Literature Studies: “As You Like It” by William Shakespeare Research Paper

William Shakespeare’s play As You Like It can be regarded as a pastoral and romantic comedy that includes many twists of the plot depicting the relations between various characters. Nevertheless, there is a common theme that is of great importance to the playwright. In particular, this literary work throws light on the way in which love can transform the experiences of an individual (Inge).

Moreover, the author challenges the conventions for the description of lovers, their motives, and behavior. Overall, Shakespeare shows that love can take a great number of forms, and this sensation can make the life of a person more fulfilling and joyful; more importantly, it does not have to be associated only with emotional suffering; this is the idea that many poets and playwrights before Shakespeare focused on. This is the main message that the writer tries to convey to the audience.

One should keep in mind that the characters depicted by the author live in some French duchy, and one can see that these people can be affected by the courtly life and conflicts caused by power struggles. Nevertheless, this play is set in the fictional Forest of Arden. Overall, this forest is a place where characters can renew themselves. Moreover, they can discover their better qualities that do not initially attract the readers’ attention.

Overall, the Forest of Arden is one of the magical places in which people can obtain their independence (Shakespeare XXXVI). For instance, children are able to become more independent of their parents. In many cases, love can be regarded as one of the forces that enable people to transform themselves almost entirely. As a rule, it enables them to discover happiness. This is one of the issues that should be taken into account.

It should be noted that love can take different forms in this play. For instance, one can speak about Orlando and Rosalind who are the main characters of this play. Overall, their relations can be described as romantic love. The author tries to ridicule the assumption according to which love can be compared to slavery since it does not accurately reflect the behavior of an individual. It should be mentioned that Orlando cannot openly express his affection for Rosalind, but he wants to win Rosalind’s love.

Overall, Orlando can be viewed as the character who is supposed to ridicule a conventional description of the so-called courtly love which is sometimes compared to a dangerous disease that impairs the life of a person. In particular, he makes the following statement while talking to Rosalind, “I am he that that is so love-shaked. I pray you to tell me your remedy” (III. 2. 354-355). In this case, this character does not directly state he is deeply in love with Rosalind.

Furthermore, this character seems to be convinced that he will “not be cured” (III. 2. 409). In other words, this person believes that he will not gain Rosalind’s love. It seems that Rosalind fully understands his thoughts and feelings, but she wants Orlando to become more open. She says that Orlando requires close confinement, and in this way, she tries to draw parallels between love and a mental disorder (III. 2. 387).

Furthermore, she wants him to abandon the artificiality of courtly manners. This character tries to emulate the behavior of various knights depicted by many poets and playwrights (Benson). To a great, Rosalind conversation with Orlando suggests that love should not be viewed as something inaccessible in the earthly life.

This is why she seems to be slightly ironic of Orlando and the artificial mannerism that only creates difficulties for him. These are some of the main aspects that can be distinguished because they are important for understanding the way in which Shakespeare tries to ridicule many of the artistic canons which existed in the late sixteenth century.

Moreover, it is possible to speak about the unrequited love that Silvius feels for Phoebe. It should be noted that Silvious is a shepherd, while Phoebe is a peasant girl who ignores him. This character knows it quite clear that Phone rejects affection. Nevertheless, he accepts the suffering caused by unrequited love.

More importantly, he is ready to humiliate himself in order to win Phoebe’s affection. To a great extent, this character can be compared to the Petrarchan lover or a person who understand that his/her affection may not be returned. This is one of the details that attract the attention of the readers. It is possible to examine the following quote illustrates the experiences of this character:

“So holy and so perfect is my love, And I in such a poverty of grace, That I shall think it a most plenteous crop To glean the broken ears after the man That the main harvest reaps. Loose now and then A scattered smile, and that I’ll live upon.” (III. 5. 99-101)

This quote is important because it shows that despite the unreturned attention, love makes Silvius’s life much more fulfilling. He understands that Phoebe may love another person, but this knowledge does not make this girl less attractive to him.

In this way, Shakespeare tries to challenge the literary and artistic canon according to which unreturned love only leads to emotional suffering. Furthermore, William Shakespeare is willing to show that this character is able to feel happiness even despite Phoebe’s indifference. Moreover, he eventually succeeds in winning her love. These are some of the main details that should be taken into account.

Additionally, Shakespeare can demonstrate that love can arise when the characters do not initially feel sympathy toward one another. In this case, one can speak about the relations between Touchstone and Audrey. It should be noted that Audrey is a poorly-educated girl who does not seem attractive to other people.

Moreover, Touchstone just wants to make use of her. Thus, one cannot suppose that they can turn into a married couple. Nevertheless, this character eventually finds Audrey’s openness and honesty very appealing. To a great extent, this couple completely defies the standards of courtly love depicted by many writers and poets before Shakespeare.

It is possible to provide other examples indicating that love can be extremely unpredictable. This argument is particularly relevant if one speaks about the love between Oliver and Celia. One can argue that Oliver is the main antagonist of the play; he does not evoke the sympathy of the reader. In contrast, Celia can be viewed as the paragon of different moral values. These two individuals do not seem to be compatible with one another, and it is often argued that this development of the plot is unrealistic.

However, one should keep in mind that sometimes love can overcome such obstacles. This is one of the arguments that can be put forward. Moreover, it is possible to argue that love transforms Oliver and makes him re-evaluate the morality of his actions and decisions. Again, one should mention that this action takes place in the Forest of Arden which seems to transform the main characters.

One should bear in mind that Shakespeare often incorporates magic in his plays in order to change the values and behavior of the characters (Shakespeare XI). To a great extent, this strategy could appeal to many people who attended the performances of his plays. Oliver’s transformation in the Forest of Arden is one of such techniques which were often adopted by the author. This is one of the points that can be made.

On the whole, the author departs from the literary tradition which existed in the sixteenth century. In particular, many authors depicted love as one of the forces that brought emotional suffering to a person. In turn, William Shakespeare deviates from this tradition and even ridicules it.

The author lays stress on the idea that love can take many forms, and it is the main source of joy for an individual. More importantly, this feeling can be shared even by those people who do not seem to be attracted to one another. It is possible to say that Shakespeare can challenge many of the conventions that people can take for granted. He demonstrates that love can vary dramatically, but it can make the life of a person more fulfilling. These are the main points that should be considered.

Works Cited

Benson, Larry. “Courtly Love and Chivalry in the Later Middle Ages”. Harvard.Edu . n.d. Web.

Inge, Dwight. “ A Guide to Teaching the Interpretation of Shakespeare .” Yale.edu . 2009. Web.

Shakespeare, William. As You Like It . New York: Penguin, 2000. Print.

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Bibliography

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  • As You Like It

Background of the Play

According to modern critics, As You Like It is a play written for the audience of the twenty-first century. Though it is placed in Elizabethan culture and uses its aesthetic, political, social, and literary culture. It is a finger placed on the pulse of the future. It is an escape from the world of troubles, worries, and corruption to a world of enchantments and mythology.

Critics often describe it as a satire on the pastoral ideal; and a celebration of the pastoral spirit that cannot be bound. The audience loves some scenes, particularly in the forest of Arden, where love-oriented and cheerful banter dominates. In comparison to scenes at Fredrick’s court and Oliver’s home, which are dominated by gloom and battle-filled air.

Though there is no record available about the performance of this play, scholars speculate it was written probably in 1598, and first performed in 1599. It was part of First Folio, published in 1623. The time of its preparation was Shakespeare’s culmination period.

It is much different from other comedies because it mixes different cultures, traditions, and people from different classes. Christian, Pagan, and classical traditions are mixed into each other. It contains elements of a fairytale as well as rudiments of Italian romances. It contains traces of magic as well. It shows an oscillation from prose to verse.

This play gives some most profound human feelings in their most original form, which touches the hearts of the audience. This place is also important because of some references; one of foremost importance is the forest of Arden (Arden Woods). It refers to Ardennes as well forest near Shakespeare’s residence. This clarifies the historical existence of Shakespeare.

Its plot is derived from Rosalynde , which was based on a fourteenth-century poem The Tale of Gamelyn. Though Shakespeare took the plot from another work, he improved characters like Rosalind, Jacques, and Touchstone. The poem was more action-oriented, while Shakespeare made the play more reflection oriented, changing the role of philosophers. It is placed beautifully between Shakespeare’s post-tragic romances and comedies.

Pastorals were a familiar genre in that period, so it overlaps with other Pastoral works like Philip Sidney’s The Lady of May and Spenser’s The Shepheardes Calender . We can conclude that it is a romantic comedy which encapsulates world affairs ranging from the grave to amorous ones.

As You Like It Summary

Act i: scene i.

In the opening scene, Orlando is shown talking to his servant Adam. He is complaining about his brother’s behavior and maltreatment. He is weary of him that how he is an obstacle in his advancement and doesn’t let him be a part of the sophisticated, cultured class. This all is heard by Oliver and gets angry with his younger brother’s complaints. He blames him that either he wants education or the property that his father has bequeathed. Oliver tries to calm Orlando while the servant is scolded. Orlando’s status is established as the play’s hero when he describes himself having the virtues his father had.

Oliver calls for Charles, the court wrestler, and he tells the news regarding duke’s court. The elder duke has been ousted by his younger brother from his court and now stays in Arden like ‘Robin Hood.’ While his daughter, Rosalind, remains at court because she is favored by the younger Duke’s daughter, Celia. Charles brings the news that Duke has announced wrestling matches, and Orlando wants to fight against him in disguise. He warns that if he did so, he would be harmed. Oliver responds by telling him to do as much harm as he can do him; this clarifies his position as the villain. He despises him because he is the most beloved and benevolent of the three brothers.

Act I: Scene II

In this scene, Rosalind and Celia make their first appearance. Rosalind mourns her father’s disappearance while Celia tries to console her. Rosalind wants to fall in love, which will occupy her mind, and this will let her get rid of distracting thoughts. Then the court fool Touchstone comes, and they greet him. He tries to cheer them up with his jokes. In a few whiles, a courtier Monsieur La Beau comes and informs them regarding the wrestling match.

A shift from prose to blank verse is noticed, and Duke Fredrick enters, gravity pervades. He asks the ladies to entreat the young man (Orlando) to quit the competition because it may have grave consequences. But he insists and wants to test him at this competition. He surprises all and defeats Charles, and asks for a second competition but is not possible because Charles is taken away. His victory pleases the ladies, and Rosalind gives him her chain. When Fredrick asks about his name, he is astonished because he is his old enemy’s son. Orlando is charmed by Rosalind’s beauty.

Act I: Scene III

Rosalind talking to Celia confesses her love for Orlando and even refers to him as her ‘child’s father.’ Fredrick, infuriated at her previous behavior, comes and tells her that she has to leave the palace within ten days. And if she didn’t leave, she will be killed for this crime to appear within the premises of the court. She pleads to revise his decision because she is not a traitor. But Duke refuses to do so. Rosalind and Celia vow never to separate from each other and decide to leave the palace together. They decide to take the court jester Touchstone along with them. They fear to leave the court in their original identity, so they decide to leave disguised. Celia disguises herself as a woman named Aliena, while Rosalind disguises herself as a man named Ganymede. They gather the jewels they will take along with them to Arden.

Act II: Scene I

In the second act, Duke is shown in the forest extolling the beauties of pastoral life. He praises the brooks, trees, stones, and all other things that are there in the forest. He tells his company to learn from the wonders which lie scattered in the forest. He expresses his regret at the harm caused to animals in the forest due to their hunt. He is informed that Jacques is sentimental because of the wounded deer and laments its injuries. He asks to be led to the place where Jacques is because it gives him pleasure to talk to Jacques. They leave to search for him.

Act II: Scene II

Duke Fredrick is informed that Rosalind, Celia, and Touchstone are missing. He is told that they were praising Orlando and talked about being in love with him. They suspect that they may be with him. Oliver is summoned to court to be investigated regarding the probe.

Act II: Scene III

In this scene, Adam and Orlando meet. Adam tells him that Oliver is planning to kill him; he has plotted against him in the fight and had convinced Charles to kill him. He informs Orlando that he is still persistent and will kill him, whatever the method. He warns him to leave home as soon as possible because, at his success in the wrestling match, Oliver is jealous. At this, Orlando tells him that he will face his brother now to get his due share in the property. He will leave his home if he can help him make proper arrangements and stays by his side. Both of them agree and leave together for the forest of Arden.

Act II: Scene IV

Touchstone, Rosalind, and Celia have reached the forest of Arden. They are much tired, and Touchstone shows somewhat regret at leaving the court. Their mood is softened by woodland shepherds Corin and Silvius, who speak of love. Silvius accuses Corin that he has never been a true lover himself. He says that he admires Phebe. This reminds Rosalind of Orlando, while Touchstone recalls his love when he was a young man. Touchstone calls Corin, and Rosalind asks him about food and lodgings, which are arranged. They purchase a cottage to live while a flock of sheep to get them something to feed.

Act II: Scene V

Jacques, Amiens, and other lords are enjoying the forest. Amiens sings while the rest of the courtiers sing in chorus with him, Jacques tells them to continue it. They praise the forest because it is a serene place, and there are no enemies except ‘winter and rough weather.’ Some of the men are told to prepare the meal. Jacques says that he tries to avoid Duke senior because he thinks of him as ‘too disputable.’

Act II: Scene VI

Adam and Orlando are seen walking in the forest, stumbling. In stark contrast to the last scene where meals were arranged for both the parties, the characters in this scene are starved. Orlando and Adam are hungry but can’t find a meal. Adam stumbles while Orlando supports him, saying that he will find him food and shelter.

Act II: Scene VII

In this scene, Duke senior is seen searching for Jacques. He reaches where Jacques is sitting; the meal is prepared. He is asked by Jacques to join him in the meal. Jacques tells him that he has seen Touchstone, the jester, and wishes to wear a motley coat like him. He expresses his desire to blow air at people’s faces for their follies. Duke knows that he can’t do so because he has spent and amorous, libertine past. Suddenly Orlando arrives with a bare sword in his hand and orders them not to take a single morsel before he comes back. But when he sees Duke senior, he apologizes and is warmly greeted. He leaves to take back Adam with him. At this, Jacques gives a philosophical account of the life of man; he describes seven stages of life. He calls life a stage while men are mere actors. These life stages include the infancy, schoolboy age, lover age, soldier age justice age, absentminded-old age, and the senile age. Jacques is cynic of human beings and expresses his disgust for them. As Jacques finishes, Adam sings a song. Then enter Adam and Orlando, Duke expresses his joy at the coming of his old friend’s son and welcomes them. The duke holds Adam’s hand, and the whole company leaves happily.

Act III: Scene I

Oliver is summoned to Duke’s court, and Fredrick orders him to bring Orlando, alive or dead, to his court within twelve months. If he didn’t bring him to court within the mentioned period of time, he would lose all his property as well as the right to live in this territory. He responds by saying that he never loved his brother and will fetch him soon. The Duke scorns him for his vile nature and not loving his brother. He asks his men to take him out of court.

Act III: Scene II Summary

Orlando is wandering in the forest and is lovesick for Rosalind. He sticks love poems for her throughout the forest and carves Rosalind’s name on trees throughout. While he is doing so, Touchstone and Corin enter discussing the merits of living in the countryside in comparison to life at court. Rosalind enters disguised as Ganymede and reads a poem. Touchstone shows his disgust for the poem because it, according to him, is jagged. Then they ask the men to leave them alone. Celia tells Rosalind that she knows the man who stuck the poems to trees, and reveals that he was wearing Orlando’s chain. This agitates her mind, and when she comes to know that it was Rosalind, romantic feelings overcome her. Orlando and Jacques are seen coming towards them; they hide. Orlando tells Jacques of his love for Rosalind and is questioned by him, which he satisfactorily answers.

When Jacques goes, and Orlando is left alone, disguised Rosalind approaches him. She wants to conceal her original identity. She tells him that she can cure his illness, the condition for it would be to focus his affection towards her and to call her Rosalind. Though Orlando is skeptic of doing this, he agrees, and they leave for her cottage.

Act III: Scene III

Touchstone and Audrey, a countrywoman, are courting. The couple is incongruous because the wench is an unsophisticated, uncultured, and simpleton woman, almost opposite of Touchstone. The jester asks her to accompany him to a church vicar to get them married. According to him, this will legitimatize their love. They are watched by Jacques when they are going to the house of Sir Oliver Mar-text. Jacques thinks of them not befitting to each other. He leads them away from Sir Oliver’s and tells them to find them a better person.

Act III: Scene IV

Rosalind is seen anxiously waiting for Orlando, but he doesn’t come. She discusses him emotionally with Celia. Celia expresses her doubt about his love. Rosalind tells her that she met her father in disguise; he couldn’t recognize her. She doesn’t bother about her father’s presence; Orlando’s presence worries her. To their relief, Corin and Silvius come and change the topic.

Act III: Scene V

Silvius is seen pleading Phebe for her favor while she warns him not to come near her. Celia, Rosalind secretly watch him. At this rejection, Phebe is told that she will come to know the pain when she is in love. While Phebe responds that men aren’t emotionally hurt. At this, Rosalind comes and joins them. She rebukes Phebe for her stubbornness. She tells her to take anything that is offered and be grateful for it.

Phebe is charmed by Ganymede’s (Rosalind) appearance and praises ‘his’ (her) appearance and talk. As Rosalind leaves, she talks about her and is now happy with Silvius because he talks of love. She tells Silvius that she will love her but as a neighbor.

Act IV: Scene I

Jacques and Rosalind (still disguised) are seen bantering about melancholy. Jacques tells her that he is melancholy because he has traveled much. Rosalind replies that she prefers that talk of a jester to the silence of a sage. At Orlando’s entrance, Jacques leaves, and they are left alone. They talk about love and flirt with each other. She reprimands him for not keeping his promise and compares him to a snail. They talk about kissing; later, she adds that no man has ever died for love. When Rosalind tells her that her talk is lamenting, she gets cheerful, and they talk about marriage. They engage in a mock wedding ceremony. Then she talks about life after her marriage that if her husband isn’t caring, she will go for somebody else. Later Orlando leaves for the duke’s residence to attend the dinner he has arranged and promises to come back in two hours. Rosalind tells him that if he didn’t come back, he wouldn’t be given any favor anymore.

Act IV: Scene II

Jacques and lords are busy hunting, and a deer is caught. Last time he was grieving the wounds of the deer, but this time he is cheerful and wants to present it to the duke. They merrily sing songs. He says that he will present it to duke the way a trophy was presented to a Roman conqueror.

Act IV: Scene III

Orlando has again failed to come in time. Rosalind and Celia wonder about the reasons for his being late. Silvius comes and hands her a letter from Phebe. It has love contents, and she reads it aloud, jesting with Silvius. A few whiles later, she sends Silvius away.

Oliver arrives at their cottage in search of Rosalind. He tells her that a snake had coiled around his neck, and his brother protected him from it, but a lioness attacked him then. Orlando killed the lioness but was injured. After that, he discovered that he wrongly hated his brother. Both of them then left for Duke senior’s residence, and from there, he asked him to bring Ganymede this handkerchief. Though disguised as Ganymede, Rosalind swoons. She is sure that Oliver will tell his brother that this fainting was a pretense.

Act V: Scene I

Audrey and Touchstone converse about their marriage. Audrey tells him that Sir Mar-text was good to wed them, but he tries to postpone this issue to a later time. He tells her that there is a youth in the forest who is in love with her. While they converse, a rustic youth William comes. Touchstone asks him that if he is wise, he responds in affirmative. At this Touchstone replies: the fool doth think he is wise and embarrasses him. He warns the youth not to come near to Audrey. Corin comes and informs him that Ganymede and Aliena want him to come.

Act V: Scene II

Oliver has fallen in love with Aliena and confesses it to his brother Orlando. He says that he will leave all that his father has left, to Orlando and will lead his life like a shepherd. She has agreed to marry him, and they will get married soon. Ganymede enters and talks about Aliena and Oliver’s love at first sight. Orlando expresses his grief because Rosalind is not there. Ganymede tells him that if he comes to his (Rosalind’s, she is disguised) house, he will make him get her through magic. But before that, Oliver and Aliena need to get married.

Phebe and Silvius enter. Phebe expresses her love for Ganymede, which she denies to requite because he doesn’t love ‘any woman.’

Act V: Scene III

Touchstone is happy and tells Audrey that the next day they will get married. Duke’s two pages are with them. They sing while the couple enjoys their songs. Touchstone is cynical of the time that he has wasted before and praises the pages for their songs.

Act V: Scene IV

In the last scene, Duke senior, Rosalind, and Celia (still disguised), Jacques, Orlando, Oliver, Silvius, and Phebe are all together. Rosalind confirms that couples will get married. Rosalind and Celia leave, while Duke senior and Orlando comment that he looks like Rosalind.

Touchstone and Audrey arrive there; he is seen commending himself for marriage to Audrey, calling it a noble deed. Jacques praises his wit. He then describes seven levels of a lie.

Rosalind and Celia are led by the Greek god of marriage, Hymen. Hymen speaks in blank verse. He proceeds to marry each of the four couples, which are Audrey and Touchstone, Celia and Oliver, Silvius and Phebe, Rosalind, and Orlando. A wedlock hymn is sung. Jacques de Boys, Orlando, and Oliver’s brother arrive, bringing the news that Duke Fredrick has changed by the charm of a religious man. He has decided to return the dukedom back to his brother. All are happy at this news, while Jacques, the philosopher, announces to leave their company. The scene ends in dancing.

Rosalind speaks the epilogue. She hopes that all would have enjoyed the play who bids farewell to the audience.

As You Like It Characters Analysis

Adam is the aged servant of De Boys. He encourages Orlando, calling him the true heir of his father. He is the one who suffers with him on the journey and stays by his side all along.

Amiens is Duke senior’s courtier. He has left court with him for Arden.

Audrey is a simpleton shepherdess. She marries Touchstone. She is an ignorant person and the dullest of Shakespearean female characters. She doesn’t even understand Touchstone’s ridicule.

Celia is Rosalind’s cousin and Duke Fredrick’s daughter. She is Rosalind’s confidante and stays by her throughout the play, bearing the hardships. She is the reason behind Rosalind’s falling in love. Because she had told her to go and congratulate Orlando. She is later disguised as Aliena and marries Oliver. Celia is a stronger woman than her cousin. Because when Rosalind assumes male disguise, she shows contempt for women while she reproves her for that.

Charles is a court wrestler. He is used by Oliver to kill Orlando but gets defeated.

Corin is a shepherd and defends pastoral life. He befriends Rosalind, Celia, and Touchstone. Though Touchstone abuses him for being simpleton, he defends himself successfully.

J acques de Boys

Jacques de Boys is Orlando and Oliver’s brother. He brings the news of Fredrick’s conversion into a good man. He can be called a mediator between good and evil forces.

Duke Fredrick

Fredrick has usurped the throne from his elder brother. He is Celia’s father. He is a one-dimensional villain and can be called a type. His character is almost irrelevant and doesn’t make an appearance after a religious conversion.

Duke Senior

He is the exiled duke from whom his younger brother has taken all his property. He lives in the forest of Arden. He is a benevolent patriarchal figure in the forest and rules his loyal subjects there. His dialogue closes the play, and he is the one who opens the scene in the forest. He is in love with natural life and praises the beauties of pastoral life, comparing it to the perilous air of court.

Hymen is the Greek god of marriage. He appears in the last scene and leads the wedding ceremony of the couples. His presence confirms that this forest is something away from the worries of the world.

Jacques is a philosopher and a lord in attendance to Duke senior. He is a melancholy person. He is considered as Touchstone’s foil because both are witty, who reflect on the misery, beauty, and irony of the world. He looks a misanthrope and is a different character in the forest. He considers all human beings as usurpers laying into ruins the beauty of the world. He can be seen as the earliest environmentalist in literature.

Le Beau is Fredrick’s courtier. He brings the news of duke’s displeasure at the ladies’ bold step to approach Orlando.

Sir Oliver Mar-text

He is a vicar and is about to officiate the marriage ceremony of Touchstone and Audrey but is interrupted by Jacques.

Oliver is Orlando’s elder brother and has usurped Orlando’s properties. Initially, he plays the role of a villain. He evolves later, changes into a good man, and vows to lead a life like a shepherd. He is jealous of his brother, who is well-loved by people, and he is paid no proper attention. He hates Orlando and plans to kill him. He falls in love with Celia and gets married to her in the end.

