Summary of "As You Like It" by William Shakespeare
-Orlando (youngest son of deceased Sir Roland
de Boys)—complains to Adam (old family retainer)
-eldest brother (Oliver) not training Orlando
to be a proper gentleman
-Oliver arrives on the scene, and a bitter
quarrel takes place (Adam parts the fighting
brothers)
-Orlando challenges Duke Frederick's champion
wrestler Charles—Oliver makes plans to have
him killed
-Frederick (very cordial) but learns (bitter
enemy’s son)
-Celia and Rosalind congratulate Orlando
-Rosalind disguised as a young man Ganymede
and Celia disguised Aliena
-Touchstone (Frederick's jester) accompanies
-warned by Adam (Oliver plotting to kill)—both
to Arden
-Frederick assumes (Orlando responsible)—commands
Oliver to find Orlando or else forfeit his
entire estate to Frederick
-Orlando and Adam join Rosalind's exiled father
and his men, while Rosalind and Celia, still
in disguise, purchase a little cottage and
a small herd of sheep and settle down to a
peaceful, pastoral existence
-trees covered with sheets of poetry, dedicated
to her
-meets Orlando who is in the throes of love-sickness
for having apparently lost Rosalind
-offers to cure by pretending to be his lady-love,
Rosalind
-Silvius (shepherd) falls in love with Phebe
(hard-hearted shepherdess) who falls in love
with Ganymede instead
Act I: Scene 1
In the orchard of the house of Oliver de Boys,
Orlando de Boys complains to Adam, an old
family servant, about how he has been treated
by his elder brother, Oliver, who, according
to their father's will, was to see to it that
Orlando was to be taught all the ways of being
a gentleman, as Oliver has been doing for
their brother Jaques.
Yet Orlando has been kept at home, like a
peasant.
Oliver enters and Orlando tells him that "the
spirit of my father, which I think is within
me, begins to mutiny against this servitude."
The two brothers argue, and suddenly Orlando
grabs Oliver and demands that either he receive
the education and the treatment due him or
else he wants the thousand crowns that he
is entitled to, according to their father's
will.
Oliver dismisses him with a curt "Well, sir,
get you in.
I will not long be troubled with you; you
shall have some part of your will."
Turning to Adam, he insultingly sneers, "Get
you with him, you old dog."
Orlando and Adam leave, and Oliver's anger
is interrupted when his servant, Dennis, enters
with the news that Charles, the duke's wrestler,
is at the door.
Oliver summons the wrestler, and the two of
them discuss news of the court.
The old duke has been banished by his younger
brother and has gone into exile in the Forest
of Arden and has been joined by some of his
loyal lords, where they "live like the old
Robin Hood of England . . . and fleet the
time carelessly, as they did in the golden
world."
The old duke's daughter, Rosalind, however,
has remained at court with her inseparable
companion, Celia, the usurper's daughter.
Charles then says that the new duke has announced
that wrestling matches will be held at court
the next day.
Moreover, Charles has heard that Orlando intends
to come in disguise and "try a fall" with
him.
He warns Oliver that, although he does not
want to do harm to Orlando, he would be required
to best him for his own honor.
Oliver assures Charles that he need not be
concerned.
"I had as lief thou didst break his neck as
his finger," he says, and adds that Orlando
is dangerous and will kill Charles by "some
treacherous device" if he survives the bout.
Charles agrees, therefore, to take care of
Orlando and leaves.
Alone, Oliver says of Orlando, "I hope I shall
see an end of him; for my soul — yet I know
not why — hates nothing more than he."
Anticipating the match the next day, he goes
off to "kindle" Orlando for the match.
Act I Scene 2
Celia, the daughter of Duke Frederick, and
Rosalind, the daughter of the deposed duke,
are talking on the lawn before the duke's
palace.
Celia chides Rosalind for not being sufficiently
"merry," and Rosalind, although she grieves
because of her father's exile, promises to
try and be cheerful and "devise sports."
