about Audrey’s stupidity.
Touchstone announces his decision to be married to Audrey by
Sir Oliver Martext, a vicar from a neighboring village. He then riffs on the
theme of horns, which were said to grow from the foreheads of men whose wives
cheated on them, and concludes that it is more desirable and honorable to be a
‘horned’ (cheated-on) married man than a bare-browed bachelor.
Sir Oliver Martext arrives and inquires if there is anyone to give
away the woman in the marriage ceremony. Jacques steps forward and offers
to do it, but then convinces Touchstone that the marriage should
actually occur in a proper church. Touchstone agrees, despite his reservation
that a poorly- administered wedding would provide a better excuse for him to
leave the marriage if he wanted to later on. The three of them depart, leaving
Martext alone and confused in the forest
Act 3, Scene 4.
Rosalind confides to Celia that she feels like weeping. She is
upset that Orlando did not come to meet with Ganymede (i.e. Rosalind in
disguise) that morning as he had promised to. She alternates between speaking
adoringly of Orlando, and expressing how devastated she is by his absence.
Celia plays along, both supplementing Rosalind’s adulations and nursing her
sense of injury.
Rosalind then tells Celia of having met with Duke
Senior the day before and of him laughing at her claim that she was of a
parentage as good as his own. But immediately after, Rosalind suggests that
they need not talk about fathers when they can talk instead about Orlando. At
Rosalind’s provocation, Celia concedes that Rosalind’s lover is brave but
reasons that “all’s brave that youth mounts and folly guides.”
Corin then enters and invites Celia and Rosalind to
come witness the "pageant" of Silvius, whose helpless love Rosalind
had been so touched by earlier, try to win over his beloved, the scornful
shepherdess Phebe. Rosalind agrees to come and watch, and vows not just to
watch, but in fact to intervene.
Act 3, Scene 5.
Silvius begs his mistress, Phebe, not to scorn him and
compares her to a hardhearted executioner. Rosalind and Celia enter,
in their disguises as Ganymede and Aliena, along with Corin, just as Phebe
cruelly mocks Silvius’s "poetic" language of love, and comments that
though he says her eyes are murderous such a thing is impossible because eyes
are incapable of inflicting harm. Silvius responds that the wounds of love are
invisible and that some day she may know of them. She remains unpitying and
tells him that, until she feels such invisible wounds, he ought not approach
her again.
Rosalind (as Ganymede) steps forward and interjects with an
extended insult directed at Phebe: she accuses Phebe of being too plain to be
so proud and of having an inflated ego because of Silvius’s infatuation. When
“Ganymede” finishes, Phebe proclaims that she prefers “his” insults to
Silvius’s praise. “Ganymede” realizes what is happening and tries to dissuade
Phebe from falling in love with “him,” but it seems that Phebe’s fallen in love
at first sight.
After Rosalind and Celia leave, Phebe decides
to keep Silvius around so she can talk to him about love. She gives a lengthy
description of Ganymede’s ’s attributes, equivocates on whether she loves
or hates him, and then orders Silvius to deliver to Ganymede a
taunting letter that she plans to write.
Act
4, Scene 1.
Jaques approaches "Ganymede," wanting to get better
acquainted. Rosalind calls Jaques a “melancholy fellow,” and
Jaques accepts the characterization, but specifies that his kind of melancholy
is not like any other and is rather “a melancholy of [his] own, compounded of
many simples” and inspired by many experiences and travels. Rosalind declares
that she would rather have a fool make her happy than experience make her sad.
Jacques departs.
Orlando enters and Rosalind (dressed as
Ganymede) scolds him for missing their meeting that morning, claiming that
she’d rather have a snail for a lover. She orders Orlando to woo her, and he
says that if she were really Rosalind, he would kiss her before saying
anything. She responds that he should save the kiss for the moment when he runs
out of things to say.
Rosalind teases Orlando that she will not accept him as a
lover and he dramatically replies that he will die. Rosalind objects, citing
that no one has ever died from love, and then she finally announces that she
will love Orlando. She gets Celai to play the role of a priest in a
play-acted marriage between the two of them.
Next, Rosalind (as Ganymede) tries to make herself (Rosalind)
seem unappealing by promising Orlando that she will be jealous and
temperamental in their marriage, all the more so because of, and not despite
of, her wisdom. Orlando does not believe this could be true. He then departs to
dine with the Duke, over Rosalind's protests, but promises to return by two
o’clock.