Orlando is the principal male protagonist of this play and son of Sir Roland de Boys. He is not given proper value at his home, and by showing discontent leads to his miseries. His brother hates him, and he plans to kill him. He leaves his home for the forest. He falls in love with Rosalind and she with him. He is a modest person and without boasting defeats Charles and looks shy when Rosalind and Celia approach him. His name is an anagram of his father’s name, and his servant calls him the true image of his father. This shows his abilities and competence. In the forest, it is noticed that he doesn’t assert himself much, and this shows his abilities to reconcile to the feminine gender. He is a gentle person and shows his gentle upbringing in the initial scenes in the forest. He combines passion and aggression in himself. He shows himself the most competent character in the play. He marries Rosalind in the end.

Phebe is a shepherdess who is loved by Silvius. She is indifferent towards him and falls in love with Ganymede. But in the end, he agrees to meet Silvius. She is the most ignorant of Shakespearean female characters.

Rosalind is Duke Senior’s daughter and resides with her uncle Fredrick at his palace. She is exiled because she has approached Orlando, son of duke’s old enemy. She falls in love with Orlando and leaves the palace with her cousin Celia.

She later disguises as Ganymede and, in the end, marries Orlando. She is the play’s central character. She speaks most of the dialogues and brings the play to an end. She has become melancholy because her father has been ousted from the court, and along with that, Orlando is away from her. She can’t stand this men’s apparel (disguise) but successfully maintains it until the time comes to throw it away.

She is deeply in love with Orlando and is in need of a man figure in her life, which she gets in the form of Orlando. Though she shows her sovereignty when disguised as a man but becomes subservient when it comes to her original and marries Orlando.

He is a shepherd and deeply in love with Phebe. She scorns him but eventually is able to marry her.

Touchstone is a court jester at Fredrick’s court. He leaves court with Celia and Rosalind for the forest. He is a witty person, and his name fits him well. He discloses the realities of other characters when they talk to him. He is a foil for Jacques and is a philosopher as well a worldly man. He is out of place in the forest and constantly makes the audience feel that he is not happy there.

He falls in love with Audrey and, in the end, marries her. He looks at things from a different angle. He criticizes Orlando’s poetry and calls it pedantic. He criticizes Corin for not having learned court manners. He considers himself something between a fool and a wise man. His role in this play is there as relief from comic realism. His dialogues preempt laughter as well as thoughts in the audience.

William is a person from the countryside and is in love with Audrey. Touchstone threatens him, never to be seen near her.

Themes in As You Like It

Pastoral life.

As You Like It shows Shakespeare’s partiality towards rural life. He shows his contempt for court life in this play through the mouth of different characters. He, through the court’s disorder and deterioration, shows the political decline. He depicts the movement towards the gradual meanness of human beings in court life. He has shown how materialistic competition leads to conflict between brothers. Duke senior introduces this life by saying that in this life, there is no danger except winter. In pastoral life, there is no property and social position, which is the secret of the serenity of this life.

Though the journey to the forest is difficult, it is a blessing for those who successfully reach there. This life is a liberation from oppression and strips human beings from the evils they have acquired in court life. It is a morally pure realm and has transforming capabilities.

Fortune versus Nature

In this play, there is a conflict between fortune and nature. Fortune represents the materialistic forces, while nature represents the purifying forces. Here this competition is shown when the audience comes to know that Fredrick was benefited over duke senior by fortune and led to the usurpation of power.

Celia, in a dialogue, says that the fortune she has will be equally divided between her and Rosalind. Thus ending the injustice, thus challenging the goddess of fortune. Goddess nature was considered as blind, while nature was considered to be controlling people’s innately good values and promotes virtues. In Duke senior, we can see that he has given up the fortune and is now living a virtuous life. We can conclude that the plays come to enjoy the virtues of nature when they give up their fortune.

If we compare time in court contrasted with time in the forest, we can see that in the former, it’s a threat while in the latter, it’s a blessing. In court, whenever the time is mentioned, we can see that there are deadlines and characters are threatened.

There are threats of executions, exile, and arrest. In the forest, there are no such events, and time is shown without intervals. It is shown in a dialogue between Touchstone and Jacques as a vast eternity in which the characters gradually diminish. Jacques further elucidates it as the seven ages of men, excluding violence from it.

As stated earlier that there are no artificialities in the forest, time is not measured by clocks rather by the passing of the day. In short, time in the forest is subjective, not objective; each character sees it from his own novel perspective. Thus it is not a misery rather a benefaction.

Sexual Identity

In As You Like It , sexual identity is thoroughly examined. This is done through the character of Rosalind. She is disguised as Ganymede and remains so throughout. She can throw away the disguise when she enters the forest, but she doesn’t do so. Critics agree that she does so to get rid of the submissive role she has to play due to being female. She reverts the roles when courting Orlando and is in control of the further movement. In those days, female roles were played by young male actors, so it adds to the beauty of the play to transform a single male actor to perform different roles dexterously.

Acting and the Stage

In this play, we can see there are numerous references made to stage, acting, play, and characters. Firstly, it is evident in the case of Rosalind, who is disguised as Ganymede and asks him to ‘play the knave with him.’ She can say much about the role of the lover as well the role of man, and she successfully plays the role of a man. She points out that he doesn’t play a proper lover because he is tidy and not disheveled.

Jacques draws an analogy between seven ages of man and between acts of a play. Duke senior refers to the world as a stage at the arrival of Orlando. He calls this life both a tragedy and a comedy. ‘All the world is a stage’ is the most evidence of this fact. It strengthens this Shakespearean belief of the world as a stage. He believes in the inability of actors to bring any change to the script or their roles and uses befitting metaphors for this purpose.

Familial Relationships

Like some other Shakespearean plays, familial relationships are also the focus in this play. Conflicts are going on between brothers for property, money, or leading role. This is shown in the case of Orlando and Oliver as well in the case of Duke senior and Fredrick. It is excellently portrayed how fortune ruins relationships, and nature mends them.

As You Like It Literary Analysis

In Shakespearean plays, we see elements in binaries, and these binaries are shown in contrast. We can see that there is a tension between natural and artificial, love and hatred, rustic and court life, serenity and conflict, gentle and pastoral characters. This is shown very well using the forest, court, imagery, and the witty dialogues of the sage characters. Virtue and evil are shown using the conflict going on in court life. Language and style are usefully employed by the playwright to add a realistic touch to the pastoral idealism. It is an idyllic utopia woven using the philosophical dialogues and some dystopian scenes.

Historical Context

Like other comedies, the historical context is mixed to alienate the audience. Shakespeare has used the forest of Arden as the setting while the court’s location is not mentioned. This way, the playwright has put forth the evils prevalent in court and those usually seen in the city life. Thus the audience doesn’t take it as an offense and realize the importance of rural life. This historical context also helps challenge gender roles.

Lyrical Interludes

Using songs and poems, Shakespeare has emphasized the romantic and pastoral aspects of this play. Five songs are performed, more than any other play. Different forms of verse are used in this play, which adds to its pastoral beauty. Half of the play is written in prose, while the sudden interludes signify the romantic outbursts in rustic life. Using a lyrical interlude, the chorus affirms that nature is the safest place for human beings. To shortly state, these lyrical interludes present nature’s rhythm.

The Pastoral

Pastoral is a poem describing shepherds and describing their rustic life. This may include some artificial elements like eloquence. Pastoralism impacted English life from 1550 to 1750. Shakespeare treated the pastoral somewhat ambiguously and has used it to create comedy. On one side, Orlando is shown leaving everything back in the palace and sticking poems to trees while Jacques is a philosopher shown in the forest. In the end, when everything is fine, all except Jacques leave for court, this shows it may be an endorsement or satire on the pastorals, the choice is readers’! As You Like It !

Similes are also prevalent, like other figurative uses of language like imagery, setting, wordplay, etc. Certain similes were familiar for the London audience then, like the analogy of weeping to the fountain of Diana. This is a reference to the statue of the aforementioned goddess in Cheapside London. Some similes mentioning animals can also be seen in this play.

Orlando refers to himself like a doe in search of her fawn; Jacques likens himself to weasel and rooster. Like these other objects are also used to describe the features relevant to them. Thus the befitting use of similes adds to the meaning of dialogues. The use of all these, along with the romances excellently employed, make it a successful romantic comedy.

Marginalization of Plot

In contrast to other Shakespearean plays, in this play, there can be a clear marginalization of plot noticed. Some scholars even blame him for neglect. As we can see that there is a sudden conversion of villains from evil to good for which he is usually criticized. Shakespeare has dealt with the plot summarily, and that reflects his intention not to make it the essence of the play. Thus limiting the plot has led to the strengthening of characters.

Gender Roles

Gender roles are not only important in the play’s technical context rather in historical context as well. These depict the widespread sexism in the Elizabethan era as well as the subordinate role in that hierarchical society. This was the undisputed division of society that women didn’t question, but Shakespeare, through the character of Rosalind, has questioned. Roles were fixed, and nobody could rebel against them. This has bound not only women but men as well. An instance of it is Rosalind disguised as Ganymede when she swoons at the news of Orlando’s injury. Oliver says, ‘You a man! You lack a man’s heart.’

Celia and Rosalind, in a conversation, say that women are marketable and have a quantifiable value. Thus the forest of Arden is free from the curse of dowry like other curses. Shakespeare softens the perception of masculine than hardening that of the feminine.

London, at that time, had a population of about two lacs and was different from country life in many respects. Thus the people coming from these two backgrounds were foreigners to each other. Shakespeare brings them together, and with the use of rural characters like Audrey and William, produce a comic effect. Though the playwright focuses primarily on the love stories still there is depiction of rural life and its values.

There are many allusions in this play. Some of them are Hymen, the Greek goddess of marriage, Arden, which refers to the Arden woods as well as Ardennes in France. In a dialogue, Celia, referring to fools, suggests the banishment of satire through a royal order.

More From William Shakespeare

  • A Midsummer Night’s Dream
  • The Merchant of Venice
  • Twelfth Night
  • The Taming of the Shrew
  • Much Ado About Nothing
  • The Comedy of Errors

as you like it research paper

As You Like It

William shakespeare, everything you need for every book you read..

Welcome to the LitCharts study guide on William Shakespeare's As You Like It . Created by the original team behind SparkNotes, LitCharts are the world's best literature guides.

As You Like It: Introduction

As you like it: plot summary, as you like it: detailed summary & analysis, as you like it: themes, as you like it: quotes, as you like it: characters, as you like it: symbols, as you like it: literary devices, as you like it: theme wheel, brief biography of william shakespeare.

As You Like It PDF

Historical Context of As You Like It

Other books related to as you like it.

  • Full Title: As You Like It
  • When Written: 1598-1600
  • Where Written: Stratford, England
  • When Published: 1623, First Folio
  • Literary Period: The Renaissance (1500-1600)
  • Genre: Comedy
  • Setting: French Court and the Forest of Arden
  • Climax: Rosalind, dressed as Ganymede, sets the terms for the marriages of all the characters that surround her, assuring Orlando that she will use her magic to bring Rosalind to him, promising Phebe that “he” will marry her if “he” ever marries a woman, and making Phebe promise that she will otherwise marry Silvius

Extra Credit for As You Like It

Shakespeare or Not? There are some who believe Shakespeare wasn't educated enough to write the plays attributed to him. The most common anti-Shakespeare theory is that Edward de Vere, the Earl of Oxford, wrote the plays and used Shakespeare as a front man because aristocrats were not supposed to write plays. Yet the evidence supporting Shakespeare's authorship far outweighs any evidence against. So until further notice, Shakespeare is still the most influential writer in the English language.

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As You Like It

By william shakespeare, as you like it study guide.

As You Like It was likely written between 1598 and 1600. It was entered in the Stationers' Register on August 4, 1600 but no edition followed the entry, thereby leading to the ambiguity in its publication date. Two topical references have been used by scholars to claim 1599 as the date of writing, but even this is inference only. For instance, Francis Meres, a contemporary of Shakespeare, listed the plays known to him in September of 1598 and did not include As You Like It among them. The first known publication is in the 1623 First Folio, taken either from Shakespeare's promptbook or less likely from a literary transcript of the promptbook.

The source for the plot of As You Like It is derived from Thomas Lodge's extremely popular prose romance Rosalynde . Written in 1586-87 and published in 1590, Shakespeare knew the story quite well although he changed a great deal of the details and emphasized different things. Lodge for example did not have ducal brothers, but Shakespeare chose to make enmity between brothers central to the theme of the play. Shakespeare also chooses to make primogeniture a target of his criticism by allowing Oliver to inherit everything, whereas Lodge had an equal inheritance between the brothers in his version. The clown Touchstone and the melancholically satirical Jaques are also both creations of Shakespeare.

The Forest of Ardenne is from Lodge's romance, and actually describes an ancient woodland comprising parts of France, Belgium and Luxembourg. Shakespeare used the French setting through his choice of the French spelling, "Ardenne". However, the First Folio indicates another spelling, namely the Forest of Arden, an Anglicized spelling that also corresponds to a forest near Shakespeare's birthplace in Warwickshire. This happy coincidence is indicative of the doubleness in the play; although set in a foreign kingdom the play refers to English customs such as Robin Hood and primogeniture. Thus the play can deal with problems at home in spite of its seemingly foreign setting.

The story of Orlando and Oliver comes from another source, that of The Tale of Gamelyn , a Middle English story in which a younger brother seeks revenge on an older brother who mistreats him. This story invokes the name of Robin Hood, the famous English outlaw who lived near Nottingham and poached the king's deer. Indeed, the opening scenes of As You Like It invoke the image of Robin Hood when Charles the Wrestler describes Duke Senior as a modern day Robin Hood with his band of nobles around him.

As You Like It finds its origins in the pastoral tradition of the Renaissance in which the rustic field and forest provides a sanctuary from urban or courtly issues. The play itself takes place in a forest where the characters are hiding from treachery at court or injustice in the family. This pastoral tradition began with Theocrites in ancient Greece, whose writings explored the sorrows of love and daily injustices in a rural setting. Virgil expanded the tradition, emphasizing the distinction between urban and rural lifestyles even more. Renaissance literature focused more on the distinction between court and country life, and Shakespeare had many contemporaries who worked in this literary vein, including Edmund Spenser who based his Shepherdess Calendar in 1579 on Virgil's Eclogues , and Sir Philip Sidney who wrote a romance in 1590 titled The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia .

The pastoral tradition, in spite of taking many literary forms, conformed to a traditional set of rules. A typical story would involve exiles from the court or city going into the countryside and living either with or as shepherds. While in the rural area, they would hold singing contests and philosophically discuss the various merits of both forms of life. Eventually the exiles would return to the city having resolved their particular problems.

Pastoral works have most frequently been used as social criticisms due to their ability to question the natural world versus the artificial manmade world. The characters often discuss whether life in the country is preferable to that of the city, usually focusing on such evils as cruel mistresses or the dishonesty of courtiers for themes. The simplicity of the countryside is always celebrated in a highly artful manner, imitating the Western literary tradition as it has developed over time. Indeed, the pastoral genre provides authors with a way to pretend; the characters immerse themselves in another world and can act out their ideal worlds. Thus in this "simplistic world" we see many disguises where courtiers pretend to be shepherds, men dress as women, women dress as men, and nobles become outlaws. The pastoral world gives its cast an opportunity to alter their own world when they return through the games they play in this contrived, imaginary location.

Shakespeare adopted the pastoral as a chance to deal both humorously and seriously with his two themes of brotherly betrayal and doting love. Indeed, the play has more songs in it than any other Shakespearian drama, a sign that Shakespeare enjoyed the pastoral genre he was using for the play. The forest of Ardenne, where the characters all end up, turns out to be very similar to other forests: it causes fear through the wild animals but provides the right atmosphere for healing to occur. This corresponds closely to the forest in A Midsummer Night's Dream where most of the action occurs before the cast returns to Athens with their problems resolved. Indeed, after hunting deer, tending sheep, singing songs and writing love sonnets on bark, most of the cast in this play returns home again with all their problems solved.

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As You Like It Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for As You Like It is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

What elements of drama were used?

As You Like It by William Shakespeare, like many of his plays, incorporates various elements of drama. Here are unique examples of how certain factors are used inside the play to set the scene, in addition to the story, define characters, and...

Describe the life of the old Duke in the Forest of Arden.

Duke Senior inhabits a cave in the forest of Ardenne where he spends time with other noblemen who have joined him. He is described as living like Robin Hood with his band of men.

Explain how Duke Ferderick had come to this position?

Duke Frederick is the younger brother of Duke Senior, he usurped (stole) his position and banished his brother.

Study Guide for As You Like It

As You Like It study guide contains a biography of William Shakespeare, literature essays, a complete e-text, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

  • About As You Like It
  • As You Like It Summary
  • Character List

Essays for As You Like It

As You Like It literature essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of As You Like It.

  • Relations On the Stage Between Older and Younger Men in 1 Henry IV and As You Like It
  • Which Side of the Fence? Questioning Sexuality in As You Like It
  • As Rosalind Likes It
  • Call Me Rosalind: Gender and Gender Stereotyping in As You Like It
  • Colliding Worlds: Green World Theory vs. Marxist Theory

Lesson Plan for As You Like It

  • About the Author
  • Study Objectives
  • Common Core Standards
  • Introduction to As You Like It
  • Relationship to Other Books
  • Bringing in Technology
  • Notes to the Teacher
  • Related Links
  • As You Like It Bibliography

E-Text of As You Like It

As You Like It E-Text contains the full text of As You Like It

  • List of Characters
  • List of Scenes

Wikipedia Entries for As You Like It

  • Introduction
  • Date and text

as you like it research paper

GRIN

Love in William Shakespeare's "As You Like It"

Term paper, 2015, 17 pages, grade: 1,7, julie dillenkofer (author), table of contents.

1. Introduction

2. Love in William Shakespeare’s As You Like It 2.1 Audrey and Touchstone 2.2 Phoebe and Silvius 2.3 Celia and Oliver 2.4 Rosalind and Orlando 2.5 A Comparison of the couples

3. Conclusion

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How to Write a Research Paper | A Beginner's Guide

A research paper is a piece of academic writing that provides analysis, interpretation, and argument based on in-depth independent research.

Research papers are similar to academic essays , but they are usually longer and more detailed assignments, designed to assess not only your writing skills but also your skills in scholarly research. Writing a research paper requires you to demonstrate a strong knowledge of your topic, engage with a variety of sources, and make an original contribution to the debate.

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Table of contents

Understand the assignment, choose a research paper topic, conduct preliminary research, develop a thesis statement, create a research paper outline, write a first draft of the research paper, write the introduction, write a compelling body of text, write the conclusion, the second draft, the revision process, research paper checklist, free lecture slides.

Completing a research paper successfully means accomplishing the specific tasks set out for you. Before you start, make sure you thoroughly understanding the assignment task sheet:

  • Read it carefully, looking for anything confusing you might need to clarify with your professor.
  • Identify the assignment goal, deadline, length specifications, formatting, and submission method.
  • Make a bulleted list of the key points, then go back and cross completed items off as you’re writing.

Carefully consider your timeframe and word limit: be realistic, and plan enough time to research, write, and edit.

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as you like it research paper

There are many ways to generate an idea for a research paper, from brainstorming with pen and paper to talking it through with a fellow student or professor.

You can try free writing, which involves taking a broad topic and writing continuously for two or three minutes to identify absolutely anything relevant that could be interesting.

You can also gain inspiration from other research. The discussion or recommendations sections of research papers often include ideas for other specific topics that require further examination.

Once you have a broad subject area, narrow it down to choose a topic that interests you, m eets the criteria of your assignment, and i s possible to research. Aim for ideas that are both original and specific:

  • A paper following the chronology of World War II would not be original or specific enough.
  • A paper on the experience of Danish citizens living close to the German border during World War II would be specific and could be original enough.

Note any discussions that seem important to the topic, and try to find an issue that you can focus your paper around. Use a variety of sources , including journals, books, and reliable websites, to ensure you do not miss anything glaring.

Do not only verify the ideas you have in mind, but look for sources that contradict your point of view.

  • Is there anything people seem to overlook in the sources you research?
  • Are there any heated debates you can address?
  • Do you have a unique take on your topic?
  • Have there been some recent developments that build on the extant research?

In this stage, you might find it helpful to formulate some research questions to help guide you. To write research questions, try to finish the following sentence: “I want to know how/what/why…”

A thesis statement is a statement of your central argument — it establishes the purpose and position of your paper. If you started with a research question, the thesis statement should answer it. It should also show what evidence and reasoning you’ll use to support that answer.

The thesis statement should be concise, contentious, and coherent. That means it should briefly summarize your argument in a sentence or two, make a claim that requires further evidence or analysis, and make a coherent point that relates to every part of the paper.

You will probably revise and refine the thesis statement as you do more research, but it can serve as a guide throughout the writing process. Every paragraph should aim to support and develop this central claim.

A research paper outline is essentially a list of the key topics, arguments, and evidence you want to include, divided into sections with headings so that you know roughly what the paper will look like before you start writing.

A structure outline can help make the writing process much more efficient, so it’s worth dedicating some time to create one.

Your first draft won’t be perfect — you can polish later on. Your priorities at this stage are as follows:

  • Maintaining forward momentum — write now, perfect later.
  • Paying attention to clear organization and logical ordering of paragraphs and sentences, which will help when you come to the second draft.
  • Expressing your ideas as clearly as possible, so you know what you were trying to say when you come back to the text.

You do not need to start by writing the introduction. Begin where it feels most natural for you — some prefer to finish the most difficult sections first, while others choose to start with the easiest part. If you created an outline, use it as a map while you work.

Do not delete large sections of text. If you begin to dislike something you have written or find it doesn’t quite fit, move it to a different document, but don’t lose it completely — you never know if it might come in useful later.

Paragraph structure

Paragraphs are the basic building blocks of research papers. Each one should focus on a single claim or idea that helps to establish the overall argument or purpose of the paper.

Example paragraph

George Orwell’s 1946 essay “Politics and the English Language” has had an enduring impact on thought about the relationship between politics and language. This impact is particularly obvious in light of the various critical review articles that have recently referenced the essay. For example, consider Mark Falcoff’s 2009 article in The National Review Online, “The Perversion of Language; or, Orwell Revisited,” in which he analyzes several common words (“activist,” “civil-rights leader,” “diversity,” and more). Falcoff’s close analysis of the ambiguity built into political language intentionally mirrors Orwell’s own point-by-point analysis of the political language of his day. Even 63 years after its publication, Orwell’s essay is emulated by contemporary thinkers.

Citing sources

It’s also important to keep track of citations at this stage to avoid accidental plagiarism . Each time you use a source, make sure to take note of where the information came from.

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The research paper introduction should address three questions: What, why, and how? After finishing the introduction, the reader should know what the paper is about, why it is worth reading, and how you’ll build your arguments.

What? Be specific about the topic of the paper, introduce the background, and define key terms or concepts.

Why? This is the most important, but also the most difficult, part of the introduction. Try to provide brief answers to the following questions: What new material or insight are you offering? What important issues does your essay help define or answer?

How? To let the reader know what to expect from the rest of the paper, the introduction should include a “map” of what will be discussed, briefly presenting the key elements of the paper in chronological order.

The major struggle faced by most writers is how to organize the information presented in the paper, which is one reason an outline is so useful. However, remember that the outline is only a guide and, when writing, you can be flexible with the order in which the information and arguments are presented.

One way to stay on track is to use your thesis statement and topic sentences . Check:

  • topic sentences against the thesis statement;
  • topic sentences against each other, for similarities and logical ordering;
  • and each sentence against the topic sentence of that paragraph.

Be aware of paragraphs that seem to cover the same things. If two paragraphs discuss something similar, they must approach that topic in different ways. Aim to create smooth transitions between sentences, paragraphs, and sections.

The research paper conclusion is designed to help your reader out of the paper’s argument, giving them a sense of finality.

Trace the course of the paper, emphasizing how it all comes together to prove your thesis statement. Give the paper a sense of finality by making sure the reader understands how you’ve settled the issues raised in the introduction.

You might also discuss the more general consequences of the argument, outline what the paper offers to future students of the topic, and suggest any questions the paper’s argument raises but cannot or does not try to answer.

You should not :

  • Offer new arguments or essential information
  • Take up any more space than necessary
  • Begin with stock phrases that signal you are ending the paper (e.g. “In conclusion”)

There are four main considerations when it comes to the second draft.