Touchstone, the court clown, enters, joins
in their repartee, and tells Celia that Frederick
has summoned her.
They are joined by Le Beau, a courtier, who
brings news of a wrestling contest that is
to begin shortly on the lawn.
Charles has already beaten three challengers,
breaking their ribs and very nearly killing
them.
Duke Frederick, Charles, Orlando, and members
of the court arrive, and Frederick suggests
that the young women try to dissuade the challenger
from the contest as he will surely be injured.
They try to do so, but Orlando will not be
convinced, saying, "I shall do my friends
no wrong, for I have none to lament me; the
world no injury, for in it I have nothing."
To everyone's surprise, Orlando wins the fall
and wishes to try a second, but Charles has
to be carried out.
Frederick asks to know Orlando's name and
becomes furious when he discovers that Orlando
is the son of Roland de Boys, an old enemy.
"Thou shouldst have better pleased me with
this deed, / Hadst thou descended from another
house," he says.
Celia, Rosalind, and Orlando are left alone
on the lawn, and Rosalind, whose father loved
Orlando "as his soul," gives Orlando her necklace
to wear as a reward for his gallantry.
They are instantly attracted to each other,
and, symbolically, Orlando is "overthrown"
by Rosalind — in spite of the fact that
he was not overthrown by Charles.
As the women leave, Le Beau rushes in to warn
Orlando that the duke is angry; he counsels
him to leave immediately.
Orlando also learns that the duke has lately
"ta'en displeasure 'gainst his gentle niece,"
Rosalind, because the people praise and pity
her.
He decides to return home, to leave a "tyrant
duke" and face a "tyrant brother."
Act I Scene 3
Shortly afterward in the palace, we hear Rosalind
confess her love for Orlando to Celia; she
begs that Celia love him also for her sake.
The girls' talk of love, however, is interrupted
by the duke's furious entrance.
"Full of anger," he tells Rosalind that she
is to be banished from the palace within ten
days: "If that thou be'st found / So near
our public court as twenty miles, / Thou diest
for it."
Rosalind protests that she is no traitor to
him, and Celia begs her father to relent,
but he is adamant.
He repeats his threat once more, then leaves
them.
Celia is determined that the two girls will
not be separated, and she proposes to go with
Rosalind to join Rosalind's deposed father
in the Forest of Arden.
But when they both realize that they are fearful
of the dangers of the journey, they decide
to disguise themselves: Rosalind will dress
as a boy, taking the name of "Ganymede," and
Celia will dress as a young farm girl and
use "Aliena" as her name.
Moreover, Celia will convince Touchstone,
one of her father's jesters, to join them.
Happy and excited, she and Rosalind go off
to pack their "jewels and wealth" to take
with them on their flight.
Act II Scene 1
In the Forest of Arden, Duke Senior expresses
satisfaction with the pastoral life.
He tells his entourage that he
Finds tongues in trees, books in the running
brooks,
Sermons in stones, and good in every thing.
(16-17)
As they prepare for the hunt, he confesses
that he is troubled that they must kill the
deer "in their own confines," but his mood
changes when he hears the First Lord's account
of the lamentations of the melancholy Jaques,
who lies near a brook, reflecting philosophically
on the sad fate of a wounded deer.
Amused by Jaques' excessive sentimentality,
the duke asks to be brought to the spot, for
he enjoys arguing playfully with Jaques.
Act II Scene 2
In this scene, Frederick discovers that Celia
and Rosalind are gone and that Touchstone
is also missing.
A lord tells him that the cousins were overheard
praising Orlando; he suggests that they may
be in his company.
Frederick then commands that Orlando or — in
the event of Orlando's absence — that Oliver
be brought to him.
Act II Scene 3
Arriving home, Orlando meets Adam, who tells
him that news of his triumph in the wrestling
match has spread and that Oliver is plotting
to burn down Orlando's sleeping quarters that
very night.
