Summary 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.” […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Act V: Scene 2Summary and Analysis Act V: Scene 1
Summary 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 […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Act V: Scene 1Summary and Analysis Act IV: Scene 3
Summary 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 […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Act IV: Scene 3Summary and Analysis Act IV: Scene 2
Summary 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?” Analysis This scene is […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Act IV: Scene 2Summary and Analysis Act IV: Scene 1
Summary 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 […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Act IV: Scene 1Summary and Analysis Act III: Scene 5
Summary 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 […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Act III: Scene 5Summary and Analysis Act III: Scene 4
Summary 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 […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Act III: Scene 4Summary and Analysis Act III: Scene 3
Summary 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 […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Act III: Scene 3Summary and Analysis Act III: Scene 2
Summary 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 […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Act III: Scene 2Summary and Analysis Act III: Scene 1
Summary 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 […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Act III: Scene 1