  • Check how your vision of the paper lines up with the first draft and, more importantly, that your paper still answers the assignment.
  • Identify any assumptions that might require (more substantial) justification, keeping your reader’s perspective foremost in mind. Remove these points if you cannot substantiate them further.
  • Be open to rearranging your ideas. Check whether any sections feel out of place and whether your ideas could be better organized.
  • If you find that old ideas do not fit as well as you anticipated, you should cut them out or condense them. You might also find that new and well-suited ideas occurred to you during the writing of the first draft — now is the time to make them part of the paper.

The goal during the revision and proofreading process is to ensure you have completed all the necessary tasks and that the paper is as well-articulated as possible. You can speed up the proofreading process by using the AI proofreader .

Global concerns

  • Confirm that your paper completes every task specified in your assignment sheet.
  • Check for logical organization and flow of paragraphs.
  • Check paragraphs against the introduction and thesis statement.

Fine-grained details

Check the content of each paragraph, making sure that:

  • each sentence helps support the topic sentence.
  • no unnecessary or irrelevant information is present.
  • all technical terms your audience might not know are identified.

Next, think about sentence structure , grammatical errors, and formatting . Check that you have correctly used transition words and phrases to show the connections between your ideas. Look for typos, cut unnecessary words, and check for consistency in aspects such as heading formatting and spellings .

Finally, you need to make sure your paper is correctly formatted according to the rules of the citation style you are using. For example, you might need to include an MLA heading  or create an APA title page .

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Checklist: Research paper

I have followed all instructions in the assignment sheet.

My introduction presents my topic in an engaging way and provides necessary background information.

My introduction presents a clear, focused research problem and/or thesis statement .

My paper is logically organized using paragraphs and (if relevant) section headings .

Each paragraph is clearly focused on one central idea, expressed in a clear topic sentence .

Each paragraph is relevant to my research problem or thesis statement.

I have used appropriate transitions  to clarify the connections between sections, paragraphs, and sentences.

My conclusion provides a concise answer to the research question or emphasizes how the thesis has been supported.

My conclusion shows how my research has contributed to knowledge or understanding of my topic.

My conclusion does not present any new points or information essential to my argument.

I have provided an in-text citation every time I refer to ideas or information from a source.

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As You Like It - Entire Play

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In As You Like It , witty words and romance play out against the disputes of divided pairs of brothers. Orlando’s older brother, Oliver, treats him badly and refuses him his small inheritance from their father’s estate; Oliver schemes instead to have Orlando die in a wrestling match. Meanwhile, Duke Frederick has forced his older brother, Duke Senior, into exile in the Forest of Arden.

Duke Senior’s daughter, Rosalind, and Duke Frederick’s daughter, Celia, meet the victorious Orlando at the wrestling match; Orlando and Rosalind fall in love. Banished by her uncle, Rosalind assumes a male identity and leaves with Celia and their fool, Touchstone. Orlando flees Oliver’s murderous plots.

In the Forest of Arden, Rosalind, in her male disguise, forms a teasing friendship with Orlando. Oliver, searching for Orlando, reforms after Orlando saves his life. Rosalind reveals her identity, triggering several weddings, including her own with Orlando and Celia’s with Oliver. Duke Frederick restores the dukedom to Duke Senior, who leaves the forest with his followers.

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AS YOU LIKE IT

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As you Like it: Introduction 5

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AS YOU LIKE IT

By william shakespeare, dramatis personæ.

ORLANDO, youngest son of Sir Rowland de Boys OLIVER, eldest son of Sir Rowland de Boys JAQUES DE BOYS, second son of Sir Rowland de Boys ADAM, Servant to Oliver DENNIS, Servant to Oliver

ROSALIND, Daughter of Duke Senior CELIA, Daughter of Duke Frederick TOUCHSTONE, a Clown

DUKE SENIOR (Ferdinand), living in exile

JAQUES, Lord attending on the Duke Senior AMIENS, Lord attending on the Duke Senior

DUKE FREDERICK, Brother to the Duke, and Usurper of his Dominions CHARLES, his Wrestler LE BEAU, a Courtier attending upon Frederick

CORIN, Shepherd SILVIUS, Shepherd PHOEBE, a Shepherdess AUDREY, a Country Wench WILLIAM, a Country Fellow, in love with Audrey SIR OLIVER MARTEXT, a Vicar

A person representing HYMEN

Lords belonging to the two Dukes; Pages, Foresters, and other Attendants.

The scene lies first near Oliver’s house; afterwards partly in the Usurper’s court and partly in the Forest of Arden.

Scene i. an orchard near oliver’s house.

Enter Orlando and Adam .

ORLANDO. As I remember, Adam, it was upon this fashion bequeathed me by will but poor a thousand crowns, and, as thou sayst, charged my brother, on his blessing, to breed me well; and there begins my sadness. My brother Jaques he keeps at school, and report speaks goldenly of his profit. For my part, he keeps me rustically at home, or, to speak more properly, stays me here at home unkept; for call you that keeping, for a gentleman of my birth, that differs not from the stalling of an ox? His horses are bred better, for, besides that they are fair with their feeding, they are taught their manage and to that end riders dearly hired; but I, his brother, gain nothing under him but growth, for the which his animals on his dunghills are as much bound to him as I. Besides this nothing that he so plentifully gives me, the something that nature gave me his countenance seems to take from me. He lets me feed with his hinds, bars me the place of a brother, and as much as in him lies, mines my gentility with my education. This is it, Adam, that grieves me, and the spirit of my father, which I think is within me, begins to mutiny against this servitude. I will no longer endure it, though yet I know no wise remedy how to avoid it.

Enter Oliver .

ADAM. Yonder comes my master, your brother.

ORLANDO. Go apart, Adam, and thou shalt hear how he will shake me up.

[ Adam retires. ]

OLIVER. Now, sir, what make you here?

ORLANDO. Nothing. I am not taught to make anything.

OLIVER. What mar you then, sir?

ORLANDO. Marry, sir, I am helping you to mar that which God made, a poor unworthy brother of yours, with idleness.

OLIVER. Marry, sir, be better employed, and be naught awhile.

ORLANDO. Shall I keep your hogs, and eat husks with them? What prodigal portion have I spent that I should come to such penury?

OLIVER. Know you where you are, sir?

ORLANDO. O, sir, very well: here in your orchard.

OLIVER. Know you before whom, sir?

ORLANDO. Ay, better than him I am before knows me. I know you are my eldest brother, and in the gentle condition of blood you should so know me. The courtesy of nations allows you my better in that you are the first-born, but the same tradition takes not away my blood, were there twenty brothers betwixt us. I have as much of my father in me as you, albeit I confess your coming before me is nearer to his reverence.

OLIVER. What, boy!

ORLANDO. Come, come, elder brother, you are too young in this.

OLIVER. Wilt thou lay hands on me, villain?

ORLANDO. I am no villain. I am the youngest son of Sir Rowland de Boys; he was my father, and he is thrice a villain that says such a father begot villains. Wert thou not my brother, I would not take this hand from thy throat till this other had pulled out thy tongue for saying so. Thou has railed on thyself.

ADAM. [ Coming forward .] Sweet masters, be patient. For your father’s remembrance, be at accord.

OLIVER. Let me go, I say.

ORLANDO. I will not till I please. You shall hear me. My father charged you in his will to give me good education. You have trained me like a peasant, obscuring and hiding from me all gentleman-like qualities. The spirit of my father grows strong in me, and I will no longer endure it. Therefore allow me such exercises as may become a gentleman, or give me the poor allottery my father left me by testament; with that I will go buy my fortunes.

OLIVER. And what wilt thou do? Beg when that is spent? Well, sir, get you in. I will not long be troubled with you. You shall have some part of your will. I pray you leave me.

ORLANDO. I no further offend you than becomes me for my good.

OLIVER. Get you with him, you old dog.

ADAM. Is “old dog” my reward? Most true, I have lost my teeth in your service. God be with my old master. He would not have spoke such a word.

[ Exeunt Orlando and Adam . ]

OLIVER. Is it even so? Begin you to grow upon me? I will physic your rankness, and yet give no thousand crowns neither. Holla, Dennis!

Enter Dennis .

DENNIS Calls your worship?

OLIVER. Was not Charles, the Duke’s wrestler, here to speak with me?

DENNIS So please you, he is here at the door and importunes access to you.

OLIVER. Call him in.

[ Exit Dennis . ]

’Twill be a good way, and tomorrow the wrestling is.

Enter Charles .

CHARLES. Good morrow to your worship.

OLIVER. Good Monsieur Charles. What’s the new news at the new court?

CHARLES. There’s no news at the court, sir, but the old news. That is, the old Duke is banished by his younger brother the new Duke, and three or four loving lords have put themselves into voluntary exile with him, whose lands and revenues enrich the new Duke; therefore he gives them good leave to wander.

OLIVER. Can you tell if Rosalind, the Duke’s daughter, be banished with her father?

CHARLES. O, no; for the Duke’s daughter, her cousin, so loves her, being ever from their cradles bred together, that she would have followed her exile or have died to stay behind her. She is at the court and no less beloved of her uncle than his own daughter, and never two ladies loved as they do.

OLIVER. Where will the old Duke live?

CHARLES. They say he is already in the Forest of Arden, and a many merry men with him; and there they live like the old Robin Hood of England. They say many young gentlemen flock to him every day and fleet the time carelessly, as they did in the golden world.

OLIVER. What, you wrestle tomorrow before the new Duke?

CHARLES. Marry, do I, sir, and I came to acquaint you with a matter. I am given, sir, secretly to understand that your younger brother Orlando hath a disposition to come in disguised against me to try a fall. Tomorrow, sir, I wrestle for my credit, and he that escapes me without some broken limb shall acquit him well. Your brother is but young and tender, and for your love I would be loath to foil him, as I must for my own honour if he come in. Therefore, out of my love to you, I came hither to acquaint you withal, that either you might stay him from his intendment, or brook such disgrace well as he shall run into, in that it is a thing of his own search and altogether against my will.

OLIVER. Charles, I thank thee for thy love to me, which thou shalt find I will most kindly requite. I had myself notice of my brother’s purpose herein, and have by underhand means laboured to dissuade him from it; but he is resolute. I’ll tell thee, Charles, it is the stubbornest young fellow of France, full of ambition, an envious emulator of every man’s good parts, a secret and villainous contriver against me his natural brother. Therefore use thy discretion. I had as lief thou didst break his neck as his finger. And thou wert best look to’t; for if thou dost him any slight disgrace, or if he do not mightily grace himself on thee, he will practise against thee by poison, entrap thee by some treacherous device, and never leave thee till he hath ta’en thy life by some indirect means or other. For I assure thee (and almost with tears I speak it) there is not one so young and so villainous this day living. I speak but brotherly of him, but should I anatomize him to thee as he is, I must blush and weep, and thou must look pale and wonder.

CHARLES. I am heartily glad I came hither to you. If he come tomorrow I’ll give him his payment. If ever he go alone again I’ll never wrestle for prize more. And so, God keep your worship.

OLIVER. Farewell, good Charles. Now will I stir this gamester. I hope I shall see an end of him; for my soul—yet I know not why—hates nothing more than he. Yet he’s gentle, never schooled and yet learned, full of noble device, of all sorts enchantingly beloved, and indeed so much in the heart of the world, and especially of my own people, who best know him, that I am altogether misprized. But it shall not be so long; this wrestler shall clear all. Nothing remains but that I kindle the boy thither, which now I’ll go about.

SCENE II. A Lawn before the Duke’s Palace

Enter Rosalind and Celia .

CELIA. I pray thee, Rosalind, sweet my coz, be merry.

ROSALIND. Dear Celia, I show more mirth than I am mistress of, and would you yet I were merrier? Unless you could teach me to forget a banished father, you must not learn me how to remember any extraordinary pleasure.

CELIA. Herein I see thou lov’st me not with the full weight that I love thee. If my uncle, thy banished father, had banished thy uncle, the Duke my father, so thou hadst been still with me, I could have taught my love to take thy father for mine. So wouldst thou, if the truth of thy love to me were so righteously tempered as mine is to thee.

ROSALIND. Well, I will forget the condition of my estate to rejoice in yours.

CELIA. You know my father hath no child but I, nor none is like to have; and truly, when he dies thou shalt be his heir, for what he hath taken away from thy father perforce, I will render thee again in affection. By mine honour I will! And when I break that oath, let me turn monster. Therefore, my sweet Rose, my dear Rose, be merry.

ROSALIND. From henceforth I will, coz, and devise sports. Let me see—what think you of falling in love?

CELIA. Marry, I prithee do, to make sport withal; but love no man in good earnest, nor no further in sport neither than with safety of a pure blush thou mayst in honour come off again.

ROSALIND. What shall be our sport, then?

CELIA. Let us sit and mock the good housewife Fortune from her wheel, that her gifts may henceforth be bestowed equally.

ROSALIND. I would we could do so, for her benefits are mightily misplaced, and the bountiful blind woman doth most mistake in her gifts to women.

CELIA. ’Tis true, for those that she makes fair she scarce makes honest, and those that she makes honest she makes very ill-favouredly.

ROSALIND. Nay, now thou goest from Fortune’s office to Nature’s. Fortune reigns in gifts of the world, not in the lineaments of Nature.

Enter Touchstone .

CELIA. No? When Nature hath made a fair creature, may she not by Fortune fall into the fire? Though Nature hath given us wit to flout at Fortune, hath not Fortune sent in this fool to cut off the argument?

ROSALIND. Indeed, there is Fortune too hard for Nature, when Fortune makes Nature’s natural the cutter-off of Nature’s wit.

CELIA. Peradventure this is not Fortune’s work neither, but Nature’s, who perceiveth our natural wits too dull to reason of such goddesses, and hath sent this natural for our whetstone; for always the dullness of the fool is the whetstone of the wits.—How now, wit, whither wander you?

TOUCHSTONE. Mistress, you must come away to your father.

CELIA. Were you made the messenger?

TOUCHSTONE. No, by mine honour, but I was bid to come for you.

ROSALIND. Where learned you that oath, fool?

TOUCHSTONE. Of a certain knight that swore by his honour they were good pancakes, and swore by his honour the mustard was naught. Now, I’ll stand to it, the pancakes were naught and the mustard was good, and yet was not the knight forsworn.

CELIA. How prove you that in the great heap of your knowledge?

ROSALIND. Ay, marry, now unmuzzle your wisdom.

TOUCHSTONE. Stand you both forth now: stroke your chins, and swear by your beards that I am a knave.

CELIA. By our beards, if we had them, thou art.

TOUCHSTONE. By my knavery, if I had it, then I were. But if you swear by that that is not, you are not forsworn. No more was this knight swearing by his honour, for he never had any; or if he had, he had sworn it away before ever he saw those pancackes or that mustard.

CELIA. Prithee, who is’t that thou mean’st?

TOUCHSTONE. One that old Frederick, your father, loves.

CELIA. My father’s love is enough to honour him. Enough! Speak no more of him. You’ll be whipped for taxation one of these days.

TOUCHSTONE. The more pity that fools may not speak wisely what wise men do foolishly.

CELIA. By my troth, thou sayest true. For since the little wit that fools have was silenced, the little foolery that wise men have makes a great show. Here comes Monsieur Le Beau.

Enter Le Beau .

ROSALIND. With his mouth full of news.

CELIA. Which he will put on us as pigeons feed their young.

ROSALIND. Then shall we be news-crammed.

CELIA. All the better; we shall be the more marketable. Bonjour , Monsieur Le Beau. What’s the news?

LE BEAU. Fair princess, you have lost much good sport.

CELIA. Sport! Of what colour?

LE BEAU. What colour, madam? How shall I answer you?

ROSALIND. As wit and fortune will.

TOUCHSTONE. Or as the destinies decrees.

CELIA. Well said. That was laid on with a trowel.

TOUCHSTONE. Nay, if I keep not my rank—

ROSALIND. Thou losest thy old smell.

LE BEAU. You amaze me, ladies. I would have told you of good wrestling, which you have lost the sight of.

ROSALIND. Yet tell us the manner of the wrestling.

LE BEAU. I will tell you the beginning and, if it please your ladyships, you may see the end, for the best is yet to do; and here, where you are, they are coming to perform it.

CELIA. Well, the beginning that is dead and buried.

LE BEAU. There comes an old man and his three sons—

CELIA. I could match this beginning with an old tale.

LE BEAU. Three proper young men of excellent growth and presence.

ROSALIND. With bills on their necks: “Be it known unto all men by these presents.”

LE BEAU. The eldest of the three wrestled with Charles, the Duke’s wrestler, which Charles in a moment threw him and broke three of his ribs, that there is little hope of life in him. So he served the second, and so the third. Yonder they lie, the poor old man their father making such pitiful dole over them that all the beholders take his part with weeping.

ROSALIND. Alas!

TOUCHSTONE. But what is the sport, monsieur, that the ladies have lost?

LE BEAU. Why, this that I speak of.

TOUCHSTONE. Thus men may grow wiser every day. It is the first time that ever I heard breaking of ribs was sport for ladies.

CELIA. Or I, I promise thee.

ROSALIND. But is there any else longs to see this broken music in his sides? Is there yet another dotes upon rib-breaking? Shall we see this wrestling, cousin?

LE BEAU. You must if you stay here, for here is the place appointed for the wrestling, and they are ready to perform it.

CELIA. Yonder, sure, they are coming. Let us now stay and see it.

Flourish. Enter Duke Frederick, Lords, Orlando, Charles and Attendants.

DUKE FREDERICK. Come on. Since the youth will not be entreated, his own peril on his forwardness.

ROSALIND. Is yonder the man?

LE BEAU. Even he, madam.

CELIA. Alas, he is too young. Yet he looks successfully.

DUKE FREDERICK. How now, daughter and cousin? Are you crept hither to see the wrestling?

ROSALIND. Ay, my liege, so please you give us leave.

DUKE FREDERICK. You will take little delight in it, I can tell you, there is such odds in the man. In pity of the challenger’s youth I would fain dissuade him, but he will not be entreated. Speak to him, ladies; see if you can move him.

CELIA. Call him hither, good Monsieur Le Beau.

DUKE FREDERICK. Do so; I’ll not be by.

[ Duke Frederick steps aside. ]

LE BEAU. Monsieur the challenger, the Princess calls for you.

ORLANDO. I attend them with all respect and duty.

ROSALIND. Young man, have you challenged Charles the wrestler?

ORLANDO. No, fair princess. He is the general challenger. I come but in as others do, to try with him the strength of my youth.

CELIA. Young gentleman, your spirits are too bold for your years. You have seen cruel proof of this man’s strength. If you saw yourself with your eyes or knew yourself with your judgement, the fear of your adventure would counsel you to a more equal enterprise. We pray you for your own sake to embrace your own safety and give over this attempt.

ROSALIND. Do, young sir. Your reputation shall not therefore be misprized. We will make it our suit to the Duke that the wrestling might not go forward.

ORLANDO. I beseech you, punish me not with your hard thoughts, wherein I confess me much guilty to deny so fair and excellent ladies anything. But let your fair eyes and gentle wishes go with me to my trial, wherein if I be foiled there is but one shamed that was never gracious; if killed, but one dead that is willing to be so. I shall do my friends no wrong, for I have none to lament me; the world no injury, for in it I have nothing. Only in the world I fill up a place, which may be better supplied when I have made it empty.

ROSALIND. The little strength that I have, I would it were with you.

CELIA. And mine to eke out hers.

ROSALIND. Fare you well. Pray heaven I be deceived in you.

CELIA. Your heart’s desires be with you.

CHARLES. Come, where is this young gallant that is so desirous to lie with his mother earth?

ORLANDO. Ready, sir; but his will hath in it a more modest working.

DUKE FREDERICK. You shall try but one fall.

CHARLES. No, I warrant your grace you shall not entreat him to a second, that have so mightily persuaded him from a first.

ORLANDO. You mean to mock me after; you should not have mocked me before. But come your ways.

ROSALIND. Now, Hercules be thy speed, young man!

CELIA. I would I were invisible, to catch the strong fellow by the leg.

[ Orlando and Charles wrestle. ]

ROSALIND. O excellent young man!

CELIA. If I had a thunderbolt in mine eye, I can tell who should down.

[ Charles is thrown. Shout. ]

DUKE FREDERICK. No more, no more.

ORLANDO. Yes, I beseech your grace. I am not yet well breathed.

DUKE FREDERICK. How dost thou, Charles?

LE BEAU. He cannot speak, my lord.

DUKE FREDERICK. Bear him away.

[ Charles is carried off by Attendants. ]

What is thy name, young man?

ORLANDO. Orlando, my liege, the youngest son of Sir Rowland de Boys.

DUKE FREDERICK. I would thou hadst been son to some man else. The world esteemed thy father honourable, But I did find him still mine enemy. Thou shouldst have better pleased me with this deed Hadst thou descended from another house. But fare thee well, thou art a gallant youth. I would thou hadst told me of another father.

[ Exeunt Duke Frederick, Le Beau and Lords. ]

CELIA. Were I my father, coz, would I do this?

ORLANDO. I am more proud to be Sir Rowland’s son, His youngest son, and would not change that calling To be adopted heir to Frederick.

ROSALIND. My father loved Sir Rowland as his soul, And all the world was of my father’s mind. Had I before known this young man his son, I should have given him tears unto entreaties Ere he should thus have ventured.

CELIA. Gentle cousin, Let us go thank him and encourage him. My father’s rough and envious disposition Sticks me at heart.—Sir, you have well deserved. If you do keep your promises in love But justly, as you have exceeded promise, Your mistress shall be happy.

ROSALIND. Gentleman,

[ Giving him a chain from her neck .]

Wear this for me—one out of suits with Fortune, That could give more but that her hand lacks means.— Shall we go, coz?

CELIA. Ay.—Fare you well, fair gentleman.

ORLANDO. Can I not say, I thank you? My better parts Are all thrown down, and that which here stands up Is but a quintain, a mere lifeless block.

ROSALIND. He calls us back. My pride fell with my fortunes. I’ll ask him what he would.—Did you call, sir?— Sir, you have wrestled well and overthrown More than your enemies.

CELIA. Will you go, coz?

ROSALIND. Have with you.—Fare you well.

[ Exeunt Rosalind and Celia . ]

ORLANDO. What passion hangs these weights upon my tongue? I cannot speak to her, yet she urged conference. O poor Orlando, thou art overthrown. Or Charles or something weaker masters thee.

LE BEAU. Good sir, I do in friendship counsel you To leave this place. Albeit you have deserved High commendation, true applause, and love, Yet such is now the Duke’s condition That he misconsters all that you have done. The Duke is humorous; what he is indeed More suits you to conceive than I to speak of.

ORLANDO. I thank you, sir; and pray you tell me this: Which of the two was daughter of the Duke That here was at the wrestling?

LE BEAU. Neither his daughter, if we judge by manners, But yet indeed the smaller is his daughter. The other is daughter to the banished Duke, And here detained by her usurping uncle To keep his daughter company, whose loves Are dearer than the natural bond of sisters. But I can tell you that of late this Duke Hath ta’en displeasure ’gainst his gentle niece, Grounded upon no other argument But that the people praise her for her virtues And pity her for her good father’s sake; And, on my life, his malice ’gainst the lady Will suddenly break forth. Sir, fare you well. Hereafter, in a better world than this, I shall desire more love and knowledge of you.

ORLANDO. I rest much bounden to you; fare you well!

[ Exit Le Beau . ]

Thus must I from the smoke into the smother, From tyrant Duke unto a tyrant brother. But heavenly Rosalind!

SCENE III. A Room in the Palace

Enter Celia and Rosalind .

CELIA. Why, cousin, why, Rosalind! Cupid have mercy! Not a word?

ROSALIND. Not one to throw at a dog.

CELIA. No, thy words are too precious to be cast away upon curs. Throw some of them at me. Come, lame me with reasons.

ROSALIND. Then there were two cousins laid up, when the one should be lamed with reasons and the other mad without any.

CELIA. But is all this for your father?

ROSALIND. No, some of it is for my child’s father. O, how full of briers is this working-day world!

CELIA. They are but burs, cousin, thrown upon thee in holiday foolery. If we walk not in the trodden paths, our very petticoats will catch them.

ROSALIND. I could shake them off my coat; these burs are in my heart.

CELIA. Hem them away.

ROSALIND. I would try, if I could cry “hem” and have him.