Failing that, Adam says, Oliver will try to
murder Orlando by some other means.
He warns Orlando to leave immediately.
When Orlando protests that he has no way to
make a living, the old servant presses upon
him his life's savings of five hundred crowns
and begs him to leave, and he also begs Orlando
to take him along in the young man's service.
Orlando praises Adam for his devotion, then
they both hurry off.
Act II Scene 4
After we left Orlando and Adam hurrying toward
the Forest of Arden in the last scene, we
now meet a trio of weary travelers — Rosalind,
dressed as a young man, and Celia, and Touchstone;
they have finally reached the forest.
As they pause to rest, a young shepherd, Silvius,
enters, solemnly describing his unrequited
love for Phebe to his friend Corin.
So distraught by love is Silvius that he suddenly
breaks off his conversation and runs away,
crying "O Phebe, Phebe, Phebe!"
Touchstone now hails Corin in a preposterously
superior manner, but Rosalind intervenes and
courteously requests food and shelter.
Corin explains that he is not his own master:
he merely serves another.
His landlord, he explains, plans to sell his
cottage, his flocks, and his pasturage to
Silvius, who is so preoccupied with Phebe
that he "little cares for buying any thing."
Rosalind quickly commissions Corin to make
the purchase on behalf of Celia and herself,
and they ask Corin to stay on, at a better
wage, as their own shepherd.
Act II Scene 5
Amiens, Jaques, and several lords of Duke
Senior are gathered in another part of the
forest.
Amiens has been singing, and Jaques urges
him to continue while the others sing along.
Amiens does so and orders the others to lay
out a meal under the trees.
Jaques has been avoiding the duke all day,
calling him "too disputable [argumentative]
for my company."
He contributes a cynical verse of his own
composition to Amiens' song, then lies down
to rest while Amiens goes to seek the duke.
Act II Scene 6
In the last scene, we noted that a meal was
being prepared for the duke and his men; in
this scene, in contrast, no meal awaits Orlando
and Adam as they wander through the forest.
Adam says that he is too weak from hunger
to go on, but his master comforts him by promising
to find him a shelter and, afterwards, some
food.
Act II Scene 7
Duke Senior, Rosalind's father, who is searching
for Jaques, arrives on the scene and unexpectedly
meets Jaques.
Jaques describes, with evident delight, his
meeting with Touchstone.
He says that he wishes that he were a "fool"
(and dressed in an identifiable coat of motley)
so that he might be able "as the wind, / To
blow on whom I please," exercising the fool's
prerogative of speaking his mind freely to
expose the world's abuses.
But Jaques, as the duke notes, has a libertine
past; this hardly qualifies him to reproach
others for their failings.
Their discussion abruptly ends when Orlando
enters with his sword drawn.
"Forbear," he cries, "and eat no more" — although
the meal has scarcely begun.
(This in itself is high comedy.)
Orlando is calmed by the duke's courteous
welcome, and he apologizes and sheathes his
sword.
Then, begging the duke to put off dining until
his return, he goes to fetch Adam.
This episode inspires Jaques' account of the
seven ages of man.
This extended philosophical statement has
since become one of the most celebrated speeches
in the Shakespearean canon.
Most learned people in the Western world recognize
the lines "All the world's a stage / And all
the men and women merely players."
The point of view of the speech is colored
by Jaques' cynicism, yet the speech itself
has such imaginative power that it transcends
Jaques' melancholy and causes one to pause
and contemplate this schematic evaluation
of man.
