Scene 2.7
Scene 2.7 - In the Forest of Arden.
Duke Senior, sitting down to his
outdoor feast, complains that he cannot find Jacques anywhere. But suddenly
Jacques rushes into the clearing, laughing and unusually cheerful. Jacques
explains merrily that he has met a "fool" in the woods, who
entertained him by making morbid puns about the passing of time and the
inevitable death of all mortals - just the sort of jokes Jacques likes. (Since
Jacques says the fool told him that he used to live at court, it's clear that
this person must be Touchstone, who we know is now in Arden Forest.)
Jacques demands that Duke Senior give him a motley coat (the patchwork costume
which court fools and clowns traditionally wore in the Renaissance). Duke Senior
promises to give him one. But Jacques now also demands the traditional
prerogative of court clowns: the freedom to say whatever he wants and to poke
fun at his social superiors. Duke Senior does not agree to this, sharply
reminding Jacques that Jacques himself was a decadent sinner when he lived at
court, and that he would be hypocritical to condemn other people. But Jacques
argues that everyone is a hypocrite, and that if he names no names while
describing the sins he observes in others, no one would ever be able to complain
that he was talking about them without exposing themselves.
This increasingly abstract argument
is suddenly interrupted when Orlando leaps into the clearing, sword drawn,
demanding that the Duke's party hand over their food to him. But when Duke
Senior politely invites him to sit down and share their meal, Orlando apologizes
for his rude conduct, explaining his desperate plight and begging the Duke to
take mercy on him. The Duke promises Orlando all the food he needs, and Orlando
goes off to find old Adam and bring him to the banquet table. When the Duke
comments that Orlando's situation forces him to remember that other people in
the world besides himself are unhappy, Jacques responds with his (now famous)
speech about the "seven ages of man," in which he declares that
"all the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players."
He goes on to describe the different ages that humans go through - from infant
and schoolboy, to lover and soldier, to middle-aged "justice," to old
man, and back into senile second childhood - winding up with a morbid vision of
an extreme old age which has lost the ability to see, eat, taste, or experience
anything at all.
Orlando returns with Adam, and the
Duke invites them both to eat with him; meanwhile, Amiens sings a song to
entertain the company. After the meal, the Duke invites Orlando and Adam back to
his cavern headquarters to tell him about their troubles. He reminds Orlando
that he was a close friend to Orlando's father, Sir Rowland de Bois, and says he
will make Orlando and Adam welcome in the forest.