CELIA. Come, come, wrestle with thy affections.

ROSALIND. O, they take the part of a better wrestler than myself.

CELIA. O, a good wish upon you! You will try in time, in despite of a fall. But turning these jests out of service, let us talk in good earnest. Is it possible on such a sudden you should fall into so strong a liking with old Sir Rowland’s youngest son?

ROSALIND. The Duke my father loved his father dearly.

CELIA. Doth it therefore ensue that you should love his son dearly? By this kind of chase I should hate him, for my father hated his father dearly; yet I hate not Orlando.

ROSALIND. No, faith, hate him not, for my sake.

CELIA. Why should I not? Doth he not deserve well?

Enter Duke Frederick with Lords.

ROSALIND. Let me love him for that, and do you love him because I do.—Look, here comes the Duke.

CELIA. With his eyes full of anger.

DUKE FREDERICK. Mistress, dispatch you with your safest haste, And get you from our court.

ROSALIND. Me, uncle?

DUKE FREDERICK. You, cousin. Within these ten days if that thou be’st found So near our public court as twenty miles, Thou diest for it.

ROSALIND. I do beseech your Grace, Let me the knowledge of my fault bear with me. If with myself I hold intelligence, Or have acquaintance with mine own desires, If that I do not dream, or be not frantic— As I do trust I am not—then, dear uncle, Never so much as in a thought unborn Did I offend your Highness.

DUKE FREDERICK. Thus do all traitors. If their purgation did consist in words, They are as innocent as grace itself. Let it suffice thee that I trust thee not.

ROSALIND. Yet your mistrust cannot make me a traitor. Tell me whereon the likelihood depends.

DUKE FREDERICK. Thou art thy father’s daughter, there’s enough.

ROSALIND. So was I when your highness took his dukedom; So was I when your highness banished him. Treason is not inherited, my lord, Or, if we did derive it from our friends, What’s that to me? My father was no traitor. Then, good my liege, mistake me not so much To think my poverty is treacherous.

CELIA. Dear sovereign, hear me speak.

DUKE FREDERICK. Ay, Celia, we stayed her for your sake, Else had she with her father ranged along.

CELIA. I did not then entreat to have her stay; It was your pleasure and your own remorse. I was too young that time to value her, But now I know her. If she be a traitor, Why, so am I. We still have slept together, Rose at an instant, learned, played, ate together, And wheresoe’er we went, like Juno’s swans, Still we went coupled and inseparable.

DUKE FREDERICK. She is too subtle for thee, and her smoothness, Her very silence, and her patience Speak to the people, and they pity her. Thou art a fool. She robs thee of thy name, And thou wilt show more bright and seem more virtuous When she is gone. Then open not thy lips. Firm and irrevocable is my doom Which I have passed upon her. She is banished.

CELIA. Pronounce that sentence then on me, my liege. I cannot live out of her company.

DUKE FREDERICK. You are a fool. You, niece, provide yourself. If you outstay the time, upon mine honour And in the greatness of my word, you die.

[ Exeunt Duke Frederick and Lords. ]

CELIA. O my poor Rosalind, whither wilt thou go? Wilt thou change fathers? I will give thee mine. I charge thee, be not thou more grieved than I am.

ROSALIND. I have more cause.

CELIA. Thou hast not, cousin. Prithee be cheerful. Know’st thou not the Duke Hath banished me, his daughter?

ROSALIND. That he hath not.

CELIA. No, hath not? Rosalind lacks then the love Which teacheth thee that thou and I am one. Shall we be sundered? Shall we part, sweet girl? No, let my father seek another heir. Therefore devise with me how we may fly, Whither to go, and what to bear with us, And do not seek to take your change upon you, To bear your griefs yourself and leave me out. For, by this heaven, now at our sorrows pale, Say what thou canst, I’ll go along with thee.

ROSALIND. Why, whither shall we go?

CELIA. To seek my uncle in the Forest of Arden.

ROSALIND. Alas, what danger will it be to us, Maids as we are, to travel forth so far? Beauty provoketh thieves sooner than gold.

CELIA. I’ll put myself in poor and mean attire, And with a kind of umber smirch my face. The like do you; so shall we pass along And never stir assailants.

ROSALIND. Were it not better, Because that I am more than common tall, That I did suit me all points like a man? A gallant curtal-axe upon my thigh, A boar-spear in my hand, and in my heart Lie there what hidden woman’s fear there will, We’ll have a swashing and a martial outside, As many other mannish cowards have That do outface it with their semblances.

CELIA. What shall I call thee when thou art a man?

ROSALIND. I’ll have no worse a name than Jove’s own page, And therefore look you call me Ganymede. But what will you be called?

CELIA. Something that hath a reference to my state: No longer Celia, but Aliena.

ROSALIND. But, cousin, what if we assayed to steal The clownish fool out of your father’s court? Would he not be a comfort to our travel?

CELIA. He’ll go along o’er the wide world with me. Leave me alone to woo him. Let’s away, And get our jewels and our wealth together, Devise the fittest time and safest way To hide us from pursuit that will be made After my flight. Now go we in content To liberty, and not to banishment.

[ Exeunt. ]

SCENE I. The Forest of Arden

Enter Duke Senior, Amiens and two or three Lords, dressed as foresters.

DUKE SENIOR. Now, my co-mates and brothers in exile, Hath not old custom made this life more sweet Than that of painted pomp? Are not these woods More free from peril than the envious court? Here feel we not the penalty of Adam, The seasons’ difference, as the icy fang And churlish chiding of the winter’s wind, Which when it bites and blows upon my body Even till I shrink with cold, I smile and say: “This is no flattery. These are counsellors That feelingly persuade me what I am.” Sweet are the uses of adversity, Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, Wears yet a precious jewel in his head; And this our life, exempt from public haunt, Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, Sermons in stones, and good in everything.

AMIENS. I would not change it. Happy is your grace, That can translate the stubbornness of fortune Into so quiet and so sweet a style.

DUKE SENIOR. Come, shall we go and kill us venison? And yet it irks me the poor dappled fools, Being native burghers of this desert city, Should in their own confines with forked heads Have their round haunches gored.

FIRST LORD. Indeed, my lord, The melancholy Jaques grieves at that, And in that kind swears you do more usurp Than doth your brother that hath banished you. Today my lord of Amiens and myself Did steal behind him as he lay along Under an oak, whose antique root peeps out Upon the brook that brawls along this wood; To the which place a poor sequestered stag, That from the hunter’s aim had ta’en a hurt, Did come to languish; and indeed, my lord, The wretched animal heaved forth such groans That their discharge did stretch his leathern coat Almost to bursting, and the big round tears Coursed one another down his innocent nose In piteous chase. And thus the hairy fool, Much marked of the melancholy Jaques, Stood on th’ extremest verge of the swift brook, Augmenting it with tears.

DUKE SENIOR. But what said Jaques? Did he not moralize this spectacle?

FIRST LORD. O yes, into a thousand similes. First, for his weeping into the needless stream: “Poor deer,” quoth he “thou mak’st a testament As worldlings do, giving thy sum of more To that which had too much.” Then, being there alone, Left and abandoned of his velvet friends: “’Tis right”; quoth he, “thus misery doth part The flux of company.” Anon a careless herd, Full of the pasture, jumps along by him And never stays to greet him. “Ay,” quoth Jaques, “Sweep on, you fat and greasy citizens! ’Tis just the fashion. Wherefore do you look Upon that poor and broken bankrupt there?” Thus most invectively he pierceth through The body of the country, city, court, Yea, and of this our life, swearing that we Are mere usurpers, tyrants, and what’s worse, To fright the animals and to kill them up In their assigned and native dwelling-place.

DUKE SENIOR. And did you leave him in this contemplation?

SECOND LORD. We did, my lord, weeping and commenting Upon the sobbing deer.

DUKE SENIOR. Show me the place. I love to cope him in these sullen fits, For then he’s full of matter.

FIRST LORD. I’ll bring you to him straight.

SCENE II. A Room in the Palace

DUKE FREDERICK. Can it be possible that no man saw them? It cannot be! Some villains of my court Are of consent and sufferance in this.

FIRST LORD. I cannot hear of any that did see her. The ladies, her attendants of her chamber, Saw her abed, and in the morning early They found the bed untreasured of their mistress.

SECOND LORD. My lord, the roynish clown, at whom so oft Your grace was wont to laugh, is also missing. Hesperia, the princess’ gentlewoman, Confesses that she secretly o’erheard Your daughter and her cousin much commend The parts and graces of the wrestler That did but lately foil the sinewy Charles; And she believes wherever they are gone That youth is surely in their company.

DUKE FREDERICK. Send to his brother; fetch that gallant hither. If he be absent, bring his brother to me. I’ll make him find him. Do this suddenly! And let not search and inquisition quail To bring again these foolish runaways.

SCENE III. Before Oliver’s House

Enter Orlando and Adam , meeting.

ORLANDO. Who’s there?

ADAM. What, my young master? O my gentle master, O my sweet master, O you memory Of old Sir Rowland! Why, what make you here? Why are you virtuous? Why do people love you? And wherefore are you gentle, strong, and valiant? Why would you be so fond to overcome The bonny prizer of the humorous Duke? Your praise is come too swiftly home before you. Know you not, master, to some kind of men Their graces serve them but as enemies? No more do yours. Your virtues, gentle master, Are sanctified and holy traitors to you. O, what a world is this, when what is comely Envenoms him that bears it!

ORLANDO. Why, what’s the matter?

ADAM. O unhappy youth, Come not within these doors! Within this roof The enemy of all your graces lives. Your brother—no, no brother, yet the son— Yet not the son; I will not call him son— Of him I was about to call his father, Hath heard your praises, and this night he means To burn the lodging where you use to lie, And you within it. If he fail of that, He will have other means to cut you off; I overheard him and his practices. This is no place; this house is but a butchery. Abhor it, fear it, do not enter it.

ORLANDO. Why, whither, Adam, wouldst thou have me go?

ADAM. No matter whither, so you come not here.

ORLANDO. What, wouldst thou have me go and beg my food, Or with a base and boisterous sword enforce A thievish living on the common road? This I must do, or know not what to do. Yet this I will not do, do how I can. I rather will subject me to the malice Of a diverted blood and bloody brother.

ADAM. But do not so. I have five hundred crowns, The thrifty hire I saved under your father, Which I did store to be my foster-nurse, When service should in my old limbs lie lame, And unregarded age in corners thrown. Take that, and He that doth the ravens feed, Yea, providently caters for the sparrow, Be comfort to my age. Here is the gold. All this I give you. Let me be your servant. Though I look old, yet I am strong and lusty, For in my youth I never did apply Hot and rebellious liquors in my blood, Nor did not with unbashful forehead woo The means of weakness and debility. Therefore my age is as a lusty winter, Frosty but kindly. Let me go with you. I’ll do the service of a younger man In all your business and necessities.

ORLANDO. O good old man, how well in thee appears The constant service of the antique world, When service sweat for duty, not for meed. Thou art not for the fashion of these times, Where none will sweat but for promotion, And having that do choke their service up Even with the having. It is not so with thee. But, poor old man, thou prun’st a rotten tree, That cannot so much as a blossom yield In lieu of all thy pains and husbandry. But come thy ways, we’ll go along together, And ere we have thy youthful wages spent We’ll light upon some settled low content.

ADAM. Master, go on and I will follow thee To the last gasp with truth and loyalty. From seventeen years till now almost fourscore Here lived I, but now live here no more. At seventeen years many their fortunes seek, But at fourscore it is too late a week. Yet fortune cannot recompense me better Than to die well and not my master’s debtor.

SCENE IV. The Forest of Arden

Enter Rosalind as Ganymede, Celia as Aliena, and Touchstone .

ROSALIND. O Jupiter, how weary are my spirits!

TOUCHSTONE. I care not for my spirits, if my legs were not weary.

ROSALIND. I could find in my heart to disgrace my man’s apparel, and to cry like a woman, but I must comfort the weaker vessel, as doublet and hose ought to show itself courageous to petticoat. Therefore, courage, good Aliena.

CELIA. I pray you bear with me, I cannot go no further.

TOUCHSTONE. For my part, I had rather bear with you than bear you. Yet I should bear no cross if I did bear you, for I think you have no money in your purse.

ROSALIND. Well, this is the forest of Arden.

TOUCHSTONE. Ay, now am I in Arden, the more fool I! When I was at home I was in a better place, but travellers must be content.

Enter Corin and Silvius .

ROSALIND. Ay, be so, good Touchstone. Look you, who comes here? A young man and an old in solemn talk.

CORIN. That is the way to make her scorn you still.

SILVIUS. O Corin, that thou knew’st how I do love her!

CORIN. I partly guess, for I have loved ere now.

SILVIUS. No, Corin, being old, thou canst not guess, Though in thy youth thou wast as true a lover As ever sighed upon a midnight pillow. But if thy love were ever like to mine— As sure I think did never man love so— How many actions most ridiculous Hast thou been drawn to by thy fantasy?

CORIN. Into a thousand that I have forgotten.

SILVIUS. O, thou didst then never love so heartily! If thou rememb’rest not the slightest folly That ever love did make thee run into, Thou hast not loved. Or if thou hast not sat as I do now, Wearing thy hearer in thy mistress’ praise, Thou hast not loved. Or if thou hast not broke from company Abruptly, as my passion now makes me, Thou hast not loved. O Phoebe, Phoebe, Phoebe!

[ Exit Silvius . ]

ROSALIND. Alas, poor shepherd, searching of thy wound, I have by hard adventure found mine own.

TOUCHSTONE. And I mine. I remember when I was in love I broke my sword upon a stone and bid him take that for coming a-night to Jane Smile; and I remember the kissing of her batlet, and the cow’s dugs that her pretty chopped hands had milked; and I remember the wooing of a peascod instead of her, from whom I took two cods, and, giving her them again, said with weeping tears, “Wear these for my sake.” We that are true lovers run into strange capers. But as all is mortal in nature, so is all nature in love mortal in folly.

ROSALIND. Thou speak’st wiser than thou art ware of.

TOUCHSTONE. Nay, I shall ne’er be ware of mine own wit till I break my shins against it.

ROSALIND. Jove, Jove, this shepherd’s passion Is much upon my fashion.

TOUCHSTONE. And mine, but it grows something stale with me.

CELIA. I pray you, one of you question yond man If he for gold will give us any food. I faint almost to death.

TOUCHSTONE. Holla, you clown!

ROSALIND. Peace, fool, he’s not thy kinsman.

CORIN. Who calls?

TOUCHSTONE. Your betters, sir.

CORIN. Else are they very wretched.

ROSALIND. Peace, I say.—Good even to you, friend.

CORIN. And to you, gentle sir, and to you all.

ROSALIND. I prithee, shepherd, if that love or gold Can in this desert place buy entertainment, Bring us where we may rest ourselves and feed. Here’s a young maid with travel much oppressed, And faints for succour.

CORIN. Fair sir, I pity her And wish, for her sake more than for mine own, My fortunes were more able to relieve her. But I am shepherd to another man And do not shear the fleeces that I graze. My master is of churlish disposition And little recks to find the way to heaven By doing deeds of hospitality. Besides, his cote, his flocks, and bounds of feed Are now on sale, and at our sheepcote now, By reason of his absence, there is nothing That you will feed on. But what is, come see, And in my voice most welcome shall you be.

ROSALIND. What is he that shall buy his flock and pasture?

CORIN. That young swain that you saw here but erewhile, That little cares for buying anything.

ROSALIND. I pray thee, if it stand with honesty, Buy thou the cottage, pasture, and the flock, And thou shalt have to pay for it of us.

CELIA. And we will mend thy wages. I like this place, And willingly could waste my time in it.

CORIN. Assuredly the thing is to be sold. Go with me. If you like upon report The soil, the profit, and this kind of life, I will your very faithful feeder be, And buy it with your gold right suddenly.

SCENE V. Another part of the Forest

Enter Amiens, Jaques and others.

AMIENS. [ Sings .]

        Under the greenwood tree,         Who loves to lie with me         And turn his merry note         Unto the sweet bird’s throat,     Come hither, come hither, come hither!         Here shall he see         No enemy     But winter and rough weather.

JAQUES. More, more, I prithee, more.

AMIENS. It will make you melancholy, Monsieur Jaques.

JAQUES. I thank it. More, I prithee, more. I can suck melancholy out of a song as a weasel sucks eggs. More, I prithee, more.

AMIENS. My voice is ragged. I know I cannot please you.

JAQUES. I do not desire you to please me; I do desire you to sing. Come, more, another stanzo . Call you ’em stanzos?

AMIENS. What you will, Monsieur Jaques.

JAQUES. Nay, I care not for their names. They owe me nothing. Will you sing?

AMIENS. More at your request than to please myself.

JAQUES. Well then, if ever I thank any man, I’ll thank you; but that they call compliment is like th’ encounter of two dog-apes. And when a man thanks me heartily, methinks I have given him a penny and he renders me the beggarly thanks. Come, sing; and you that will not, hold your tongues.

AMIENS. Well, I’ll end the song.—Sirs, cover the while. The Duke will drink under this tree; he hath been all this day to look you.

JAQUES. And I have been all this day to avoid him. He is too disputable for my company. I think of as many matters as he, but I give heaven thanks and make no boast of them. Come, warble, come.

        Who doth ambition shun         And loves to live i’ th’ sun,         Seeking the food he eats         And pleased with what he gets,     Come hither, come hither, come hither.         Here shall he see         No enemy     But winter and rough weather.

JAQUES. I’ll give you a verse to this note that I made yesterday in despite of my invention.

AMIENS. And I’ll sing it.

JAQUES. Thus it goes:

        If it do come to pass         That any man turn ass,         Leaving his wealth and ease         A stubborn will to please,     Ducdame, ducdame, ducdame;         Here shall he see         Gross fools as he,     An if he will come to me.

AMIENS. What’s that “ducdame?”

JAQUES. ’Tis a Greek invocation to call fools into a circle. I’ll go sleep if I can; if I cannot, I’ll rail against all the first-born of Egypt.

AMIENS. And I’ll go seek the Duke; his banquet is prepared.

[ Exeunt severally. ]

SCENE VI. Another part of the Forest

ADAM. Dear master, I can go no further. O, I die for food! Here lie I down and measure out my grave. Farewell, kind master.

ORLANDO. Why, how now, Adam? No greater heart in thee? Live a little, comfort a little, cheer thyself a little. If this uncouth forest yield anything savage, I will either be food for it or bring it for food to thee. Thy conceit is nearer death than thy powers. For my sake, be comfortable. Hold death awhile at the arm’s end. I will here be with thee presently, and if I bring thee not something to eat, I’ll give thee leave to die. But if thou diest before I come, thou art a mocker of my labour. Well said, thou look’st cheerly, and I’ll be with thee quickly. Yet thou liest in the bleak air. Come, I will bear thee to some shelter and thou shalt not die for lack of a dinner if there live anything in this desert. Cheerly, good Adam!

SCENE VII. Another part of the Forest

Enter Duke Senior, Amiens and Lords as outlaws.

DUKE SENIOR. I think he be transformed into a beast, For I can nowhere find him like a man.

FIRST LORD. My lord, he is but even now gone hence; Here was he merry, hearing of a song.

DUKE SENIOR. If he, compact of jars, grow musical, We shall have shortly discord in the spheres. Go seek him, tell him I would speak with him.

Enter Jaques .

FIRST LORD. He saves my labour by his own approach.

DUKE SENIOR. Why, how now, monsieur? What a life is this That your poor friends must woo your company? What, you look merrily.

JAQUES. A fool, a fool! I met a fool i’ th’ forest, A motley fool. A miserable world! As I do live by food, I met a fool, Who laid him down and basked him in the sun, And railed on Lady Fortune in good terms, In good set terms, and yet a motley fool. “Good morrow, fool,” quoth I. “No, sir,” quoth he, “Call me not fool till heaven hath sent me fortune.” And then he drew a dial from his poke, And, looking on it with lack-lustre eye, Says very wisely, “It is ten o’clock. Thus we may see,” quoth he, “how the world wags. ’Tis but an hour ago since it was nine, And after one hour more ’twill be eleven. And so from hour to hour we ripe and ripe, And then from hour to hour we rot and rot, And thereby hangs a tale.” When I did hear The motley fool thus moral on the time, My lungs began to crow like chanticleer, That fools should be so deep-contemplative, And I did laugh sans intermission An hour by his dial. O noble fool! A worthy fool! Motley’s the only wear.

DUKE SENIOR. What fool is this?

JAQUES. O worthy fool!—One that hath been a courtier, And says if ladies be but young and fair, They have the gift to know it. And in his brain, Which is as dry as the remainder biscuit After a voyage, he hath strange places crammed With observation, the which he vents In mangled forms. O that I were a fool! I am ambitious for a motley coat.

DUKE SENIOR. Thou shalt have one.

JAQUES. It is my only suit, Provided that you weed your better judgements Of all opinion that grows rank in them That I am wise. I must have liberty Withal, as large a charter as the wind, To blow on whom I please, for so fools have. And they that are most galled with my folly, They most must laugh. And why, sir, must they so? The “why” is plain as way to parish church. He that a fool doth very wisely hit Doth very foolishly, although he smart, Not to seem senseless of the bob. If not, The wise man’s folly is anatomized Even by the squandering glances of the fool. Invest me in my motley. Give me leave To speak my mind, and I will through and through Cleanse the foul body of th’ infected world, If they will patiently receive my medicine.

DUKE SENIOR. Fie on thee! I can tell what thou wouldst do.

JAQUES. What, for a counter, would I do but good?

DUKE SENIOR. Most mischievous foul sin, in chiding sin; For thou thyself hast been a libertine, As sensual as the brutish sting itself, And all th’ embossed sores and headed evils That thou with license of free foot hast caught Wouldst thou disgorge into the general world.

JAQUES. Why, who cries out on pride That can therein tax any private party? Doth it not flow as hugely as the sea Till that the weary very means do ebb? What woman in the city do I name When that I say the city-woman bears The cost of princes on unworthy shoulders? Who can come in and say that I mean her, When such a one as she, such is her neighbour? Or what is he of basest function That says his bravery is not on my cost, Thinking that I mean him, but therein suits His folly to the mettle of my speech? There then. How then, what then? Let me see wherein My tongue hath wronged him. If it do him right, Then he hath wronged himself. If he be free, Why then my taxing like a wild-goose flies Unclaimed of any man. But who comes here?

Enter Orlando with sword drawn.

ORLANDO. Forbear, and eat no more.

JAQUES. Why, I have eat none yet.

ORLANDO. Nor shalt not till necessity be served.

JAQUES. Of what kind should this cock come of?

DUKE SENIOR. Art thou thus boldened, man, by thy distress? Or else a rude despiser of good manners, That in civility thou seem’st so empty?

ORLANDO. You touched my vein at first. The thorny point Of bare distress hath ta’en from me the show Of smooth civility; yet am I inland bred And know some nurture. But forbear, I say! He dies that touches any of this fruit Till I and my affairs are answered.

JAQUES. An you will not be answered with reason, I must die.

DUKE SENIOR. What would you have? Your gentleness shall force More than your force move us to gentleness.

ORLANDO. I almost die for food, and let me have it.

DUKE SENIOR. Sit down and feed, and welcome to our table.

ORLANDO. Speak you so gently? Pardon me, I pray you. I thought that all things had been savage here And therefore put I on the countenance Of stern commandment. But whate’er you are That in this desert inaccessible, Under the shade of melancholy boughs, Lose and neglect the creeping hours of time, If ever you have looked on better days, If ever been where bells have knolled to church, If ever sat at any good man’s feast, If ever from your eyelids wiped a tear, And know what ’tis to pity and be pitied, Let gentleness my strong enforcement be, In the which hope I blush and hide my sword.

DUKE SENIOR. True is it that we have seen better days, And have with holy bell been knolled to church, And sat at good men’s feasts, and wiped our eyes Of drops that sacred pity hath engendered. And therefore sit you down in gentleness, And take upon command what help we have That to your wanting may be ministered.

ORLANDO. Then but forbear your food a little while, Whiles, like a doe, I go to find my fawn, And give it food. There is an old poor man Who after me hath many a weary step Limped in pure love. Till he be first sufficed, Oppressed with two weak evils, age and hunger, I will not touch a bit.

DUKE SENIOR. Go find him out, And we will nothing waste till you return.