According to Jaques, these are the seven ages
of man:
the infant: "mewling and puking in the nurse's
arms . . . "
the schoolboy: "whining . . . with his satchel
/ And shining morning face, creeping like
a snail, / Unwilling to school."
the lover: "sighing like a furnace, with a
woeful ballad . . . to his mistress' eyebrow."
the soldier: "full of strange oaths . . . bearded
. . . / Jealous in honour, sudden, and quick
in quarrel, / Seeking the bubble's reputation
/ Even in the cannon's mouth."
the justice (or judge): "in fair round belly
with good capon lin'd [an allusion to the
bribing of judges with gifts of poultry] . . . eyes
severe and beard of formal cut, / Full of
wise saws [sayings] and modern instances [examples]."
the dotard (or absent-minded old man): "lean
and slipper'd . . . / With spectacles on nose
and [money] 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.
the senile, sick elder: "[reduced to] second
childishness and mere oblivion, / Sans [without]
teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything."
Despite Jaques' surface cynicism, Shakespeare's
poetry is impressively sensitive and beautiful.
This is Shakespeare at his most brilliant
best.
Orlando returns, just as Jaques finishes;
he is carrying Adam, and as they begin eating,
Amiens sings "Blow, blow, thou winter wind."
When the song ends, Duke Senior warmly welcomes
"the good Sir Roland's son" (Orlando has whispered
his identity to his host) and welcomes Adam
as well.
The scene ends happily; the duke takes old
Adam's hand, and the group sets off for the
duke's cave.
Act III Scene 1
At court, Duke Frederick threatens Oliver
that if he does not bring back Orlando "dead
or living / Within this twelvemonth . . . turn
thou no more / To seek a living in our territory."
In that event, Oliver's possessions will revert
to Frederick.
"I never loved my brother in my life," Oliver
swears.
"More villain thou," Frederick snaps back
and orders his men to make sure that Oliver
leaves the palace.
Act III Scene 2
Orlando has problems that are quite different
from his brother's.
Oliver must find Orlando; Orlando would like
to seek Rosalind if he could, but since he
cannot, he has been spending his days hanging
love poems on trees and carving the name "Rosalind"
onto trees.
As a result, when this scene opens, Orlando
is about to decorate more trees in this manner
when Corin and Touchstone enter.
They begin to discuss the relative merits
of the life in the country and at court but
are interrupted by Rosalind (still disguised
as Ganymede), who comes in reading one of
the poems.
"From the east to western Ind," she reads,
"No jewel is like Rosalind."
Touchstone is not impressed, and so he parodies
the "false gallop" of the verse with a poem
of his own.
Celia joins them, reading yet another love
poem, and orders Touchstone and Corin to leave
them to themselves.
Celia intimates to Rosalind that she knows
who the writer of the poems is, and Rosalind
begs to be told.
Upon hearing that it is Orlando who has probably
written the poems, she asks so many questions
that Celia cannot find time to answer them
all, but Celia does tell Rosalind that she
saw the poet in a forester's garb, lying "under
a tree, like a dropped acorn."
At that moment, Orlando and Jaques enter.
They spend a few minutes verbally sparring
(calling one another "Signior Love" and "Monsieur
Melancholy"), and then Jaques takes his leave.
The lovers now confront one another, but Orlando
does not, of course, realize that he is speaking
to Rosalind in disguise, and so she resolves
to "speak to him like a saucy lackey and under
that habit play the knave with him."
Thus she gaily banters with him about such
subjects as time, women, and a certain lovesick
youth who haunts the forest carving the name
"Rosalind" on tree trunks.
Orlando freely confesses that it is hewho
is that lovesick fellow, and "Ganymede" generously
offers to "cure" Orlando of his love-sickness:
Orlando must pretend that young Ganymede is
the fair Rosalind, and Orlando must visit
Ganymede's cottage daily to court Ganymede,
who will impersonate Rosalind.
Like a goodhearted comrade, Ganymede promises
his friend Orlando that he will cure him of
his lunacy.
He will show Orlando just how silly women
are; Orlando consents.
"With all my heart, good youth," he tells
Ganymede, he will attempt the cure while Ganymede
will, like a coquette "like him, now loathe
him; then entertain him, then forswear him;
now weep for him, then spit at him."