Celia criticizes Rosalind for portraying women so badly. Rosalind responds
by gushing to Celia how much she’s in love—she says that only
Cupid could assess the depth of her love.
Act
4, Scene 2.
Jaques addresses the First Lord, who has killed a deer, and suggests that he
present his kill like a Roman conqueror, and give the deer’s horns like a
victory branch. The Second Lord accompanies the presentation with a song.
The song touches on cuckoldry and includes the line, “take thou no scorn to
wear the horn… the horn, the horn, the lusty horn, is not a thing to laugh to
scorn.”
Act
4, Scene 3.
Rosalind (still disguised as Gnaymede) is impatiently awaiting Orlando,
who is now late. Celia suggests that he has gone to sleep.
Silvius approaches and gives a letter to Rosalind, which, he
reports, Phebe wrote with an angry look on her face—a “stern
brow.” Rosalind reads it and tells Celia it is a list of insults, and
wonders why Phebe would write such a letter; she first accuses Silvius of being
its author, assuming no woman could write so rudely and injuriously.
Rosalind then reads the letter aloud, interjecting “Did you ever
hear such railing?” The content of the letter, however, is an expression not of
insults or chiding but of adoration. It proclaims such things as “Whiles you
chid me, I did love; / How then might your prayers move!” Celia says that she
is sorry for Silvius, since his love now loves Ganymede. But Rosalind says that
she has no pity for him since he loves someone like Phebe. Rosalind then orders
Silvius to go report to Phebe that she (i.e. Ganymede) will only
love Phebe if Phebe loves Silvius. Silvius departs.
Oliver enters, looking for the sheep cottage owned by Ganymede and
Aliena. He then notes that the two people he is speaking to fit Orlando’s
description of Aliena and Ganymede, and asks if they in fact they are the
owners of the cottage. When they confirm that they do, Oliver gives to Rosalind a
bloody napkin, which was sent to her by Orlando. Rosalind is confused, and
Oliver explains: a little bit ago, Orlando came across a man (Oliver, though
Orlando didn’t recognize him yet) sleeping under a tree with a snake wrapped
around his neck. At the sight of Orlando, the snake slithered away, drawing
attention to a lion crouching in the bushes. When Orlando discovered that the
sleeping man was in fact Oliver, he initially planned to leave his cruel
brother as lion’s prey, but then kindness got the best of him, and he fought
off the beast, getting wounded in the process.
Oliver reports that in response he himself has had a conversion to
kindness and that he cared for Orlando’s wound before coming to deliver
the napkin to Ganymede so that he would excuse Orlando’s “broken promise.”
Rosalind faints, and Celia tries to excuse it as an effect of the sight of
blood. When Rosalind comes to, Oliver comments that she lacks "a man's
heart," but she responds by telling Oliver to report to Orlando how well
she “counterfeited” her swoon, just as she had taught him in their lessons.
Oliver thinks the faint must have been authentic, but Rosalind assures him it
was faked.
Act
5, Scene 1.
Touchstone promises Audrey that
they will be married. A young man named William enters, who appears to be
smitten with Audrey. William speaks with a country accent and admits to having
been born in the forest. When he claims himself to be witty, Touchstone retorts
that only fools think themselves to be wise. He provokes William and mocks him
for being unlearned. Finally, he calls him a clown and threatens to kill him in
one hundred and fifty ways if he does not abandon the scene.
Act
5, Scene 2.
Orlando is asking Oliver if it is possible that he could have
fallen so instantly in love with her (we later learn “her” to be Aliena aka
Celia). Oliver assures him that it is, and, in light of his engagement with
Aliena (who he thinks is a shepherdess), bestows upon Orlando their father’s
estate and revenue. Orlando gives his consent to Oliver’s wedding.
Rosalind enters just as Oliver departs, and discusses
with Orlando the sudden love between her cousin and his brother.
Orlando says he is glad to see his brother’s happiness, but admits that he does
not feel happy himself, because his mental imagination of Ganymede as Rosalind can
no longer satisfy his longing for the real thing.
Rosalind responds that that she is skilled in the art of magic and
promises that, if Orlando loves Rosalind as much as he claims to, he
will be married to her tomorrow at the same time when Oliver marries
“Aliena.”
Silvius and Phebe enter, and Phebe says that she's
upset that "Ganymede" shared her letter. Rosalind again tries to
persuade Phebe to love her faithful shepherd, Silvius. Silvius then
defines love as “all made of sighs and tears…of faith and service… all
adoration, duty, and observance…”, and proclaims himself to be all of those
things for Phebe, just as Orlando is for Rosalind, Phebe for Ganymede, and
Rosalind for no woman.