ORLANDO. I thank ye, and be blest for your good comfort.

DUKE SENIOR. Thou seest we are not all alone unhappy. This wide and universal theatre Presents more woeful pageants than the scene Wherein we play in.

JAQUES. All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages. At first the infant, Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms; Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel And shining morning face, creeping like snail Unwillingly to school. And then the lover, Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad Made to his mistress’ eyebrow. Then a soldier, Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard, Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel, Seeking the bubble reputation Even in the cannon’s mouth. And then the justice, In fair round belly with good capon lined, With eyes severe and beard of formal cut, Full of wise saws and modern instances; And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts Into the lean and slippered pantaloon, With spectacles on nose and pouch on side, His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice, Turning again toward childish treble, pipes And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all, That ends this strange eventful history, Is second childishness and mere oblivion, Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

Enter Orlando bearing Adam .

DUKE SENIOR. Welcome. Set down your venerable burden, And let him feed.

ORLANDO. I thank you most for him.

ADAM. So had you need; I scarce can speak to thank you for myself.

DUKE SENIOR. Welcome, fall to. I will not trouble you As yet to question you about your fortunes. Give us some music, and good cousin, sing.

AMIENS. ( Sings .)         Blow, blow, thou winter wind,         Thou art not so unkind             As man’s ingratitude.         Thy tooth is not so keen,         Because thou art not seen,             Although thy breath be rude. Heigh-ho, sing heigh-ho, unto the green holly. Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly.         Then, heigh-ho, the holly!             This life is most jolly.

        Freeze, freeze, thou bitter sky,         That dost not bite so nigh             As benefits forgot.         Though thou the waters warp,         Thy sting is not so sharp             As friend remembered not. Heigh-ho, sing heigh-ho, unto the green holly. Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly.         Then, heigh-ho, the holly!             This life is most jolly.

DUKE SENIOR. If that you were the good Sir Rowland’s son, As you have whispered faithfully you were, And as mine eye doth his effigies witness Most truly limned and living in your face, Be truly welcome hither. I am the Duke That loved your father. The residue of your fortune Go to my cave and tell me.—Good old man, Thou art right welcome as thy master is. Support him by the arm. [ To Orlando .] Give me your hand, And let me all your fortunes understand.

SCENE I. A Room in the Palace

Enter Duke Frederick, Lords and Oliver .

DUKE FREDERICK. Not see him since? Sir, sir, that cannot be. But were I not the better part made mercy, I should not seek an absent argument Of my revenge, thou present. But look to it: Find out thy brother wheresoe’er he is. Seek him with candle. Bring him dead or living Within this twelvemonth, or turn thou no more To seek a living in our territory. Thy lands, and all things that thou dost call thine Worth seizure, do we seize into our hands, Till thou canst quit thee by thy brother’s mouth Of what we think against thee.

OLIVER. O that your highness knew my heart in this: I never loved my brother in my life.

DUKE FREDERICK. More villain thou. Well, push him out of doors, And let my officers of such a nature Make an extent upon his house and lands. Do this expediently, and turn him going.

SCENE II. The Forest of Arden

Enter Orlando with a paper.

ORLANDO. Hang there, my verse, in witness of my love.      And thou, thrice-crowned queen of night, survey With thy chaste eye, from thy pale sphere above,      Thy huntress’ name that my full life doth sway. O Rosalind, these trees shall be my books,      And in their barks my thoughts I’ll character, That every eye which in this forest looks      Shall see thy virtue witnessed everywhere. Run, run, Orlando, carve on every tree The fair, the chaste, and unexpressive she.

Enter Corin and Touchstone .

CORIN. And how like you this shepherd’s life, Master Touchstone?

TOUCHSTONE. Truly, shepherd, in respect of itself, it is a good life; but in respect that it is a shepherd’s life, it is naught. In respect that it is solitary, I like it very well; but in respect that it is private, it is a very vile life. Now in respect it is in the fields, it pleaseth me well; but in respect it is not in the court, it is tedious. As it is a spare life, look you, it fits my humour well; but as there is no more plenty in it, it goes much against my stomach. Hast any philosophy in thee, shepherd?

CORIN. No more but that I know the more one sickens, the worse at ease he is; and that he that wants money, means, and content is without three good friends; that the property of rain is to wet, and fire to burn; that good pasture makes fat sheep; and that a great cause of the night is lack of the sun; that he that hath learned no wit by nature nor art may complain of good breeding or comes of a very dull kindred.

TOUCHSTONE. Such a one is a natural philosopher. Wast ever in court, shepherd?

CORIN. No, truly.

TOUCHSTONE. Then thou art damned.

CORIN. Nay, I hope.

TOUCHSTONE. Truly, thou art damned, like an ill-roasted egg, all on one side.

CORIN. For not being at court? Your reason.

TOUCHSTONE. Why, if thou never wast at court, thou never saw’st good manners; if thou never saw’st good manners, then thy manners must be wicked, and wickedness is sin, and sin is damnation. Thou art in a parlous state, shepherd.

CORIN. Not a whit, Touchstone. Those that are good manners at the court are as ridiculous in the country as the behaviour of the country is most mockable at the court. You told me you salute not at the court but you kiss your hands. That courtesy would be uncleanly if courtiers were shepherds.

TOUCHSTONE. Instance, briefly. Come, instance.

CORIN. Why, we are still handling our ewes, and their fells, you know, are greasy.

TOUCHSTONE. Why, do not your courtier’s hands sweat? And is not the grease of a mutton as wholesome as the sweat of a man? Shallow, shallow. A better instance, I say. Come.

CORIN. Besides, our hands are hard.

TOUCHSTONE. Your lips will feel them the sooner. Shallow again. A more sounder instance, come.

CORIN. And they are often tarred over with the surgery of our sheep; and would you have us kiss tar? The courtier’s hands are perfumed with civet.

TOUCHSTONE. Most shallow man! Thou worm’s meat in respect of a good piece of flesh indeed! Learn of the wise and perpend. Civet is of a baser birth than tar, the very uncleanly flux of a cat. Mend the instance, shepherd.

CORIN. You have too courtly a wit for me. I’ll rest.

TOUCHSTONE. Wilt thou rest damned? God help thee, shallow man! God make incision in thee, thou art raw.

CORIN. Sir, I am a true labourer. I earn that I eat, get that I wear, owe no man hate, envy no man’s happiness, glad of other men’s good, content with my harm; and the greatest of my pride is to see my ewes graze and my lambs suck.

TOUCHSTONE. That is another simple sin in you, to bring the ewes and the rams together and to offer to get your living by the copulation of cattle; to be bawd to a bell-wether and to betray a she-lamb of a twelvemonth to crooked-pated, old, cuckoldly ram, out of all reasonable match. If thou be’st not damned for this, the devil himself will have no shepherds. I cannot see else how thou shouldst ’scape.

Enter Rosalind as Ganymede.

CORIN. Here comes young Master Ganymede, my new mistress’s brother.

ROSALIND. [ Reads .]           From the east to western Inde          No jewel is like Rosalind.          Her worth being mounted on the wind,          Through all the world bears Rosalind.          All the pictures fairest lined          Are but black to Rosalind.          Let no face be kept in mind          But the fair of Rosalind.

TOUCHSTONE. I’ll rhyme you so eight years together, dinners and suppers and sleeping hours excepted. It is the right butter-women’s rank to market.

ROSALIND. Out, fool!

TOUCHSTONE.          For a taste:          If a hart do lack a hind,          Let him seek out Rosalind.          If the cat will after kind,          So be sure will Rosalind.          Winter garments must be lined,          So must slender Rosalind.          They that reap must sheaf and bind,          Then to cart with Rosalind.          Sweetest nut hath sourest rind,          Such a nut is Rosalind.          He that sweetest rose will find          Must find love’s prick, and Rosalind. This is the very false gallop of verses. Why do you infect yourself with them?

ROSALIND. Peace, you dull fool, I found them on a tree.

TOUCHSTONE. Truly, the tree yields bad fruit.

ROSALIND. I’ll graft it with you, and then I shall graft it with a medlar. Then it will be the earliest fruit i’ th’ country, for you’ll be rotten ere you be half ripe, and that’s the right virtue of the medlar.

TOUCHSTONE. You have said, but whether wisely or no, let the forest judge.

Enter Celia as Aliena, reading a paper.

ROSALIND. Peace, here comes my sister, reading. Stand aside.

CELIA. [ Reads .]              Why should this a desert be?                 For it is unpeopled? No!             Tongues I’ll hang on every tree                 That shall civil sayings show.             Some, how brief the life of man                 Runs his erring pilgrimage,             That the streching of a span                 Buckles in his sum of age;             Some, of violated vows                 ’Twixt the souls of friend and friend.             But upon the fairest boughs,                 Or at every sentence’ end,             Will I “Rosalinda” write,                 Teaching all that read to know             The quintessence of every sprite                 Heaven would in little show.             Therefore heaven nature charged                 That one body should be filled             With all graces wide-enlarged.                 Nature presently distilled             Helen’s cheek, but not her heart,                 Cleopatra’s majesty;             Atalanta’s better part,                 Sad Lucretia’s modesty.             Thus Rosalind of many parts                 By heavenly synod was devised,             Of many faces, eyes, and hearts                 To have the touches dearest prized.             Heaven would that she these gifts should have,                 And I to live and die her slave.

ROSALIND. O most gentle Jupiter, what tedious homily of love have you wearied your parishioners withal, and never cried “Have patience, good people!”

CELIA. How now! Back, friends. Shepherd, go off a little. Go with him, sirrah.

TOUCHSTONE. Come, shepherd, let us make an honourable retreat, though not with bag and baggage, yet with scrip and scrippage.

[ Exeunt Corin and Touchstone . ]

CELIA. Didst thou hear these verses?

ROSALIND. O yes, I heard them all, and more too, for some of them had in them more feet than the verses would bear.

CELIA. That’s no matter. The feet might bear the verses.

ROSALIND. Ay, but the feet were lame and could not bear themselves without the verse, and therefore stood lamely in the verse.

CELIA. But didst thou hear without wondering how thy name should be hanged and carved upon these trees?

ROSALIND. I was seven of the nine days out of the wonder before you came; for look here what I found on a palm-tree. I was never so berhymed since Pythagoras’ time that I was an Irish rat, which I can hardly remember.

CELIA. Trow you who hath done this?

ROSALIND. Is it a man?

CELIA. And a chain, that you once wore, about his neck. Change you colour?

ROSALIND. I prithee, who?

CELIA. O Lord, Lord, it is a hard matter for friends to meet; but mountains may be removed with earthquakes and so encounter.

ROSALIND. Nay, but who is it?

CELIA. Is it possible?

ROSALIND. Nay, I prithee now, with most petitionary vehemence, tell me who it is.

CELIA. O wonderful, wonderful, most wonderful wonderful, and yet again wonderful, and after that, out of all whooping!

ROSALIND. Good my complexion! Dost thou think, though I am caparisoned like a man, I have a doublet and hose in my disposition? One inch of delay more is a South Sea of discovery. I prithee tell me who is it quickly, and speak apace. I would thou couldst stammer, that thou mightst pour this concealed man out of thy mouth, as wine comes out of narrow-mouthed bottle—either too much at once or none at all. I prithee take the cork out of thy mouth that I may drink thy tidings.

CELIA. So you may put a man in your belly.

ROSALIND. Is he of God’s making? What manner of man? Is his head worth a hat, or his chin worth a beard?

CELIA. Nay, he hath but a little beard.

ROSALIND. Why, God will send more if the man will be thankful. Let me stay the growth of his beard, if thou delay me not the knowledge of his chin.

CELIA. It is young Orlando, that tripped up the wrestler’s heels and your heart both in an instant.

ROSALIND. Nay, but the devil take mocking! Speak sad brow and true maid.

CELIA. I’ faith, coz, ’tis he.

ROSALIND. Orlando?

CELIA. Orlando.

ROSALIND. Alas the day, what shall I do with my doublet and hose? What did he when thou saw’st him? What said he? How looked he? Wherein went he? What makes he here? Did he ask for me? Where remains he? How parted he with thee? And when shalt thou see him again? Answer me in one word.

CELIA. You must borrow me Gargantua’s mouth first. ’Tis a word too great for any mouth of this age’s size. To say ay and no to these particulars is more than to answer in a catechism.

ROSALIND. But doth he know that I am in this forest and in man’s apparel? Looks he as freshly as he did the day he wrestled?

CELIA. It is as easy to count atomies as to resolve the propositions of a lover. But take a taste of my finding him, and relish it with good observance. I found him under a tree, like a dropped acorn.

ROSALIND. It may well be called Jove’s tree when it drops forth such fruit.

CELIA. Give me audience, good madam.

ROSALIND. Proceed.

CELIA. There lay he, stretched along like a wounded knight.

ROSALIND. Though it be pity to see such a sight, it well becomes the ground.

CELIA. Cry “holla!” to thy tongue, I prithee. It curvets unseasonably. He was furnished like a hunter.

ROSALIND. O, ominous! He comes to kill my heart.

CELIA. I would sing my song without a burden. Thou bring’st me out of tune.

ROSALIND. Do you not know I am a woman? When I think, I must speak. Sweet, say on.

Enter Orlando and Jaques .

CELIA. You bring me out. Soft, comes he not here?

ROSALIND. ’Tis he! Slink by, and note him.

[ Rosalind and Celia step aside. ]

JAQUES. I thank you for your company but, good faith, I had as lief have been myself alone.

ORLANDO. And so had I, but yet, for fashion sake, I thank you too for your society.

JAQUES. God be wi’ you, let’s meet as little as we can.

ORLANDO. I do desire we may be better strangers.

JAQUES. I pray you, mar no more trees with writing love songs in their barks.

ORLANDO. I pray you, mar no more of my verses with reading them ill-favouredly.

JAQUES. Rosalind is your love’s name?

ORLANDO. Yes, just.

JAQUES. I do not like her name.

ORLANDO. There was no thought of pleasing you when she was christened.

JAQUES. What stature is she of?

ORLANDO. Just as high as my heart.

JAQUES. You are full of pretty answers. Have you not been acquainted with goldsmiths’ wives, and conned them out of rings?

ORLANDO. Not so; but I answer you right painted cloth, from whence you have studied your questions.

JAQUES. You have a nimble wit. I think ’twas made of Atalanta’s heels. Will you sit down with me? And we two will rail against our mistress the world and all our misery.

ORLANDO. I will chide no breather in the world but myself, against whom I know most faults.

JAQUES. The worst fault you have is to be in love.

ORLANDO. ’Tis a fault I will not change for your best virtue. I am weary of you.

JAQUES. By my troth, I was seeking for a fool when I found you.

ORLANDO. He is drowned in the brook. Look but in, and you shall see him.

JAQUES. There I shall see mine own figure.

ORLANDO. Which I take to be either a fool or a cipher.

JAQUES. I’ll tarry no longer with you. Farewell, good Signior Love.

ORLANDO. I am glad of your departure. Adieu, good Monsieur Melancholy.

[ Exit Jaques .— Celia and Rosalind come forward. ]

ROSALIND. I will speak to him like a saucy lackey, and under that habit play the knave with him. Do you hear, forester?

ORLANDO. Very well. What would you?

ROSALIND. I pray you, what is’t o’clock?

ORLANDO. You should ask me what time o’ day. There’s no clock in the forest.

ROSALIND. Then there is no true lover in the forest, else sighing every minute and groaning every hour would detect the lazy foot of time as well as a clock.

ORLANDO. And why not the swift foot of time? Had not that been as proper?

ROSALIND. By no means, sir. Time travels in divers paces with divers persons. I’ll tell you who time ambles withal, who time trots withal, who time gallops withal, and who he stands still withal.

ORLANDO. I prithee, who doth he trot withal?

ROSALIND. Marry, he trots hard with a young maid between the contract of her marriage and the day it is solemnized. If the interim be but a se’nnight, time’s pace is so hard that it seems the length of seven year.

ORLANDO. Who ambles time withal?

ROSALIND. With a priest that lacks Latin and a rich man that hath not the gout; for the one sleeps easily because he cannot study, and the other lives merrily because he feels no pain; the one lacking the burden of lean and wasteful learning, the other knowing no burden of heavy tedious penury. These time ambles withal.

ORLANDO. Who doth he gallop withal?

ROSALIND. With a thief to the gallows; for though he go as softly as foot can fall, he thinks himself too soon there.

ORLANDO. Who stays it still withal?

ROSALIND. With lawyers in the vacation; for they sleep between term and term, and then they perceive not how time moves.

ORLANDO. Where dwell you, pretty youth?

ROSALIND. With this shepherdess, my sister, here in the skirts of the forest, like fringe upon a petticoat.

ORLANDO. Are you native of this place?

ROSALIND. As the coney that you see dwell where she is kindled.

ORLANDO. Your accent is something finer than you could purchase in so removed a dwelling.

ROSALIND. I have been told so of many. But indeed an old religious uncle of mine taught me to speak, who was in his youth an inland man, one that knew courtship too well, for there he fell in love. I have heard him read many lectures against it, and I thank God I am not a woman, to be touched with so many giddy offences as he hath generally taxed their whole sex withal.

ORLANDO. Can you remember any of the principal evils that he laid to the charge of women?

ROSALIND. There were none principal. They were all like one another as halfpence are, every one fault seeming monstrous till his fellow fault came to match it.

ORLANDO. I prithee recount some of them.

ROSALIND. No. I will not cast away my physic but on those that are sick. There is a man haunts the forest that abuses our young plants with carving “Rosalind” on their barks; hangs odes upon hawthorns and elegies on brambles; all, forsooth, deifying the name of Rosalind. If I could meet that fancy-monger, I would give him some good counsel, for he seems to have the quotidian of love upon him.

ORLANDO. I am he that is so love-shaked. I pray you tell me your remedy.

ROSALIND. There is none of my uncle’s marks upon you. He taught me how to know a man in love, in which cage of rushes I am sure you are not prisoner.

ORLANDO. What were his marks?

ROSALIND. A lean cheek, which you have not; a blue eye and sunken, which you have not; an unquestionable spirit, which you have not; a beard neglected, which you have not—but I pardon you for that, for simply your having in beard is a younger brother’s revenue. Then your hose should be ungartered, your bonnet unbanded, your sleeve unbuttoned, your shoe untied, and everything about you demonstrating a careless desolation. But you are no such man. You are rather point-device in your accoutrements, as loving yourself than seeming the lover of any other.

ORLANDO. Fair youth, I would I could make thee believe I love.

ROSALIND. Me believe it? You may as soon make her that you love believe it, which I warrant she is apter to do than to confess she does. That is one of the points in the which women still give the lie to their consciences. But, in good sooth, are you he that hangs the verses on the trees, wherein Rosalind is so admired?

ORLANDO. I swear to thee, youth, by the white hand of Rosalind, I am that he, that unfortunate he.

ROSALIND. But are you so much in love as your rhymes speak?

ORLANDO. Neither rhyme nor reason can express how much.

ROSALIND. Love is merely a madness, and, I tell you, deserves as well a dark house and a whip as madmen do; and the reason why they are not so punished and cured is that the lunacy is so ordinary that the whippers are in love too. Yet I profess curing it by counsel.

ORLANDO. Did you ever cure any so?

ROSALIND. Yes, one, and in this manner. He was to imagine me his love, his mistress, and I set him every day to woo me; at which time would I, being but a moonish youth, grieve, be effeminate, changeable, longing and liking, proud, fantastical, apish, shallow, inconstant, full of tears, full of smiles; for every passion something and for no passion truly anything, as boys and women are for the most part cattle of this colour; would now like him, now loathe him; then entertain him, then forswear him; now weep for him, then spit at him; that I drave my suitor from his mad humour of love to a living humour of madness, which was to forswear the full stream of the world and to live in a nook merely monastic. And thus I cured him, and this way will I take upon me to wash your liver as clean as a sound sheep’s heart, that there shall not be one spot of love in ’t.

ORLANDO. I would not be cured, youth.

ROSALIND. I would cure you, if you would but call me Rosalind and come every day to my cote and woo me.

ORLANDO. Now, by the faith of my love, I will. Tell me where it is.

ROSALIND. Go with me to it, and I’ll show it you; and by the way you shall tell me where in the forest you live. Will you go?

ORLANDO. With all my heart, good youth.

ROSALIND. Nay, you must call me Rosalind. Come, sister, will you go?

SCENE III. Another part of the Forest

Enter Touchstone and Audrey; Jaques at a distance observing them.

TOUCHSTONE. Come apace, good Audrey. I will fetch up your goats, Audrey. And how, Audrey? Am I the man yet? Doth my simple feature content you?

AUDREY. Your features, Lord warrant us! What features?

TOUCHSTONE. I am here with thee and thy goats, as the most capricious poet, honest Ovid, was among the Goths.

JAQUES. [ Aside .] O knowledge ill-inhabited, worse than Jove in a thatched house!

TOUCHSTONE. 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. Truly, I would the gods had made thee poetical.

AUDREY. I do not know what “poetical” is. Is it honest in deed and word? Is it a true thing?

TOUCHSTONE. No, truly; for the truest poetry is the most feigning, and lovers are given to poetry, and what they swear in poetry may be said, as lovers, they do feign.

AUDREY. Do you wish, then, that the gods had made me poetical?

TOUCHSTONE. I do, truly, for thou swear’st to me thou art honest. Now if thou wert a poet, I might have some hope thou didst feign.

AUDREY. Would you not have me honest?

TOUCHSTONE. No, truly, unless thou wert hard-favoured; for honesty coupled to beauty is to have honey a sauce to sugar.

JAQUES. [ Aside .] A material fool!

AUDREY. Well, I am not fair, and therefore I pray the gods make me honest.

TOUCHSTONE. Truly, and to cast away honesty upon a foul slut were to put good meat into an unclean dish.

AUDREY. I am not a slut, though I thank the gods I am foul.

TOUCHSTONE. Well, praised be the gods for thy foulness; sluttishness may come hereafter. But be it as it may be, I will marry thee. And to that end I have been with Sir Oliver Martext, the vicar of the next village, who hath promised to meet me in this place of the forest and to couple us.

JAQUES. [ Aside .] I would fain see this meeting.

AUDREY. Well, the gods give us joy!

TOUCHSTONE. Amen. A man may, if he were of a fearful heart, stagger in this attempt, for here we have no temple but the wood, no assembly but horn-beasts. But what though? Courage! As horns are odious, they are necessary. It is said, “Many a man knows no end of his goods.” Right. Many a man has good horns and knows no end of them. Well, that is the dowry of his wife; ’tis none of his own getting. Horns? Even so. Poor men alone? No, no, the noblest deer hath them as huge as the rascal. Is the single man therefore blessed? No. As a walled town is more worthier than a village, so is the forehead of a married man more honourable than the bare brow of a bachelor. And by how much defence is better than no skill, by so much is horn more precious than to want.

Enter Sir Oliver Martext .

Here comes Sir Oliver. Sir Oliver Martext, you are well met. Will you dispatch us here under this tree, or shall we go with you to your chapel?

MARTEXT. Is there none here to give the woman?

TOUCHSTONE. I will not take her on gift of any man.

MARTEXT. Truly, she must be given, or the marriage is not lawful.

JAQUES. [ Coming forward .] Proceed, proceed. I’ll give her.

TOUCHSTONE. Good even, good Master What-ye-call’t, how do you, sir? You are very well met. God ’ild you for your last company. I am very glad to see you. Even a toy in hand here, sir. Nay, pray be covered.

JAQUES. Will you be married, motley?

TOUCHSTONE. As the ox hath his bow, sir, the horse his curb, and the falcon her bells, so man hath his desires; and as pigeons bill, so wedlock would be nibbling.

JAQUES. And will you, being a man of your breeding, be married under a bush like a beggar? Get you to church, and have a good priest that can tell you what marriage is. This fellow will but join you together as they join wainscot; then one of you will prove a shrunk panel, and like green timber, warp, warp.

TOUCHSTONE. [ Aside .] I am not in the mind but I were better to be married of him than of another, for he is not like to marry me well, and not being well married, it will be a good excuse for me hereafter to leave my wife.

JAQUES. Go thou with me, and let me counsel thee.

TOUCHSTONE. Come, sweet Audrey. We must be married, or we must live in bawdry. Farewell, good Master Oliver. Not               O sweet Oliver,              O brave Oliver,          Leave me not behind thee. But               Wind away,—              Begone, I say,          I will not to wedding with thee.