But Ganymede insists that Orlando must steel
himself for the cure; he tells Orlando that
he must not call him "good youth."
"Nay . . . call me Rosalind," Ganymede orders.
Once more, the lovesick Orlando agrees.
Act III Scene 3
There are other, less romantic lovers in the
Forest of Arden.
For example, there is the "poetic" and philosophical
Touchstone and the earthy Audrey.
Yielding to instinct, Touchstone has wooed
and has finally won Audrey, perhaps Shakespeare's
most dull-witted country wench.
The pair hurry along to meet Sir Oliver Martext,
the vicar of the neighboring village, and
are followed by Jaques, who is, as might be
expected, amused by the incongruous pair.
When Sir Oliver arrives, they discover that
there is no one to give the bride away, so
Jaques offers his services, but he recommends
that they be married by a priest as "this
fellow will but join you together as they
join wainscot."
Touchstone, however, would prefer it that
way because, as he says in an aside, "not
being well married, it will be a good excuse
for me hereafter to leave my wife."
So he decides to find a proper person to marry
him and Audrey, and he goes off with Audrey
and Jaques, merrily singing and leaving behind
a bemused Sir Oliver.
Act III Scene 4
When this scene opens, Rosalind is at the
point of tears; she is sitting in the forest
with Celia, waiting for Orlando, who has not
kept his first appointment for the "1ove cure."
Celia teases her friend about Orlando's unreliability,
but then she points out that Orlando is probably
helping take care of matters for Rosalind's
father, Duke Senior.
Rosalind reveals that she has met her father
in the forest, but she says that he did not
recognize her in her disguise.
Her father's plight and his presence in the
forest don't concern her unduly, however;
she can think only of Orlando.
Happily, Corin comes along, offering them,
and us, some diversion: a "pageant" of love
— Silvius courting the scornful Phebe.
Act III Scene 5
As Rosalind, Celia, and Corin secretly watch
Silvius pleading for Phebe's favor, we hear
her warn him to "come not thou near me."
She treats Silvius with utter disdain, but
Silvius insists that she will understand his
torment when she too is in love.
She is not to be persuaded, however, and Rosalind
suddenly interrupts the pair and severely
chides Phebe for her unresponsiveness to Silvius'
pleadings; she recommends, rather unflatteringly,
that Phebe take what is offered: "Sell when
you can; you are not for all markets."
That is her advice to the disdainful shepherdess.
Phebe suddenly becomes unaccountably captivated
by the superbly disguised Rosalind; the young
"man" before her is commanding and disarmingly
magnetic.
Rosalind and the others leave, and Phebe is
left alone with Silvius; she muses about the
location of the manly Ganymede's cottage.
He is attractive, she thinks, and thus her
feelings vacillate between being utterly undone
by this "pretty youth" and between being angry
at him, the "peevish boy," for his sharp tongue.
Since Ganymede is gone, however, she consents
to accept the company of Silvius because he
can "talk of love so well."
Then off they go to write a taunting letter
to Ganymede to repay him for his impertinence.
Act IV Scene 1
While Celia listens to their arguing, Rosalind
(still disguised as Ganymede) and Jaques banter
about his melancholy; Jaques maintains that
it is "good to be sad and say nothing," while
Rosalind maintains that if one is sad and
silent, one might as well "be a post."
When Orlando finally arrives (late for his
appointment), Jaques bids Ganymede goodbye.
Turning to Orlando, Ganymede berates him for
his tardiness, then lovingly invites him to
woo Ganymede as if he were Orlando's beloved
Rosalind; in turn, Ganymede will tease and
taunt Orlando as if he were Rosalind.
Ganymede wittily instructs Orlando thus in
the wily ways of love and women.
"You shall never take her without her answer,
unless you take her without her tongue," Orlando
is warned.
