As You Like It Read Online Free PDF Page B

meeting he has had with a “motley fool” (Touchstone). He is filled with admiration for Touchstone’s apparently profound reflections on time and humanity and expresses his own desire to be “a fool,” saying he is “ambitious for a motley coat.” Ironically, Jaques is often “foolish,” but he also comes close to fulfilling the traditional dramatic role of the fool—providing observation on the events of the play and the human condition—but his self-importance and affectation hinder his insight. As Duke Senior and Jaques debate with each other, Orlando enters.
    Lines 89–169: Orlando draws his sword and demands food, saying that “bare distress” prevents him from “the show / Of smooth civility,”suggesting, perhaps, that manners and courtliness are a “disguise” for basic human instincts. When the duke gently invites him to “Sit down and feed,” Orlando apologizes. He adds that he must fetch Adam, declaring that he will not eat until his servant has. While he is gone, the duke comments that they are not the only ones to be unhappy, observing that “This wide and universal theatre / Presents more woeful pageants than the scene / Wherein we play in.” Continuing the meta-theatrical theme, Jaques compares human existence to theatrical performance: “All the world’s a stage / And all the men and women merely players.” As he comments on the last “scene,” old age, Orlando returns, carrying the elderly Adam on his back.
    Lines 170–204: Orlando thanks Duke Senior, and a song is sung as they eat. The duke tells Orlando that, if he is really the son of “good Sir Rowland,” then he is “truly welcome.”
ACT 3 SCENE 1
    Duke Frederick refuses to believe that Oliver has not seen Orlando. He orders him to find his brother dead or alive within the year or face banishment. The duke seizes control of Oliver’s estate until Orlando is found. Oliver tells the duke that he has never loved Orlando, at which Frederick ironically brands him a “villain,” confiscates his lands, and banishes him.
ACT 3 SCENE 2
    Lines 1–76: Lovesick Orlando has written poems to Rosalind and is hanging them on trees in the forest. In highly conventional poetic language he praises “The fair, the chaste and unexpressive” Rosalind and declares his intention to carve her name “on every tree.” As he leaves, Corin and Touchstone enter, discussing the differences between court and country. Touchstone provides a neat summary, providing arguments and counterarguments for both. Corin returns this “philosophy” with his prosaic observations, such as the “great cause of the night is lack of the sun.” He observes, however, thatcourt and country are two mutually exclusive spheres, emphasizing the notion that the courtly characters’ sojourn in the woods is an unreal, artificial episode. As they wrangle, Rosalind arrives (still in disguise as Ganymede).
    Lines 77–233: Rosalind is reading a poem in praise of herself that she has found on another tree. Touchstone satirizes the verse and Celia enters, reading another long poem that even Rosalind describes as a “tedious homily of love.” Sending Touchstone and Corin away, they discuss the poems, agreeing they are badly written, but Rosalind is anxious to know who wrote them. Celia teases her for a while before revealing that it was Orlando. Rosalind bombards Celia with questions, deeply regretting that she is disguised in “doublet and hose.” They see Orlando and Jaques approaching and stand aside.
    Lines 234–391: Orlando accuses Jaques of being “either a fool or a cipher,” and Jaques criticizes Orlando for being in love. Jaques leaves and Rosalind decides to speak to Orlando, retaining her disguise as Ganymede. She engages him in a witty exchange and he observes that her accent is “finer” than most shepherds’, drawing attention to the limitations of disguise. Rosalind turns the conversation to a man who “haunts the forest” and “abuses” the trees