[ Exeunt Touchstone, Audrey and Jaques . ]

MARTEXT. ’Tis no matter. Ne’er a fantastical knave of them all shall flout me out of my calling.

SCENE IV. Another part of the Forest. Before a Cottage

ROSALIND. Never talk to me, I will weep.

CELIA. Do, I prithee, but yet have the grace to consider that tears do not become a man.

ROSALIND. But have I not cause to weep?

CELIA. As good cause as one would desire; therefore weep.

ROSALIND. His very hair is of the dissembling colour.

CELIA. Something browner than Judas’s. Marry, his kisses are Judas’s own children.

ROSALIND. I’ faith, his hair is of a good colour.

CELIA. An excellent colour. Your chestnut was ever the only colour.

ROSALIND. And his kissing is as full of sanctity as the touch of holy bread.

CELIA. He hath bought a pair of cast lips of Diana. A nun of winter’s sisterhood kisses not more religiously; the very ice of chastity is in them.

ROSALIND. But why did he swear he would come this morning, and comes not?

CELIA. Nay, certainly, there is no truth in him.

ROSALIND. Do you think so?

CELIA. Yes. I think he is not a pick-purse nor a horse-stealer, but for his verity in love, I do think him as concave as a covered goblet or a worm-eaten nut.

ROSALIND. Not true in love?

CELIA. Yes, when he is in, but I think he is not in.

ROSALIND. You have heard him swear downright he was.

CELIA. “Was” is not “is”. Besides, the oath of a lover is no stronger than the word of a tapster. They are both the confirmer of false reckonings. He attends here in the forest on the Duke your father.

ROSALIND. I met the Duke yesterday, and had much question with him. He asked me of what parentage I was. I told him, of as good as he, so he laughed and let me go. But what talk we of fathers when there is such a man as Orlando?

CELIA. O, that’s a brave man! He writes brave verses, speaks brave words, swears brave oaths, and breaks them bravely, quite traverse, athwart the heart of his lover, as a puny tilter, that spurs his horse but on one side, breaks his staff like a noble goose. But all’s brave that youth mounts and folly guides. Who comes here?

Enter Corin .

CORIN. Mistress and master, you have oft enquired After the shepherd that complained of love, Who you saw sitting by me on the turf, Praising the proud disdainful shepherdess That was his mistress.

CELIA. Well, and what of him?

CORIN. If you will see a pageant truly played Between the pale complexion of true love And the red glow of scorn and proud disdain, Go hence a little, and I shall conduct you, If you will mark it.

ROSALIND. O, come, let us remove. The sight of lovers feedeth those in love. Bring us to this sight, and you shall say I’ll prove a busy actor in their play.

Enter Silvius and Phoebe .

SILVIUS. Sweet Phoebe, do not scorn me, do not, Phoebe. Say that you love me not, but say not so In bitterness. The common executioner, Whose heart th’ accustomed sight of death makes hard, Falls not the axe upon the humbled neck But first begs pardon. Will you sterner be Than he that dies and lives by bloody drops?

Enter Rosalind, Celia and Corin , at a distance.

PHOEBE. I would not be thy executioner; I fly thee, for I would not injure thee. Thou tell’st me there is murder in mine eye. ’Tis pretty, sure, and very probable That eyes, that are the frail’st and softest things, Who shut their coward gates on atomies, Should be called tyrants, butchers, murderers. Now I do frown on thee with all my heart, And if mine eyes can wound, now let them kill thee. Now counterfeit to swoon; why, now fall down; Or if thou canst not, O, for shame, for shame, Lie not, to say mine eyes are murderers. Now show the wound mine eye hath made in thee. Scratch thee but with a pin, and there remains Some scar of it; lean upon a rush, The cicatrice and capable impressure Thy palm some moment keeps. But now mine eyes, Which I have darted at thee, hurt thee not; Nor I am sure there is not force in eyes That can do hurt.

SILVIUS. O dear Phoebe, If ever—as that ever may be near— You meet in some fresh cheek the power of fancy, Then shall you know the wounds invisible That love’s keen arrows make.

PHOEBE. But till that time Come not thou near me. And when that time comes, Afflict me with thy mocks, pity me not, As till that time I shall not pity thee.

ROSALIND. [ Advancing .] And why, I pray you? Who might be your mother, That you insult, exult, and all at once, Over the wretched? What though you have no beauty— As, by my faith, I see no more in you Than without candle may go dark to bed— Must you be therefore proud and pitiless? Why, what means this? Why do you look on me? I see no more in you than in the ordinary Of nature’s sale-work. ’Od’s my little life, I think she means to tangle my eyes too! No, faith, proud mistress, hope not after it. ’Tis not your inky brows, your black silk hair, Your bugle eyeballs, nor your cheek of cream, That can entame my spirits to your worship. You foolish shepherd, wherefore do you follow her, Like foggy south, puffing with wind and rain? You are a thousand times a properer man Than she a woman. ’Tis such fools as you That makes the world full of ill-favoured children. ’Tis not her glass but you that flatters her, And out of you she sees herself more proper Than any of her lineaments can show her. But, mistress, know yourself; down on your knees, And thank heaven, fasting, for a good man’s love. For I must tell you friendly in your ear, Sell when you can; you are not for all markets. Cry the man mercy, love him, take his offer; Foul is most foul, being foul to be a scoffer. So take her to thee, shepherd. Fare you well.

PHOEBE. Sweet youth, I pray you chide a year together! I had rather hear you chide than this man woo.

ROSALIND. He’s fall’n in love with your foulness, and she’ll fall in love with my anger. If it be so, as fast as she answers thee with frowning looks, I’ll sauce her with bitter words. Why look you so upon me?

PHOEBE. For no ill will I bear you.

ROSALIND. I pray you do not fall in love with me, For I am falser than vows made in wine. Besides, I like you not. If you will know my house, ’Tis at the tuft of olives here hard by. Will you go, sister? Shepherd, ply her hard. Come, sister. Shepherdess, look on him better, And be not proud. Though all the world could see, None could be so abused in sight as he. Come, to our flock.

[ Exeunt Rosalind, Celia and Corin . ]

PHOEBE. Dead shepherd, now I find thy saw of might: “Who ever loved that loved not at first sight?”

SILVIUS. Sweet Phoebe—

PHOEBE. Ha, what sayst thou, Silvius?

SILVIUS. Sweet Phoebe, pity me.

PHOEBE. Why, I am sorry for thee, gentle Silvius.

SILVIUS. Wherever sorrow is, relief would be. If you do sorrow at my grief in love, By giving love your sorrow and my grief Were both extermined.

PHOEBE. Thou hast my love. Is not that neighbourly?

SILVIUS. I would have you.

PHOEBE. Why, that were covetousness. Silvius, the time was that I hated thee; And yet it is not that I bear thee love; But since that thou canst talk of love so well, Thy company, which erst was irksome to me, I will endure, and I’ll employ thee too. But do not look for further recompense Than thine own gladness that thou art employed.

SILVIUS. So holy and so perfect is my love, And I in such a poverty of grace, That I shall think it a most plenteous crop To glean the broken ears after the man That the main harvest reaps. Loose now and then A scattered smile, and that I’ll live upon.

PHOEBE. Know’st thou the youth that spoke to me erewhile?

SILVIUS. Not very well, but I have met him oft, And he hath bought the cottage and the bounds That the old carlot once was master of.

PHOEBE. Think not I love him, though I ask for him. ’Tis but a peevish boy—yet he talks well. But what care I for words? Yet words do well When he that speaks them pleases those that hear. It is a pretty youth—not very pretty— But sure he’s proud, and yet his pride becomes him. He’ll make a proper man. The best thing in him Is his complexion; and faster than his tongue Did make offence, his eye did heal it up. He is not very tall, yet for his years he’s tall; His leg is but so-so, and yet ’tis well. There was a pretty redness in his lip, A little riper and more lusty red Than that mixed in his cheek. ’Twas just the difference Betwixt the constant red and mingled damask. There be some women, Silvius, had they marked him In parcels as I did, would have gone near To fall in love with him; but for my part I love him not nor hate him not; and yet I have more cause to hate him than to love him. For what had he to do to chide at me? He said mine eyes were black and my hair black, And now I am remembered, scorned at me. I marvel why I answered not again. But that’s all one: omittance is no quittance. I’ll write to him a very taunting letter, And thou shalt bear it. Wilt thou, Silvius?

SILVIUS. Phoebe, with all my heart.

PHOEBE. I’ll write it straight, The matter’s in my head and in my heart. I will be bitter with him and passing short. Go with me, Silvius.

Enter Rosalind, Celia and Jaques .

JAQUES. I prithee, pretty youth, let me be better acquainted with thee.

ROSALIND. They say you are a melancholy fellow.

JAQUES. I am so; I do love it better than laughing.

ROSALIND. Those that are in extremity of either are abominable fellows, and betray themselves to every modern censure worse than drunkards.

JAQUES. Why, ’tis good to be sad and say nothing.

ROSALIND. Why then, ’tis good to be a post.

JAQUES. I have neither the scholar’s melancholy, which is emulation; nor the musician’s, which is fantastical; nor the courtier’s, which is proud; nor the soldier’s, which is ambitious; nor the lawyer’s, which is politic; nor the lady’s, which is nice; nor the lover’s, which is all these; but it is a melancholy of mine own, compounded of many simples, extracted from many objects, and indeed the sundry contemplation of my travels, in which my often rumination wraps me in a most humorous sadness.

ROSALIND. A traveller! By my faith, you have great reason to be sad. I fear you have sold your own lands to see other men’s. Then to have seen much and to have nothing is to have rich eyes and poor hands.

JAQUES. Yes, I have gained my experience.

ROSALIND. And your experience makes you sad. I had rather have a fool to make me merry than experience to make me sad—and to travel for it too.

Enter Orlando .

ORLANDO. Good day and happiness, dear Rosalind!

JAQUES. Nay, then, God be wi’ you, an you talk in blank verse.

ROSALIND. Farewell, Monsieur Traveller. Look you lisp and wear strange suits; disable all the benefits of your own country; be out of love with your nativity, and almost chide God for making you that countenance you are, or I will scarce think you have swam in a gondola.

[ Exit Jaques . ]

Why, how now, Orlando, where have you been all this while? You a lover! An you serve me such another trick, never come in my sight more.

ORLANDO. My fair Rosalind, I come within an hour of my promise.

ROSALIND. Break an hour’s promise in love? He that will divide a minute into a thousand parts, and break but a part of the thousand part of a minute in the affairs of love, it may be said of him that Cupid hath clapped him o’ the shoulder, but I’ll warrant him heart-whole.

ORLANDO. Pardon me, dear Rosalind.

ROSALIND. Nay, an you be so tardy, come no more in my sight. I had as lief be wooed of a snail.

ORLANDO. Of a snail?

ROSALIND. Ay, of a snail, for though he comes slowly, he carries his house on his head—a better jointure, I think, than you make a woman. Besides, he brings his destiny with him.

ORLANDO. What’s that?

ROSALIND. Why, horns, which such as you are fain to be beholding to your wives for. But he comes armed in his fortune and prevents the slander of his wife.

ORLANDO. Virtue is no horn-maker and my Rosalind is virtuous.

ROSALIND. And I am your Rosalind.

CELIA. It pleases him to call you so, but he hath a Rosalind of a better leer than you.

ROSALIND. Come, woo me, woo me, for now I am in a holiday humour, and like enough to consent. What would you say to me now, an I were your very, very Rosalind?

ORLANDO. I would kiss before I spoke.

ROSALIND. Nay, you were better speak first, and when you were gravelled for lack of matter, you might take occasion to kiss. Very good orators, when they are out, they will spit; and for lovers lacking—God warn us—matter, the cleanliest shift is to kiss.

ORLANDO. How if the kiss be denied?

ROSALIND. Then she puts you to entreaty, and there begins new matter.

ORLANDO. Who could be out, being before his beloved mistress?

ROSALIND. Marry, that should you, if I were your mistress, or I should think my honesty ranker than my wit.

ORLANDO. What, of my suit?

ROSALIND. Not out of your apparel, and yet out of your suit. Am not I your Rosalind?

ORLANDO. I take some joy to say you are because I would be talking of her.

ROSALIND. Well, in her person, I say I will not have you.

ORLANDO. Then, in mine own person, I die.

ROSALIND. No, faith, die by attorney. The poor world is almost six thousand years old, and in all this time there was not any man died in his own person, videlicet , in a love-cause. Troilus had his brains dashed out with a Grecian club, yet he did what he could to die before, and he is one of the patterns of love. Leander, he would have lived many a fair year though Hero had turned nun, if it had not been for a hot midsummer night; for, good youth, he went but forth to wash him in the Hellespont and, being taken with the cramp, was drowned; and the foolish chroniclers of that age found it was Hero of Sestos. But these are all lies. Men have died from time to time and worms have eaten them, but not for love.

ORLANDO. I would not have my right Rosalind of this mind, for I protest her frown might kill me.

ROSALIND. By this hand, it will not kill a fly. But come, now I will be your Rosalind in a more coming-on disposition, and ask me what you will, I will grant it.

ORLANDO. Then love me, Rosalind.

ROSALIND. Yes, faith, will I, Fridays and Saturdays and all.

ORLANDO. And wilt thou have me?

ROSALIND. Ay, and twenty such.

ORLANDO. What sayest thou?

ROSALIND. Are you not good?

ORLANDO. I hope so.

ROSALIND. Why then, can one desire too much of a good thing?—Come, sister, you shall be the priest and marry us.—Give me your hand, Orlando.—What do you say, sister?

ORLANDO. Pray thee, marry us.

CELIA. I cannot say the words.

ROSALIND. You must begin “Will you, Orlando—”

CELIA. Go to.—Will you, Orlando, have to wife this Rosalind?

ORLANDO. I will.

ROSALIND. Ay, but when?

ORLANDO. Why now, as fast as she can marry us.

ROSALIND. Then you must say “I take thee, Rosalind, for wife.”

ORLANDO. I take thee, Rosalind, for wife.

ROSALIND. I might ask you for your commission. But I do take thee, Orlando, for my husband. There’s a girl goes before the priest, and certainly a woman’s thought runs before her actions.

ORLANDO. So do all thoughts. They are winged.

ROSALIND. Now tell me how long you would have her after you have possessed her.

ORLANDO. For ever and a day.

ROSALIND. Say “a day” without the “ever.” No, no, Orlando, men are April when they woo, December when they wed. Maids are May when they are maids, but the sky changes when they are wives. I will be more jealous of thee than a Barbary cock-pigeon over his hen, more clamorous than a parrot against rain, more new-fangled than an ape, more giddy in my desires than a monkey. I will weep for nothing, like Diana in the fountain, and I will do that when you are disposed to be merry. I will laugh like a hyena, and that when thou are inclined to sleep.

ORLANDO. But will my Rosalind do so?

ROSALIND. By my life, she will do as I do.

ORLANDO. O, but she is wise.

ROSALIND. Or else she could not have the wit to do this. The wiser, the waywarder. Make the doors upon a woman’s wit, and it will out at the casement. Shut that, and ’twill out at the keyhole. Stop that, ’twill fly with the smoke out at the chimney.

ORLANDO. A man that had a wife with such a wit, he might say, “Wit, whither wilt?”

ROSALIND. Nay, you might keep that check for it till you met your wife’s wit going to your neighbour’s bed.

ORLANDO. And what wit could wit have to excuse that?

ROSALIND. Marry, to say she came to seek you there. You shall never take her without her answer unless you take her without her tongue. O, that woman that cannot make her fault her husband’s occasion, let her never nurse her child herself, for she will breed it like a fool.

ORLANDO. For these two hours, Rosalind, I will leave thee.

ROSALIND. Alas, dear love, I cannot lack thee two hours.

ORLANDO. I must attend the Duke at dinner. By two o’clock I will be with thee again.

ROSALIND. Ay, go your ways, go your ways. I knew what you would prove. My friends told me as much, and I thought no less. That flattering tongue of yours won me. ’Tis but one cast away, and so, come death! Two o’clock is your hour?

ORLANDO. Ay, sweet Rosalind.

ROSALIND. By my troth, and in good earnest, and so God mend me, and by all pretty oaths that are not dangerous, if you break one jot of your promise or come one minute behind your hour, I will think you the most pathetical break-promise, and the most hollow lover, and the most unworthy of her you call Rosalind that may be chosen out of the gross band of the unfaithful. Therefore beware my censure, and keep your promise.

ORLANDO. With no less religion than if thou wert indeed my Rosalind. So, adieu.

ROSALIND. Well, Time is the old justice that examines all such offenders, and let time try. Adieu.

[ Exit Orlando . ]

CELIA. You have simply misused our sex in your love-prate! We must have your doublet and hose plucked over your head and show the world what the bird hath done to her own nest.

ROSALIND. O coz, coz, coz, my pretty little coz, that thou didst know how many fathom deep I am in love! But it cannot be sounded; my affection hath an unknown bottom, like the Bay of Portugal.

CELIA. Or rather, bottomless, that as fast as you pour affection in, it runs out.

ROSALIND. No, that same wicked bastard of Venus, that was begot of thought, conceived of spleen, and born of madness, that blind rascally boy that abuses everyone’s eyes because his own are out, let him be judge how deep I am in love. I’ll tell thee, Aliena, I cannot be out of the sight of Orlando. I’ll go find a shadow and sigh till he come.

CELIA. And I’ll sleep.

SCENE II. Another part of the Forest

Enter Jaques and Lords, like foresters.

JAQUES. Which is he that killed the deer?

FIRST LORD. Sir, it was I.

JAQUES. Let’s present him to the Duke, like a Roman conqueror, and it would do well to set the deer’s horns upon his head for a branch of victory. Have you no song, forester, for this purpose?

SECOND LORD. Yes, sir.

JAQUES. Sing it. ’Tis no matter how it be in tune, so it make noise enough.

SECOND LORD. [ Sings .]   What shall he have that killed the deer?         His leather skin and horns to wear.                   Then sing him home:   [ The rest shall bear this burden .]             Take thou no scorn to wear the horn.             It was a crest ere thou wast born.                   Thy father’s father wore it                   And thy father bore it.             The horn, the horn, the lusty horn             Is not a thing to laugh to scorn.

ROSALIND. How say you now? Is it not past two o’clock? And here much Orlando.

CELIA. I warrant you, with pure love and troubled brain he hath ta’en his bow and arrows and is gone forth to sleep.

Enter Silvius .

Look who comes here.

SILVIUS. My errand is to you, fair youth. My gentle Phoebe did bid me give you this.

[ Giving a letter. ]

I know not the contents, but, as I guess By the stern brow and waspish action Which she did use as she was writing of it, It bears an angry tenor. Pardon me, I am but as a guiltless messenger.

ROSALIND. Patience herself would startle at this letter And play the swaggerer. Bear this, bear all! She says I am not fair, that I lack manners; She calls me proud, and that she could not love me, Were man as rare as phoenix. ’Od’s my will, Her love is not the hare that I do hunt. Why writes she so to me? Well, shepherd, well, This is a letter of your own device.

SILVIUS. No, I protest, I know not the contents. Phoebe did write it.

ROSALIND. Come, come, you are a fool, And turned into the extremity of love. I saw her hand. She has a leathern hand, A freestone-coloured hand. I verily did think That her old gloves were on, but ’twas her hands. She has a huswife’s hand—but that’s no matter. I say she never did invent this letter; This is a man’s invention, and his hand.

SILVIUS. Sure, it is hers.

ROSALIND. Why, ’tis a boisterous and a cruel style, A style for challengers. Why, she defies me, Like Turk to Christian. Women’s gentle brain Could not drop forth such giant-rude invention, Such Ethiop words, blacker in their effect Than in their countenance. Will you hear the letter?

SILVIUS. So please you, for I never heard it yet, Yet heard too much of Phoebe’s cruelty.

ROSALIND. She Phoebes me. Mark how the tyrant writes.

             Art thou god to shepherd turned,             That a maiden’s heart hath burned? Can a woman rail thus?

SILVIUS. Call you this railing?

ROSALIND.              Why, thy godhead laid apart,             Warr’st thou with a woman’s heart? Did you ever hear such railing?              Whiles the eye of man did woo me,             That could do no vengeance to me. Meaning me a beast.              If the scorn of your bright eyne             Have power to raise such love in mine,             Alack, in me what strange effect             Would they work in mild aspect?             Whiles you chid me, I did love,             How then might your prayers move?             He that brings this love to thee             Little knows this love in me;             And by him seal up thy mind,             Whether that thy youth and kind             Will the faithful offer take             Of me, and all that I can make,             Or else by him my love deny,             And then I’ll study how to die.

SILVIUS. Call you this chiding?

CELIA. Alas, poor shepherd.

ROSALIND. Do you pity him? No, he deserves no pity.—Wilt thou love such a woman? What, to make thee an instrument and play false strains upon thee? Not to be endured! Well, go your way to her, for I see love hath made thee a tame snake, and say this to her: that if she love me, I charge her to love thee; if she will not, I will never have her unless thou entreat for her. If you be a true lover, hence, and not a word, for here comes more company.

OLIVER. Good morrow, fair ones. Pray you, if you know, Where in the purlieus of this forest stands A sheepcote fenced about with olive trees?

CELIA. West of this place, down in the neighbour bottom; The rank of osiers, by the murmuring stream, Left on your right hand, brings you to the place. But at this hour the house doth keep itself. There’s none within.

OLIVER. If that an eye may profit by a tongue, Then should I know you by description, Such garments, and such years. “The boy is fair, Of female favour, and bestows himself Like a ripe sister; the woman low, And browner than her brother.” Are not you The owner of the house I did inquire for?

CELIA. It is no boast, being asked, to say we are.

OLIVER. Orlando doth commend him to you both, And to that youth he calls his Rosalind He sends this bloody napkin. Are you he?

ROSALIND. I am. What must we understand by this?

OLIVER. Some of my shame, if you will know of me What man I am, and how, and why, and where This handkerchief was stained.

CELIA. I pray you tell it.

OLIVER. When last the young Orlando parted from you, He left a promise to return again Within an hour, and pacing through the forest, Chewing the food of sweet and bitter fancy, Lo, what befell. He threw his eye aside, And mark what object did present itself. Under an oak, whose boughs were mossed with age And high top bald with dry antiquity, A wretched ragged man, o’ergrown with hair, Lay sleeping on his back; about his neck A green and gilded snake had wreathed itself, Who with her head, nimble in threats, approached The opening of his mouth. But suddenly, Seeing Orlando, it unlinked itself And with indented glides did slip away Into a bush; under which bush’s shade A lioness, with udders all drawn dry, Lay couching, head on ground, with catlike watch When that the sleeping man should stir. For ’tis The royal disposition of that beast To prey on nothing that doth seem as dead. This seen, Orlando did approach the man And found it was his brother, his elder brother.

CELIA. O, I have heard him speak of that same brother, And he did render him the most unnatural That lived amongst men.

OLIVER. And well he might so do, For well I know he was unnatural.

ROSALIND. But, to Orlando: did he leave him there, Food to the sucked and hungry lioness?

OLIVER. Twice did he turn his back and purposed so; But kindness, nobler ever than revenge, And nature, stronger than his just occasion, Made him give battle to the lioness, Who quickly fell before him; in which hurtling From miserable slumber I awaked.

CELIA. Are you his brother?

ROSALIND. Was it you he rescued?

CELIA. Was’t you that did so oft contrive to kill him?

OLIVER. ’Twas I; but ’tis not I. I do not shame To tell you what I was, since my conversion So sweetly tastes, being the thing I am.

ROSALIND. But, for the bloody napkin?

OLIVER. By and by. When from the first to last betwixt us two Tears our recountments had most kindly bathed— As how I came into that desert place— In brief, he led me to the gentle Duke, Who gave me fresh array and entertainment, Committing me unto my brother’s love, Who led me instantly unto his cave, There stripped himself, and here upon his arm The lioness had torn some flesh away, Which all this while had bled; and now he fainted, And cried in fainting upon Rosalind. Brief, I recovered him, bound up his wound, And after some small space, being strong at heart, He sent me hither, stranger as I am, To tell this story, that you might excuse His broken promise, and to give this napkin, Dyed in his blood, unto the shepherd youth That he in sport doth call his Rosalind.

[ Rosalind faints. ]

CELIA. Why, how now, Ganymede, sweet Ganymede!

OLIVER. Many will swoon when they do look on blood.