At this point, Orlando says that he must leave
to attend Duke Senior at dinner, but he promises
to return at two o'clock.
After he has gone, Celia accuses Rosalind
of speaking ill of women; she suggests that
perhaps Rosalind should have her doublet and
hose "plucked over [her] head in order to
show the world what the bird hath done to
her own nest."
Rosalind, in answer, says that love has made
her a bit mad; she has such a love for Orlando
that she cannot bear to be out of his sight.
With that, she leaves and goes to "find a
shadow and sigh till he come."
Celia decides to take a nap.
Act IV Scene 2
Several of Duke Senior's followers have been
hunting, and one of them has killed a deer.
Jaques suggests that they "present him to
the Duke, like a Roman conqueror," and they
carry out their slaughtered trophy, singing
"What shall he have that kill'd the deer?"
Act IV Scene 3
It is past two o'clock, and Orlando has not
arrived for his meeting with Ganymede.
Silvius does arrive, however, bringing Phebe's
letter to Ganymede, and Rosalind playfully
pretends that it is, as the illiterate shepherd
supposed, full of invective, and she teasingly
accuses Silvius of writing it because it is
a "man's invention and his hand."
But when she stops and actually reads the
letter aloud, even the gullible Silvius realizes
that the note is, in actuality, a love poem
— to Ganymede.
Silvius is ordered to return to Phebe with
this message: "if she loves me [Ganymede],
I charge her to love thee; if she will not,
I will never have her unless thou entreat
for her."
A stranger arrives onstage next.
It is Oliver; he has come in search of Ganymede,
and he presents "him" with a token from Orlando,
a bloody handkerchief.
He explains that Orlando, while walking in
the forest, discovered Oliver sleeping under
an oak.
A snake had coiled itself around Oliver's
neck, but because it was frightened by Orlando's
entrance, it slid away.
Nearby, a hungry lioness waited for Oliver
to awaken before pouncing upon him.
After debating with himself whether to save
Oliver or leave him to certain death, Orlando
fought and killed the lioness.
Oliver, awakening to see his brother risking
his life to save him, realized that his brother
loved him deeply, and so his hatred for Orlando
changed to love.
Now reconciled, the brothers proceeded to
Duke Senior's encampment, where Oliver discovered
that the lioness had torn Orlando's flesh.
He has brought the handkerchief which Orlando
used to bind his wounded arm, and he presents
it to Ganymede with apologies for Orlando's
broken promise — that is, he presents it
"unto the shepherd youth / That he [Orlando]
in sport doth call his Rosalind."
At this point, Ganymede swoons.
As he is helped up and led away, he insists
— although not very convincingly — that
his fainting was merely an act, an unconscious
reaction by his persona, "Rosalind."
Act V Scene 1
When the scene opens, Audrey is fretting about
her postponed marriage; "Faith, the priest
[Oliver Martext] was good enough," she whines,
but Touchstone changes the subject by mentioning
a youth "here in the forest" who has claimed
Audrey as his own.
This rustic character, William, now appears,
and in answer to Touchstone's question "Art
thou wise?" he replies, "Ay, Sir, I have a
pretty wit."
To this, Touchstone responds by quoting a
saying beginning "The fool doth think he is
wise."
Thus, Touchstone quickly reduces William to
a state of stupefaction.
William meekly goes away, and Corin arrives
with word that Touchstone is wanted by Aliena
and Ganymede.
Act V Scene 2
Oliver has fallen in love with Aliena at first
glance, and he tells Orlando that she has
consented to marry him.
He vows to give to Orlando his "father's house
and all the revenue that was old Sir Roland's
. . . and here live and die a shepherd."
Orlando approves of the marriage, and it is
then scheduled for the following day.
Rosalind, as Ganymede, enters and tells of
the whirlwind courtship of Aliena and Oliver
in which they "no sooner looked but they loved."