Rosalind resolves the scene by telling everyone what will happen the
next day: Orlando, Silvius, and she (i.e. Ganymede) will all be married;
and she (i.e Ganymede) will satisfy Orlando, content Silvius and
marry Phebe if she ever marries a woman. Silvius, Phebe,
and Orlando promise not to fail to show up the next day at
Oliver's wedding.
Act
5, Scene 3.
Touchstone and Audrey speak
excitedly about their marriage. Two of Duke Senior’s pages enter
and sing a song for them. They sing of love in springtime, with singing birds,
flowers, and cornfields. The song’s refrain is “with a hey, and a ho, and a hey
nonino,” and most of its stanzas end with “etc.” Touchstone deems the song
“untuneable,” foolish, and not worth his time.
Act
5, Scene 4.
Duke Senior, Amiens, Jaques, Orlando, Oliver, and Celia (as Aliena)
enter. In response to Duke Senior’s questions about Ganymede’s promise,
Orlando says that he sometimes believes and sometimes doubts that it will
come true. Rosalind (disguised as Ganymede) enters along with Silvius and
Phebe and makes sure that everyone is ready for what is to come to pass:
that Duke Senior will give Rosalind to Orlando, that Orlando will marry
Rosalind, and that Phebe will marry Ganymede unless for some
reason Phebe refuses, in which case she will marry Silvius.
When Rosalind (as Ganymede) and Celia leave, the Duke remarks
that Ganymede reminded him of his daughter, and Orlando confirms
the resemblance but recounts “Ganymede’s” alibi about getting her courtly
manners from her articulate uncle.
Touchstone enters with Audrey, and Jaques identifies him
as the fool he had mentioned meeting earlier in the forest. Touchstone claims
that he has just had a quarrel that was taken “upon the seventh cause.” At
Jaques’s pressing, Touchstone explains what he means by “seventh cause”: that,
after he told a courtier he met along the road that the man’s beard was poorly
cut, there were seven levels of retorts, including the Retort Courteous and the
Quip Modest. Touchstone goes on to suggest that every level of retort could be
avoided but the Lie Direct. Duke Senior praises Touchstone for his
wit, remarking that “he uses his folly like a stalking horse, and under the
presentation of that he shoots his wit.”
Hymen, the god of marriage, enters, with Celia and Rosalind at
his side, dressed now as themselves. Rosalind presents herself to Duke Senior and
to Orlando, both of whom express some disbelief at her appearance; the
former remarks “if there be truth in sight, you are my daughter,” and the
latter, “if there be truth in sight, you are my Rosalind.” At the sight of
Rosalind, Phebe bids adieu to her chance at love with Ganymede. Hymen
sings a marriage hymn, in which he says he will remove all confusion and
addresses all pairs of lovers present: Orlando and Rosalind, Phebe and Silvius,
Oliver and Celia, and Touchstone and Audrey.
Jaques de Boys enters and reports that Duke Frederick, who had been
on his way to the Forest of Arden fight with his brother, came across a
religious man along the way and was converted to a love of peace. After his
conversion, he decided to return his crown to his banished brother, restore all
of Duke Senior’s lands, and go to live in a monastery. Duke Senior welcomes
Jaques de Boys, and praises the good fortune of the occasion; he suggests that
they “let us do those ends that here were well begun and well begot” and that
they “fall into… rustic revelry.”
Everyone rejoices that they can return to the royal court, except for Jaques who
announces that he will go join Duke Frederick in his life of contemplation
at the monastery. He explains that he feels himself to be suited “for other
than for dancing measures,” and says his goodbyes to Duke Senior, Orlando,
Oliver, Silvius, and Touchstone. Jaques exits and all the other
characters, except for Rosalind, dance off the stage.
Epilogue
Rosalind begins the Epilogue by acknowledging that it is unusual in
a play for a woman to give the epilogue, but reasons that it is no more so than
for the lord to give the prologue. She says that a good play shouldn’t need an
epilogue, but can be improved by one. She adds that since she isn’t dressed
like a beggar she won’t beg for their approval.
Deeming that her task is to “conjure” the audience, Rosalind tells
the women to like as much of the play as pleases them based on the love they
hold for men. She says the same to the men, and jokes that if she were a woman,
she would kiss every one in the audience who was good-looking, and clean,
enough for her to admire them. She concludes by expressing her confidence that
as many men as the number she admires will applaud as she curtsies her
farewell.
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