CELIA. There is more in it. Cousin—Ganymede!

OLIVER. Look, he recovers.

ROSALIND. I would I were at home.

CELIA. We’ll lead you thither. I pray you, will you take him by the arm?

OLIVER. Be of good cheer, youth. You a man? You lack a man’s heart.

ROSALIND. I do so, I confess it. Ah, sirrah, a body would think this was well counterfeited. I pray you tell your brother how well I counterfeited. Heigh-ho.

OLIVER. This was not counterfeit. There is too great testimony in your complexion that it was a passion of earnest.

ROSALIND. Counterfeit, I assure you.

OLIVER. Well then, take a good heart, and counterfeit to be a man.

ROSALIND. So I do. But, i’ faith, I should have been a woman by right.

CELIA. Come, you look paler and paler. Pray you draw homewards. Good sir, go with us.

OLIVER. That will I, for I must bear answer back How you excuse my brother, Rosalind.

ROSALIND. I shall devise something. But I pray you commend my counterfeiting to him. Will you go?

Enter Touchstone and Audrey .

TOUCHSTONE. We shall find a time, Audrey; patience, gentle Audrey.

AUDREY. Faith, the priest was good enough, for all the old gentleman’s saying.

TOUCHSTONE. A most wicked Sir Oliver, Audrey, a most vile Martext. But Audrey, there is a youth here in the forest lays claim to you.

AUDREY. Ay, I know who ’tis. He hath no interest in me in the world.

Enter William .

Here comes the man you mean.

TOUCHSTONE. It is meat and drink to me to see a clown. By my troth, we that have good wits have much to answer for. We shall be flouting; we cannot hold.

WILLIAM. Good ev’n, Audrey.

AUDREY. God ye good ev’n, William.

WILLIAM. And good ev’n to you, sir.

TOUCHSTONE. Good ev’n, gentle friend. Cover thy head, cover thy head. Nay, prithee, be covered. How old are you, friend?

WILLIAM. Five-and-twenty, sir.

TOUCHSTONE. A ripe age. Is thy name William?

WILLIAM. William, sir.

TOUCHSTONE. A fair name. Wast born i’ th’ forest here?

WILLIAM. Ay, sir, I thank God.

TOUCHSTONE. “Thank God.” A good answer. Art rich?

WILLIAM. Faith, sir, so-so.

TOUCHSTONE. “So-so” is good, very good, very excellent good. And yet it is not, it is but so-so. Art thou wise?

WILLIAM. Ay, sir, I have a pretty wit.

TOUCHSTONE. Why, thou sayst well. I do now remember a saying: “The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.” The heathen philosopher, when he had a desire to eat a grape, would open his lips when he put it into his mouth, meaning thereby that grapes were made to eat and lips to open. You do love this maid?

WILLIAM. I do, sir.

TOUCHSTONE. Give me your hand. Art thou learned?

WILLIAM. No, sir.

TOUCHSTONE. Then learn this of me: to have is to have. For it is a figure in rhetoric that drink, being poured out of cup into a glass, by filling the one doth empty the other. For all your writers do consent that ipse is “he.” Now, you are not ipse , for I am he.

WILLIAM. Which he, sir?

TOUCHSTONE. He, sir, that must marry this woman. Therefore, you clown, abandon—which is in the vulgar, “leave”—the society—which in the boorish is “company”—of this female—which in the common is “woman”; which together is, abandon the society of this female, or, clown, thou perishest; or, to thy better understanding, diest; or, to wit, I kill thee, make thee away, translate thy life into death, thy liberty into bondage. I will deal in poison with thee, or in bastinado, or in steel. I will bandy with thee in faction; will o’errun thee with policy. I will kill thee a hundred and fifty ways! Therefore tremble and depart.

AUDREY. Do, good William.

WILLIAM. God rest you merry, sir.

CORIN. Our master and mistress seek you. Come away, away.

TOUCHSTONE. Trip, Audrey, trip, Audrey! I attend, I attend.

Enter Orlando and Oliver .

ORLANDO. Is’t possible that on so little acquaintance you should like her? That but seeing, you should love her? And loving woo? And wooing, she should grant? And will you persever to enjoy her?

OLIVER. Neither call the giddiness of it in question, the poverty of her, the small acquaintance, my sudden wooing, nor her sudden consenting. But say with me, I love Aliena; say with her that she loves me; consent with both that we may enjoy each other. It shall be to your good, for my father’s house and all the revenue that was old Sir Rowland’s will I estate upon you, and here live and die a shepherd.

Enter Rosalind .

ORLANDO. You have my consent. Let your wedding be tomorrow. Thither will I invite the Duke and all’s contented followers. Go you and prepare Aliena; for, look you, here comes my Rosalind.

ROSALIND. God save you, brother.

OLIVER. And you, fair sister.

ROSALIND. O my dear Orlando, how it grieves me to see thee wear thy heart in a scarf!

ORLANDO. It is my arm.

ROSALIND. I thought thy heart had been wounded with the claws of a lion.

ORLANDO. Wounded it is, but with the eyes of a lady.

ROSALIND. Did your brother tell you how I counterfeited to swoon when he showed me your handkercher?

ORLANDO. Ay, and greater wonders than that.

ROSALIND. O, I know where you are. Nay, ’tis true. There was never anything so sudden but the fight of two rams, and Caesar’s thrasonical brag of “I came, saw and overcame.” For your brother and my sister no sooner met but they looked; no sooner looked but they loved; no sooner loved but they sighed; no sooner sighed but they asked one another the reason; no sooner knew the reason but they sought the remedy; and in these degrees have they made pair of stairs to marriage, which they will climb incontinent, or else be incontinent before marriage. They are in the very wrath of love, and they will together. Clubs cannot part them.

ORLANDO. They shall be married tomorrow, and I will bid the Duke to the nuptial. But O, how bitter a thing it is to look into happiness through another man’s eyes! By so much the more shall I tomorrow be at the height of heart-heaviness, by how much I shall think my brother happy in having what he wishes for.

ROSALIND. Why, then, tomorrow I cannot serve your turn for Rosalind?

ORLANDO. I can live no longer by thinking.

ROSALIND. I will weary you then no longer with idle talking. Know of me then—for now I speak to some purpose—that I know you are a gentleman of good conceit. I speak not this that you should bear a good opinion of my knowledge, insomuch I say I know you are. Neither do I labour for a greater esteem than may in some little measure draw a belief from you, to do yourself good, and not to grace me. Believe then, if you please, that I can do strange things. I have, since I was three year old, conversed with a magician, most profound in his art and yet not damnable. If you do love Rosalind so near the heart as your gesture cries it out, when your brother marries Aliena shall you marry her. I know into what straits of fortune she is driven and it is not impossible to me, if it appear not inconvenient to you, to set her before your eyes tomorrow, human as she is, and without any danger.

ORLANDO. Speak’st thou in sober meanings?

ROSALIND. By my life, I do, which I tender dearly, though I say I am a magician. Therefore put you in your best array, bid your friends; for if you will be married tomorrow, you shall, and to Rosalind, if you will.

Look, here comes a lover of mine and a lover of hers.

PHOEBE. Youth, you have done me much ungentleness To show the letter that I writ to you.

ROSALIND. I care not if I have; it is my study To seem despiteful and ungentle to you. You are there followed by a faithful shepherd. Look upon him, love him; he worships you.

PHOEBE. Good shepherd, tell this youth what ’tis to love.

SILVIUS. It is to be all made of sighs and tears, And so am I for Phoebe.

PHOEBE. And I for Ganymede.

ORLANDO. And I for Rosalind.

ROSALIND. And I for no woman.

SILVIUS. It is to be all made of faith and service, And so am I for Phoebe.

SILVIUS. It is to be all made of fantasy, All made of passion, and all made of wishes, All adoration, duty, and observance, All humbleness, all patience, and impatience, All purity, all trial, all observance, And so am I for Phoebe.

PHOEBE. And so am I for Ganymede.

ORLANDO. And so am I for Rosalind.

ROSALIND. And so am I for no woman.

PHOEBE. [ To Rosalind .] If this be so, why blame you me to love you?

SILVIUS. [ To Phoebe .] If this be so, why blame you me to love you?

ORLANDO. If this be so, why blame you me to love you?

ROSALIND. Why do you speak too, “Why blame you me to love you?”

ORLANDO. To her that is not here, nor doth not hear.

ROSALIND. Pray you, no more of this, ’tis like the howling of Irish wolves against the moon. [ to Silvius .] I will help you if I can. [ to Phoebe .] I would love you if I could.—Tomorrow meet me all together. [ to Phoebe .] I will marry you, if ever I marry woman, and I’ll be married tomorrow. [ to Orlando .] I will satisfy you if ever I satisfied man, and you shall be married tomorrow. [ to Silvius .] I will content you, if what pleases you contents you, and you shall be married tomorrow. [ to Orlando .] As you love Rosalind, meet. [ to Silvius .] As you love Phoebe, meet.—And as I love no woman, I’ll meet. So fare you well. I have left you commands.

SILVIUS. I’ll not fail, if I live.

PHOEBE. Nor I.

ORLANDO. Nor I.

TOUCHSTONE. Tomorrow is the joyful day, Audrey, tomorrow will we be married.

AUDREY. I do desire it with all my heart; and I hope it is no dishonest desire to desire to be a woman of the world.

Enter two Pages .

Here come two of the banished Duke’s pages.

FIRST PAGE. Well met, honest gentleman.

TOUCHSTONE. By my troth, well met. Come sit, sit, and a song.

SECOND PAGE. We are for you, sit i’ th’ middle.

FIRST PAGE. Shall we clap into’t roundly, without hawking or spitting or saying we are hoarse, which are the only prologues to a bad voice?

SECOND PAGE. I’faith, i’faith, and both in a tune like two gipsies on a horse.

                        SONG

PAGES. [ Sing .]     It was a lover and his lass,         With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,     That o’er the green cornfield did pass         In the spring-time, the only pretty ring time,         When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding.     Sweet lovers love the spring.     Between the acres of the rye,         With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,     These pretty country folks would lie,         In the spring-time, the only pretty ring time,         When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding.     Sweet lovers love the spring.     This carol they began that hour,         With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,     How that a life was but a flower,         In the spring-time, the only pretty ring time,         When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding.     Sweet lovers love the spring.     And therefore take the present time,         With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,     For love is crowned with the prime,         In the spring-time, the only pretty ring time,         When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding.     Sweet lovers love the spring.

TOUCHSTONE Truly, young gentlemen, though there was no great matter in the ditty, yet the note was very untuneable.

FIRST PAGE. You are deceived, sir, we kept time, we lost not our time.

TOUCHSTONE. By my troth, yes. I count it but time lost to hear such a foolish song. God be wi’ you, and God mend your voices. Come, Audrey.

SCENE IV. Another part of the Forest

Enter Duke Senior, Amiens, Jaques, Orlando, Oliver and Celia .

DUKE SENIOR. Dost thou believe, Orlando, that the boy Can do all this that he hath promised?

ORLANDO. I sometimes do believe and sometimes do not, As those that fear they hope, and know they fear.

Enter Rosalind, Silvius and Phoebe .

ROSALIND. Patience once more whiles our compact is urged. [ To the Duke. ] You say, if I bring in your Rosalind, You will bestow her on Orlando here?

DUKE SENIOR. That would I, had I kingdoms to give with her.

ROSALIND. [ To Orlando .] And you say you will have her when I bring her?

ORLANDO. That would I, were I of all kingdoms king.

ROSALIND. [ To Phoebe .] You say you’ll marry me if I be willing?

PHOEBE. That will I, should I die the hour after.

ROSALIND. But if you do refuse to marry me, You’ll give yourself to this most faithful shepherd?

PHOEBE. So is the bargain.

ROSALIND. [ To Silvius .] You say that you’ll have Phoebe if she will?

SILVIUS. Though to have her and death were both one thing.

ROSALIND. I have promised to make all this matter even. Keep you your word, O Duke, to give your daughter, You yours, Orlando, to receive his daughter. Keep your word, Phoebe, that you’ll marry me, Or else, refusing me, to wed this shepherd. Keep your word, Silvius, that you’ll marry her If she refuse me. And from hence I go To make these doubts all even.

DUKE SENIOR. I do remember in this shepherd boy Some lively touches of my daughter’s favour.

ORLANDO. My lord, the first time that I ever saw him Methought he was a brother to your daughter. But, my good lord, this boy is forest-born And hath been tutored in the rudiments Of many desperate studies by his uncle, Whom he reports to be a great magician, Obscured in the circle of this forest.

JAQUES. There is sure another flood toward, and these couples are coming to the ark. Here comes a pair of very strange beasts, which in all tongues are called fools.

TOUCHSTONE. Salutation and greeting to you all.

JAQUES. Good my lord, bid him welcome. This is the motley-minded gentleman that I have so often met in the forest. He hath been a courtier, he swears.

TOUCHSTONE. If any man doubt that, let him put me to my purgation. I have trod a measure; I have flattered a lady; I have been politic with my friend, smooth with mine enemy; I have undone three tailors; I have had four quarrels, and like to have fought one.

JAQUES. And how was that ta’en up?

TOUCHSTONE. Faith, we met, and found the quarrel was upon the seventh cause.

JAQUES. How seventh cause?—Good my lord, like this fellow?

DUKE SENIOR. I like him very well.

TOUCHSTONE. God ’ild you, sir, I desire you of the like. I press in here, sir, amongst the rest of the country copulatives, to swear and to forswear according as marriage binds and blood breaks. A poor virgin, sir, an ill-favoured thing, sir, but mine own; a poor humour of mine, sir, to take that that no man else will. Rich honesty dwells like a miser, sir, in a poor house, as your pearl in your foul oyster.

DUKE SENIOR. By my faith, he is very swift and sententious.

TOUCHSTONE. According to the fool’s bolt, sir, and such dulcet diseases.

JAQUES. But, for the seventh cause. How did you find the quarrel on the seventh cause?

TOUCHSTONE. Upon a lie seven times removed—bear your body more seeming, Audrey—as thus, sir. I did dislike the cut of a certain courtier’s beard. He sent me word if I said his beard was not cut well, he was in the mind it was. This is called the “retort courteous”. If I sent him word again it was not well cut, he would send me word he cut it to please himself. This is called the “quip modest”. If again it was not well cut, he disabled my judgement. This is called the “reply churlish”. If again it was not well cut, he would answer I spake not true. This is called the “reproof valiant”. If again it was not well cut, he would say I lie. This is called the “countercheck quarrelsome”, and so, to the “lie circumstantial”, and the “lie direct”.

JAQUES. And how oft did you say his beard was not well cut?

TOUCHSTONE. I durst go no further than the lie circumstantial, nor he durst not give me the lie direct; and so we measured swords and parted.

JAQUES. Can you nominate in order now the degrees of the lie?

TOUCHSTONE. O sir, we quarrel in print, by the book, as you have books for good manners. I will name you the degrees: the first, the retort courteous; the second, the quip modest; the third, the reply churlish; the fourth, the reproof valiant; the fifth, the countercheck quarrelsome; the sixth, the lie with circumstance; the seventh, the lie direct. All these you may avoid but the lie direct and you may avoid that too with an “if”. I knew when seven justices could not take up a quarrel, but when the parties were met themselves, one of them thought but of an “if”, as, “if you said so, then I said so;” and they shook hands, and swore brothers. Your “if” is the only peacemaker; much virtue in “if.”

JAQUES. Is not this a rare fellow, my lord? He’s as good at anything, and yet a fool.

DUKE SENIOR. He uses his folly like a stalking-horse, and under the presentation of that he shoots his wit.

Enter Hymen, Rosalind in woman’s clothes, and Celia . Still music.

HYMEN.     Then is there mirth in heaven     When earthly things made even         Atone together.     Good Duke, receive thy daughter.     Hymen from heaven brought her,         Yea, brought her hither,     That thou mightst join her hand with his,     Whose heart within his bosom is.

ROSALIND. [ To Duke Senior .] To you I give myself, for I am yours. [ To Orlando .] To you I give myself, for I am yours.

DUKE SENIOR. If there be truth in sight, you are my daughter.

ORLANDO. If there be truth in sight, you are my Rosalind.

PHOEBE. If sight and shape be true, Why then, my love adieu.

ROSALIND. [ To Duke Senior .] I’ll have no father, if you be not he. [ To Orlando .] I’ll have no husband, if you be not he. [ To Phoebe .] Nor ne’er wed woman, if you be not she.

HYMEN.     Peace, ho! I bar confusion.     ’Tis I must make conclusion         Of these most strange events.     Here’s eight that must take hands     To join in Hymen’s bands,         If truth holds true contents. [ To Orlando and Rosalind .] You and you no cross shall part. [ To Celia and Oliver .] You and you are heart in heart. [ To Phoebe .] You to his love must accord Or have a woman to your lord. [ To Audrey and Touchstone .] You and you are sure together As the winter to foul weather. Whiles a wedlock hymn we sing, Feed yourselves with questioning, That reason wonder may diminish How thus we met, and these things finish.

                        SONG       Wedding is great Juno’s crown,             O blessed bond of board and bed.       ’Tis Hymen peoples every town,             High wedlock then be honoured.       Honour, high honour, and renown       To Hymen, god of every town.

DUKE SENIOR. O my dear niece, welcome thou art to me Even daughter, welcome in no less degree.

PHOEBE. [ To Silvius .] I will not eat my word, now thou art mine, Thy faith my fancy to thee doth combine.

Enter Jaques de Boys .

JAQUES DE BOYS. Let me have audience for a word or two. I am the second son of old Sir Rowland, That bring these tidings to this fair assembly. Duke Frederick, hearing how that every day Men of great worth resorted to this forest, Addressed a mighty power, which were on foot In his own conduct, purposely to take His brother here and put him to the sword; And to the skirts of this wild wood he came, Where, meeting with an old religious man, After some question with him, was converted Both from his enterprise and from the world, His crown bequeathing to his banished brother, And all their lands restored to them again That were with him exiled. This to be true I do engage my life.

DUKE SENIOR. Welcome, young man. Thou offer’st fairly to thy brother’s wedding: To one his lands withheld, and to the other A land itself at large, a potent dukedom. First, in this forest let us do those ends That here were well begun and well begot; And after, every of this happy number That have endured shrewd days and nights with us Shall share the good of our returned fortune, According to the measure of their states. Meantime, forget this new-fall’n dignity, And fall into our rustic revelry. Play, music! And you brides and bridegrooms all, With measure heaped in joy to th’ measures fall.

JAQUES. Sir, by your patience. If I heard you rightly, The Duke hath put on a religious life And thrown into neglect the pompous court.

JAQUES DE BOYS. He hath.

JAQUES. To him will I. Out of these convertites There is much matter to be heard and learned. [ To Duke Senior .] You to your former honour I bequeath; Your patience and your virtue well deserves it. [ To Orlando .] You to a love that your true faith doth merit. [ To Oliver .] You to your land, and love, and great allies. [ To Silvius .] You to a long and well-deserved bed. [ To Touchstone .] And you to wrangling, for thy loving voyage Is but for two months victualled.—So to your pleasures, I am for other than for dancing measures.

DUKE SENIOR. Stay, Jaques, stay.

JAQUES. To see no pastime, I. What you would have I’ll stay to know at your abandoned cave.

DUKE SENIOR. Proceed, proceed! We will begin these rites, As we do trust they’ll end, in true delights.

[ Dance. Exeunt all but Rosalind . ]

ROSALIND. It is not the fashion to see the lady the epilogue, but it is no more unhandsome than to see the lord the prologue. If it be true that good wine needs no bush, ’tis true that a good play needs no epilogue. Yet to good wine they do use good bushes, and good plays prove the better by the help of good epilogues. What a case am I in then, that am neither a good epilogue nor cannot insinuate with you in the behalf of a good play! I am not furnished like a beggar; therefore to beg will not become me. My way is to conjure you, and I’ll begin with the women. I charge you, O women, for the love you bear to men, to like as much of this play as please you. And I charge you, O men, for the love you bear to women—as I perceive by your simpering, none of you hates them—that between you and the women the play may please. If I were a woman, I would kiss as many of you as had beards that pleased me, complexions that liked me, and breaths that I defied not. And I am sure as many as have good beards, or good faces, or sweet breaths will for my kind offer, when I make curtsy, bid me farewell.

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SHAKESPEARES AS YOU LIKE IT: A POSTMODERN STUDY OF GENDER

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William Shakespeare in As You Like It highlights the gender roles in the society. Gender is developed by society. It is not natural.The society assigns roles to distinct gender. This study investigated the gender roles present in As You Like It and deconstructs the specific gender roles through the postmodern study of gender. This study focuses on the distinctive roles associated with the dressing style and language of man and woman. This study also investigates the presence of homosexuality. Besides, this study explores the shifting nature of identity and androgyny. This is a qualitative study which is explorative in nature. Analytical and close- reading method have been used to conduct the research. Besides, critical discourse analysis has been applied. William Shakespeare reveals the difference in the roles performed by gender through the disguise of Rosalind. The dressing style of man gives Rosalind the power to act as a man. The discourse differs in case of man and woman. The acts like homosexuality which are not approved by the society cannot be performed freely. Besides, the disguise of Rosalind and her subsequent actions portray the presence of androgyny and the idea that gender is not fixed. Shakespeare subverts the stereotypical performances of gender through Rosalind. 

  • Gender Roles
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[ Most.Farhana Jannat and Prokity Ahmed (2020); SHAKESPEARES AS YOU LIKE IT: A POSTMODERN STUDY OF GENDER Int. J. of Adv. Res. 8 (Dec). 352-357] (ISSN 2320-5407). www.journalijar.com

Article DOI: 10.21474/IJAR01/12157       DOI URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.21474/IJAR01/12157

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Shakespeare's Play As You Like It - Research Paper Example

Shakespeares Play As You Like It

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If you are looking for an old, reputable company, you should consider EssayPro. Many years of experience have made this website one of the best in its niche. You can connect with professional writers by learning about their qualifications and placing a bid for your work. Once you match with a specialist, discuss all the necessary details of your order and agree on a deadline.

If needed, you can also ask a writer to share an outline or request a plagiarism report. Being one of the oldest companies in the market, EssayPro always delivers top-notch services to maintain its reputation. Therefore, you can receive an unlimited number of revisions if you are not satisfied with the result. Prices start at $10.80 per page.

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Everyone is looking for a great customer experience, and this is exactly what SpeedyPaper can provide. The service caters to both high school and college students. Specialists from SpeedyPaper are very client-oriented, so purchasing research papers from this company is quick and efficient.

This means your needs will be met, no matter how complicated your requirements may be. And you don’t have to spend a lot of money on your order because the prices at SpeedyPaper are quite fair. The minimum rate for high school tasks is $11 per page, while university research papers can be written for as little as $13 per page.

Buying research papers online is a legitimate way to advance in your academic career without burning out. However, it’s crucial to use well-regarded services to ensure plagiarism-free, high-quality writing.

We understand that the process of buying research paper online raises many questions and concerns, so we’ll answer the most commonly asked ones here. This way, you’ll know precisely where to find the best of the best.

Is it safe to buy research paper online?

Students often worry about safety issues when using the services of custom writing companies—and with good reason! Most institutions view such practices as cheating, making it particularly risky if professors discover that your assignment was completed by someone else.

The negative consequences can damage your reputation in the academic world and disrupt your career prospects. However, your fears should not deter you from seeking help. In fact, established and reliable companies are absolutely safe for users. They protect your private data and do not share any information with third parties. Your identity will remain confidential, ensuring that no one, including your instructors, will ever know if your assignment was commissioned.

According to their privacy policies, names, orders, and banking details provided by customers cannot be disclosed to anyone. Violating this policy puts a company’s reputation at risk and leads to a loss of clients. Therefore, if you encounter multiple positive reviews and a large customer base, you can be confident that the chosen service is 100% safe.

How much does it cost to buy a research paper?

Price is one of the most important aspects to consider when choosing a custom writing company. If you are a student on a budget, you are probably limited in the amount of money to spend on your studies.  Hence, you must be wondering if buying a research paper online is expensive. It’s difficult to give an exact answer to this question because the prices vary dramatically from one service to another. What’s more, they depend on your academic level and some other criteria.

For instance, high school papers can be found at rates starting from $7 per page, while college students will typically pay more, with professional writing services charging at least $10 per page for college-level work. Ph.D. research papers command even higher prices. There are websites that offer cheap research papers, but more often than not, they are written by amateur writers or by AI.