When Orlando confesses his own "heart-heaviness"
because he is without his own true love, Ganymede
tells him that he, Ganymede, is knowledgeable
in the art of magic and says, "If you do love
Rosalind so near the heart as your gesture
cries it out, when your brother marries Aliena,
[then] shall you marry her [Rosalind]," and
Ganymede promises to "set her before [Orlando's]
eyes to-morrow, human as she is, and without
any danger."
Phebe and Silvius join them then, and Phebe
expresses her love for Ganymede, Silvius expresses
his love for Phebe, Ganymede says that he
loves "no woman," and Orlando sighs for the
absent Rosalind.
Ganymede promises them, however, that they
shall all be married on the morrow and bids
them meet her then.
Act V Scene 3
Oliver has fallen in love with Aliena at first
glance, and he tells Orlando that she has
consented to marry him.
He vows to give to Orlando his "father's house
and all the revenue that was old Sir Roland's
. . . and here live and die a shepherd."
Orlando approves of the marriage, and it is
then scheduled for the following day.
Rosalind, as Ganymede, enters and tells of
the whirlwind courtship of Aliena and Oliver
in which they "no sooner looked but they loved."
When Orlando confesses his own "heart-heaviness"
because he is without his own true love, Ganymede
tells him that he, Ganymede, is knowledgeable
in the art of magic and says, "If you do love
Rosalind so near the heart as your gesture
cries it out, when your brother marries Aliena,
[then] shall you marry her [Rosalind]," and
Ganymede promises to "set her before [Orlando's]
eyes to-morrow, human as she is, and without
any danger."
Phebe and Silvius join them then, and Phebe
expresses her love for Ganymede, Silvius expresses
his love for Phebe, Ganymede says that he
loves "no woman," and Orlando sighs for the
absent Rosalind.
Ganymede promises them, however, that they
shall all be married on the morrow and bids
them meet her then.
Act V Scene 4
The climactic wedding day is now at hand.
Among those present are Duke Senior, Jaques,
and the three couples: Orlando and Rosalind
(still disguised as Ganymede), Oliver and
Celia (still masquerading as Aliena), and
Phebe and Silvius.
Rosalind extracts a promise from Phebe that
if Phebe refuses to marry Ganymede, then Phebe
will marry Silvius.
Rosalind announces to the expectant company
that she is prepared to unravel the entanglements.
"From hence I go," she declares as she leaves
with Celia, "to make these doubts all even."
While they are gone, Touchstone arrives with
Audrey and proceeds to entertain the company
with his account of "a lie seven times removed"
— the so-called Lie Direct.
Here, because there was no Lie Direct, he
and his opponent avoided a duel.
Rosalind and Celia reappear suddenly, as if
by magic, dressed as themselves.
Strains of soft music usher them in, and they
are led by a young man costumed as Hymen,
god of marriage.
The recognitions and reconciliations are quickly
accomplished, and as Hymen sings a "wedlock-hymn,"
the couples join hands.
Duke Senior welcomes a daughter and a niece,
and Phebe gives her love to Silvius.
But there is yet another happy surprise in
store.
Jaques de Boys, the second son of Roland de
Boys, enters with remarkable news: Duke Frederick,
he announces, called together an army and
planned to capture and execute his brother,
but at the outskirts of the forest, he met
an old, religious hermit and was converted.
Both from his enterprise and from the world;
His crown bequeathing to his banish’d brother,
And all their lands restored to them again
That were with him exil'd.
(168-71)
Duke Senior welcomes the young man and invites
everyone to join in the "rustic revelry."
Only Jaques begs off; instead, he will join
Frederick and his party of religious converts.
With appropriate farewells to each — Duke
Senior, Orlando, Oliver, Silvius, and Touchstone
— Jaques goes off, leaving the others to
perform the dance that concludes the play.
Act V Epilogue
In keeping with the magical, dramatic effects
of the last scene, Rosalind asks for the audience's
approval by invoking some formulas of conjuration.
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