When calculating the cost of your order, companies also consider the discipline you’re studying. The more complex the subject, the higher the price. Deadline urgency is another critical factor; tighter deadlines mean higher costs as you’re required to pay a premium for expedited service.

Who will write my research paper?

In most cases, selecting the individual who will write your research paper is your responsibility. Websites typically provide a list of writers, featuring brief descriptions of their education, skills, and experience. You can review the degrees held by each specialist and the dates they were conferred. Generally, all writers possess advanced degrees, ensuring the high quality of their work.

For instance, if you need a paper completed in Economics, you can choose a reputable research paper writer with higher education in this specific field. This approach is applicable to any discipline you are studying.

Your choice can also extend between ESL (English as a Second Language) writers and native English speakers. However, it’s important not to be influenced by stereotypes. Some people assume that native speakers are invariably superior to ESL writers. But is this assumption accurate? In reality, certifications like the IELTS Academic demonstrate an individual’s proficient command of English and their capability to perform their job effectively. Therefore, verifying qualifications is crucial.

How soon can I have my custom research paper written?

Students often turn to essay writing services when they can’t manage their homework on time. Tight deadlines prompt young people to seek help, making the delivery speed of your research paper critically important.

The good news is that nearly all reputable essay writing services are capable of completing your urgent assignments. If you’re facing imminent deadlines, you can have your term paper completed within a few days. Some services even promise to finish college tasks within 24 hours. However, be prepared to pay extra for swift services. Why? Because writers must prioritize your order, which increases their workload.

In fact, the more time you allow for the completion of your paper, the less it will cost. If you require a custom research paper to be written in just a few hours, the price can escalate to $36 per page or more.

Is it illegal to buy research papers online?

Since most institutions strictly prohibit using the services of assignment writing companies, it raises a lot of concerns among young people. Students are often worried about the legal consequences of their actions. They are afraid of being punished according to the existing laws. However, it doesn’t make any sense because there are no laws prohibiting paper writing services. If a company has a license and operates according to the required business regulations, it’s absolutely safe.

Officially registered agencies that don’t break any general rules are a great solution for busy university students. But the question is “How to make sure that you’ve chosen the right essay writing service?” Well, actually it’s pretty easy. All you need to do is just to check their official website and see if there is any information about licensing.

Where can I buy a research paper online?

Now, obtaining research paper assistance online is no longer a challenge. The availability of writing services that cater to academic assignments is on the rise. By simply searching phrases like ‘buy college research paper,’ ‘write my assignment for me,’ or ‘order research paper’ on Google, you’ll be presented with a lengthy list of companies.

Hundreds of agencies are capable of completing almost any academic task. Among the most renowned are PaperHelp, BBQPapers, WritePaperForMe, EssayPro, and SpeedyPaper. When selecting a service, it’s crucial to gather as much information about it as you can. Evaluate its pricing, review the qualifications of its writers, and scrutinize its terms and conditions meticulously.

Where can I get research papers for free?

You can find research papers in your area of study for free from a variety of online directories and libraries. But keep in mind that they are not for submitting as your own work. Instead, you can use them to bolster your own original research paper. Some sites offering free papers include:

  • Library Genesis

What are the dangers of hiring a research paper writer on Reddit?

Hiring a research paper writer from Reddit or any other place that isn’t a reputable writing company comes with a plethora of dangers, including:

1. Plagiarism risk

Writers on Reddit don’t have protocols in place to ensure complete originality in the final product. Submitting a research paper filled with plagiarism or unoriginal thoughts could seriously impact your grades and, depending on your institution, lead to expulsion.

Checking for plagiarism should be of utmost importance, and hiring a Reddit-based writer doesn’t necessarily give you this peace of mind.

2. Late delivery

As you know, the punctual submission of term papers and research papers is paramount to success. If the writer fails to meet the deadline you set, the paper could be useless, wasting time and money.

While life does through curveballs to everybody, hiring a writer from Reddit provides no assurance that they’ll deliver your paper on time.

3. Poor writing quality

Poor writing quality is very likely if you fail to use a legitimate writing service and instead choose to hire a writer from Reddit.

It’s unlikely that they will show you samples of their previous work, causing your grades to slip if they can’t meet the high standards of academic writing.

4. Failure to meet requirements

Every essay has criteria that must be met. Writers who aren’t experienced with such writing can fail to meet the standards or conduct a thorough research.

We recommend hiring expert writers from reputable websites only, despite the potentially low cost of those advertising their services on Reddit.

How can a research paper writing website guarantee original, plagiarism-free papers?

Naturally, you need original, plagiarism-free work from your writing service. Otherwise, your grades are at stake.

Only reliable services offer guarantees of originality and ensure they write the paper from scratch. So, that’s the first thing you should look for when deciding where to buy a research paper online.

The services ensure original work by running all final papers through at least one plagiarism checker. Depending on the specific site, they may give you this report for free.

Reasons to Buy Custom Research Paper Online

The advantages of buying research papers from reputable companies are numerous. Firstly, it’s all about quality. Well-known agencies value their reputation on the market, so they never deliver papers of a poor quality. Otherwise, you will get your money back. What’s more, recognized assignment writing services complete orders on time.

Therefore, you can be confident about submitting your homework due to the deadline date. Another important feature of highly-rated companies is that they can write your paper very fast. So if you have an urgent task, you can pay extra and get it done in 24-72 hours.

Just in case you’ve noticed any mistakes in your paper, you can ask writers for a revision. Usually, credible companies offer an unlimited number of revisions, so you can request them until your requirements are completely met.

And last but not least, reputable sites where you can order research paper online typically provide clients with a plagiarism report. Hence, you can make sure that your research paper is original. For your instructors, it will be impossible to reveal that your work was written by somebody else.

Buying research papers online is a common practice nowadays. Many students turn to special services that complete their assignments for money. This is a very convenient way to get your homework done when you are overloaded with academic and professional responsibilities. A reliable writing service can save your time and energy, helping you avoid emotional burnout.

Before you choose a company to buy a paper from, you need to do proper research. Try to find as much information about different platforms as possible. Also, compare their prices and terms. Judging by multiple reviews, one of the best services available today is PaperHelp. But the choice is completely up to you, so you should make your own analysis.

Article paid for by: Ocasio Media The news and editorial staffs of the Bay Area News Group had no role in this post’s preparation.

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EU AI Act: first regulation on artificial intelligence

The use of artificial intelligence in the EU will be regulated by the AI Act, the world’s first comprehensive AI law. Find out how it will protect you.

A man faces a computer generated figure with programming language in the background

As part of its digital strategy , the EU wants to regulate artificial intelligence (AI) to ensure better conditions for the development and use of this innovative technology. AI can create many benefits , such as better healthcare; safer and cleaner transport; more efficient manufacturing; and cheaper and more sustainable energy.

In April 2021, the European Commission proposed the first EU regulatory framework for AI. It says that AI systems that can be used in different applications are analysed and classified according to the risk they pose to users. The different risk levels will mean more or less regulation. Once approved, these will be the world’s first rules on AI.

Learn more about what artificial intelligence is and how it is used

What Parliament wants in AI legislation

Parliament’s priority is to make sure that AI systems used in the EU are safe, transparent, traceable, non-discriminatory and environmentally friendly. AI systems should be overseen by people, rather than by automation, to prevent harmful outcomes.

Parliament also wants to establish a technology-neutral, uniform definition for AI that could be applied to future AI systems.

Learn more about Parliament’s work on AI and its vision for AI’s future

AI Act: different rules for different risk levels

The new rules establish obligations for providers and users depending on the level of risk from artificial intelligence. While many AI systems pose minimal risk, they need to be assessed.

Unacceptable risk

Unacceptable risk AI systems are systems considered a threat to people and will be banned. They include:

  • Cognitive behavioural manipulation of people or specific vulnerable groups: for example voice-activated toys that encourage dangerous behaviour in children
  • Social scoring: classifying people based on behaviour, socio-economic status or personal characteristics
  • Biometric identification and categorisation of people
  • Real-time and remote biometric identification systems, such as facial recognition

Some exceptions may be allowed for law enforcement purposes. “Real-time” remote biometric identification systems will be allowed in a limited number of serious cases, while “post” remote biometric identification systems, where identification occurs after a significant delay, will be allowed to prosecute serious crimes and only after court approval.

AI systems that negatively affect safety or fundamental rights will be considered high risk and will be divided into two categories:

1) AI systems that are used in products falling under the EU’s product safety legislation . This includes toys, aviation, cars, medical devices and lifts.

2) AI systems falling into specific areas that will have to be registered in an EU database:

  • Management and operation of critical infrastructure
  • Education and vocational training
  • Employment, worker management and access to self-employment
  • Access to and enjoyment of essential private services and public services and benefits
  • Law enforcement
  • Migration, asylum and border control management
  • Assistance in legal interpretation and application of the law.

All high-risk AI systems will be assessed before being put on the market and also throughout their lifecycle.

General purpose and generative AI

Generative AI, like ChatGPT, would have to comply with transparency requirements:

  • Disclosing that the content was generated by AI
  • Designing the model to prevent it from generating illegal content
  • Publishing summaries of copyrighted data used for training

High-impact general-purpose AI models that might pose systemic risk, such as the more advanced AI model GPT-4, would have to undergo thorough evaluations and any serious incidents would have to be reported to the European Commission.

Limited risk

Limited risk AI systems should comply with minimal transparency requirements that would allow users to make informed decisions. After interacting with the applications, the user can then decide whether they want to continue using it. Users should be made aware when they are interacting with AI. This includes AI systems that generate or manipulate image, audio or video content, for example deepfakes.

On December 9 2023, Parliament reached a provisional agreement with the Council on the AI act . The agreed text will now have to be formally adopted by both Parliament and Council to become EU law. Before all MEPs have their say on the agreement, Parliament’s internal market and civil liberties committees will vote on it.

More on the EU’s digital measures

  • Cryptocurrency dangers and the benefits of EU legislation
  • Fighting cybercrime: new EU cybersecurity laws explained
  • Boosting data sharing in the EU: what are the benefits?
  • EU Digital Markets Act and Digital Services Act
  • Five ways the European Parliament wants to protect online gamers
  • Artificial Intelligence Act

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By Steven Levy

OpenAI’s Sora Turns AI Prompts Into Photorealistic Videos

We already know that OpenAI’s chatbots can pass the bar exam without going to law school. Now, just in time for the Oscars, a new OpenAI app called Sora hopes to master cinema without going to film school. For now a research product, Sora is going out to a few select creators and a number of security experts who will red-team it for safety vulnerabilities. OpenAI plans to make it available to all wannabe auteurs at some unspecified date, but it decided to preview it in advance.

Other companies, from giants like Google to startups like Runway , have already revealed text-to-video AI projects . But OpenAI says that Sora is distinguished by its striking photorealism—something I haven’t seen in its competitors—and its ability to produce longer clips than the brief snippets other models typically do, up to one minute. The researchers I spoke to won’t say how long it takes to render all that video, but when pressed, they described it as more in the “going out for a burrito” ballpark than “taking a few days off.” If the hand-picked examples I saw are to be believed, the effort is worth it.

OpenAI didn’t let me enter my own prompts, but it shared four instances of Sora’s power. (None approached the purported one-minute limit; the longest was 17 seconds.) The first came from a detailed prompt that sounded like an obsessive screenwriter’s setup: “Beautiful, snowy Tokyo city is bustling. The camera moves through the bustling city street, following several people enjoying the beautiful snowy weather and shopping at nearby stalls. Gorgeous sakura petals are flying through the wind along with snowflakes.”

AI-generated video made with OpenAI's Sora.

The result is a convincing view of what is unmistakably Tokyo, in that magic moment when snowflakes and cherry blossoms coexist. The virtual camera, as if affixed to a drone, follows a couple as they slowly stroll through a streetscape. One of the passersby is wearing a mask. Cars rumble by on a riverside roadway to their left, and to the right shoppers flit in and out of a row of tiny shops.

It’s not perfect. Only when you watch the clip a few times do you realize that the main characters—a couple strolling down the snow-covered sidewalk—would have faced a dilemma had the virtual camera kept running. The sidewalk they occupy seems to dead-end; they would have had to step over a small guardrail to a weird parallel walkway on their right. Despite this mild glitch, the Tokyo example is a mind-blowing exercise in world-building. Down the road, production designers will debate whether it’s a powerful collaborator or a job killer. Also, the people in this video—who are entirely generated by a digital neural network—aren’t shown in close-up, and they don’t do any emoting. But the Sora team says that in other instances they’ve had fake actors showing real emotions.

The other clips are also impressive, notably one asking for “an animated scene of a short fluffy monster kneeling beside a red candle,” along with some detailed stage directions (“wide eyes and open mouth”) and a description of the desired vibe of the clip. Sora produces a Pixar-esque creature that seems to have DNA from a Furby, a Gremlin, and Sully in Monsters, Inc . I remember when that latter film came out, Pixar made a huge deal of how difficult it was to create the ultra-complex texture of a monster’s fur as the creature moved around. It took all of Pixar’s wizards months to get it right. OpenAI’s new text-to-video machine … just did it.

“It learns about 3D geometry and consistency,” says Tim Brooks, a research scientist on the project, of that accomplishment. “We didn’t bake that in—it just entirely emerged from seeing a lot of data.”

AI-generated video made with the prompt, “animated scene features a close-up of a short fluffy monster kneeling beside a melting red candle. the art style is 3d and realistic, with a focus on lighting and texture. the mood of the painting is one of wonder and curiosity, as the monster gazes at the flame with wide eyes and open mouth. its pose and expression convey a sense of innocence and playfulness, as if it is exploring the world around it for the first time. the use of warm colors and dramatic lighting further enhances the cozy atmosphere of the image.”

While the scenes are certainly impressive, the most startling of Sora’s capabilities are those that it has not been trained for. Powered by a version of the diffusion model used by OpenAI’s Dalle-3 image generator as well as the transformer-based engine of GPT-4, Sora does not merely churn out videos that fulfill the demands of the prompts, but does so in a way that shows an emergent grasp of cinematic grammar.

That translates into a flair for storytelling. In another video that was created off of a prompt for “a gorgeously rendered papercraft world of a coral reef, rife with colorful fish and sea creatures.” Bill Peebles, another researcher on the project, notes that Sora created a narrative thrust by its camera angles and timing. “There's actually multiple shot changes—these are not stitched together, but generated by the model in one go,” he says. “We didn’t tell it to do that, it just automatically did it.”

In another example I didn’t view, Sora was prompted to give a tour of a zoo. “It started off with the name of the zoo on a big sign, gradually panned down, and then had a number of shot changes to show the different animals that live at the zoo,” says Peebles, “It did it in a nice and cinematic way that it hadn't been explicitly instructed to do.”

One feature in Sora that the OpenAI team didn’t show, and may not release for quite a while, is the ability to generate videos from a single image or a sequence of frames. “This is going to be another really cool way to improve storytelling capabilities,” says Brooks. “You can draw exactly what you have on your mind and then animate it to life.” OpenAI is aware that this feature also has the potential to produce deepfakes and misinformation. “We’re going to be very careful about all the safety implications for this,” Peebles adds.

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Expect Sora to have the same restrictions on content as Dall-E 3 : no violence, no porn, no appropriating real people or the style of named artists. Also as with Dall-E 3, OpenAI will provide a way for viewers to identify the output as AI-created. Even so, OpenAI says that safety and veracity is an ongoing problem that's bigger than one company. “The solution to misinformation will involve some level of mitigations on our part, but it will also need understanding from society and for social media networks to adapt as well,” says Aditya Ramesh, lead researcher and head of the Dall-E team.

Another potential issue is whether the content of the video Sora produces will infringe on the copyrighted work of others. “The training data is from content we’ve licensed and also publicly available content,” says Peebles. Of course, the nub of a number of lawsuits against OpenAI hinges on the question whether “publicly available” copyrighted content is fair game for AI training.

It will be a very long time, if ever, before text-to-video threatens actual filmmaking. No, you can’t make coherent movies by stitching together 120 of the minute-long Sora clips, since the model won’t respond to prompts in the exact same way—continuity isn’t possible. But the time limit is no barrier for Sora and programs like it to transform TikTok, Reels, and other social platforms. “In order to make a professional movie, you need so much expensive equipment,” says Peebles. “This model is going to empower the average person making videos on social media to make very high-quality content.”

As for now, OpenAI is faced with the huge task of making sure that Sora isn’t a misinformation train wreck. But after that, the long countdown begins until the next Christopher Nolan or Celine Song gets a statuette for wizardry in prompting an AI model. The envelope, please!

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as you like it research paper

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IMAGES

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  3. INTRODUCTION TO RESEARCH PAPER

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COMMENTS

  1. A Modern Perspective: As You Like It

    As You Like It / A Modern Perspective: As You Like It By Susan Snyder In some ways, As You Like It is as difficult to pin down as its permissive name suggests. Plot provides the usual framework for investigating a play, but here the plot is all huddled into the beginning and the end.

  2. As You Like It Critical Essays

    Topic #1 Fortune and nature are two of the central themes of William Shakespeare's As You Like It. Write an essay that discusses the role of these elements in the lives of Orlando, Oliver, Duke...

  3. Literature Studies: "As You Like It" by William Shakespeare Research Paper

    Literature Studies: "As You Like It" by William Shakespeare Research Paper Exclusively available on IvyPanda Updated: Jan 26th, 2024 William Shakespeare's play As You Like It can be regarded as a pastoral and romantic comedy that includes many twists of the plot depicting the relations between various characters.

  4. [PDF] As you like It

    As you like It. W. Shakespeare. Published in Gastroenterology 1 October 1983. History. TLDR. William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was born into the family of a prosperous tradesman in Stratford-upon-Avon, England and left Stratford to go to London to seek his fortune in the big city. View on SAGE. crbs.umd.edu.

  5. As You Like It Analysis

    Shakespeare's source material for As You Like It is Thomas Lodge's 1590 comedic pastoral novel, Rosalynde: Euphues Golden Legacie. Shakespeare borrows the names Rosalind, Celia, Pheobe, Corin ...

  6. As You Like It Summary, Themes, Characters, & Analysis

    Background of the Play Contents According to modern critics, As You Like It is a play written for the audience of the twenty-first century. Though it is placed in Elizabethan culture and uses its aesthetic, political, social, and literary culture. It is a finger placed on the pulse of the future.

  7. Book review: As You Like It: Shakespeare in Performance

    Based on: Shaughnessy Robert, As You Like It: Shakespeare in Performance (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2018), x+228 pp., ISBN 9780719086939, £75.00 (hbk). Shaughnessy's tidy monograph is itself conscious of the challenges of theatre history and his closing chapter (short by the standards set by the others) is a recognition of the ...

  8. As You Like It Themes

    In As You Like It, as in Twelfth Night and The Merchant of Venice, a woman disguises herself as a man in order to keep herself safe and manipulate those around her: when Rosalind retreats into the forest, she becomes Ganymede, and gets closer to Orlando through her use of disguise.

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    Key Facts about As You Like It. Full Title: As You Like It. When Written: 1598-1600. Where Written: Stratford, England. When Published: 1623, First Folio. Literary Period: The Renaissance (1500-1600) Genre: Comedy. Setting: French Court and the Forest of Arden.

  11. Shakespeares as You Like It: A Postmodern Study of Gender

    ABSTRACT In William Shakespeare's As You Like It (1623/1994), cross-dressing is used not only as a theatrical tool to fill in a gap resulting from female physical absence on the Elizabethan stage; it also serves as a symbolic act that opens new perspectives and raises questions about socio-cultural issues related to gender roles and gender performance.

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    The source for the plot of As You Like It is derived from Thomas Lodge's extremely popular prose romance Rosalynde. Written in 1586-87 and published in 1590, Shakespeare knew the story quite well although he changed a great deal of the details and emphasized different things. Lodge for example did not have ducal brothers, but Shakespeare chose ...

  13. Love in William Shakespeare's "As You Like It"

    William Shakespeare's "As You Like It" portrays love and marriage in a comical, amusing manner. The play represents passionate love on the one hand, as well as disguised, blind and even manipulated love on the other hand. Love as a state of being is omnipresent throughout As You Like It. As the play's major theme, love is illustrated ...

  14. How to Write a Research Paper

    A research paper is a piece of academic writing that provides analysis, interpretation, and argument based on in-depth independent research. Research papers are similar to academic essays, but they are usually longer and more detailed assignments, designed to assess not only your writing skills but also your skills in scholarly research.

  15. As You Like It

    Scene 1 Enter Orlando and Adam. ORLANDO As I remember, Adam, it was upon this fashion bequeathed me by will but poor a thousand crowns, and, as thou sayst, charged my brother on his blessing to breed me well. And there begins my 5 sadness. My brother Jaques he keeps at school, and report speaks goldenly of his profit. For my part, he

  16. (PDF) AS YOU LIKE IT

    Marianne Kimura (木村マリアン) Giordano Bruno's pantheistic universe has a goddess (the Divine Feminine). As You Like It crystallizes and provides an allegory of Bruno's pantheistic world and shows how Bruno's philosophy can solve social and economic ills caused by fossil fuels and capitalism. Download Free PDF View PDF

  17. AS YOU LIKE IT

    Let me be your servant. Though I look old, yet I am strong and lusty, For in my youth I never did apply Hot and rebellious liquors in my blood, Nor did not with unbashful forehead woo The means of weakness and debility. Therefore my age is as a lusty winter, Frosty but kindly. Let me go with you.

  18. As You Like It Essays & Research Papers

    The play, As You Like It, by William Shakespeare is all about dropping out of the everyday madness of modern capitalism. Shakespeare wrote many plays in his lifetime, and As You Like It is one of his most famous comedies that represents love at first sight, disguise, and manipulative love in an amusing manner.

  19. The Ultimate Guide to Writing a Research Paper

    1 Understand the assignment For some of you this goes without saying, but you might be surprised at how many students start a research paper without even reading the assignment guidelines. So your first step should be to review the assignment and carefully read the writing prompt.

  20. ≡Essays on As You Like It. Free Examples of Research Paper Topics

    8. A Clash of Two Worlds in 'as You Like It'- Green Vs. Maxist Theory. 2 pages / 1018 words. Northrop Frye and C. L. Barber's "green world" and "misrule" theories are very much evident in William Shakespeare's As You Like It (ASYI).

  21. Love in Shakespeares 'As You Like It' Book Report/Review

    The conventional picture of love as long-suffering, martyr-type, deadly and forceful - all inclined to the negative consequences of love - were reflected in other literary works of that time except Shakespeare's. Being a comedy, the play As You Like It, can freely express its pragmatic view of love and pass the audience's literary taste.

  22. Shakespeares As You Like It: A Postmodern Study Of Gender

    William Shakespeare in As You Like It highlights the gender roles in the society. Gender is developed by society. It is not natural.The society assigns roles to distinct gender. This study investigated the gender roles present in As You Like It and deconstructs the specific gender roles through the postmodern study of gender.

  23. Shakespeare's Play As You Like It Research Paper

    This essay discusses Shakespeare's play "As you like it". In this comedy of errors, gender equations and surroundings are juxtaposed. The author is delighted with the great playwright's art to demonstrate convincingly that the human's nature depends on his environment and current benefit…

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    By simply searching phrases like 'buy college research paper,' 'write my assignment for me,' or 'order research paper' on Google, you'll be presented with a lengthy list of companies.

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    GenAI and the changing assessment landscape in higher education. Early research on GenAI and assessment following the release of ChatGPT has focused on its capability to accomplish assessment tasks such as examinations with multiple-choice or open-ended questions (Bommarito and Katz Citation 2022; Gilson et al. Citation 2022).Others have explored whether AI-generated outputs can be ...

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    As part of its digital strategy, the EU wants to regulate artificial intelligence (AI) to ensure better conditions for the development and use of this innovative technology. AI can create many benefits, such as better healthcare; safer and cleaner transport; more efficient manufacturing; and cheaper and more sustainable energy.. In April 2021, the European Commission proposed the first EU ...

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    Abstract. This article developed a microreactor system for the continuous synthesis of Pregabalin. Due to the exceptional heat transfer and mixing capabilities exhibited by the system at the microscale, the Hofmann rearrangement reaction, traditionally requiring multiple sequential steps in batch reactors, can now be efficiently achieved in a consolidated single-step microreactor process.