As You Like It · Chapter
Scene V explained
In the Forest of Arden, Amiens sings a song inviting a life of simplicity under the greenwood tree, free from enemies except winter and rough weather.
What happens
In the Forest of Arden, Amiens sings a song inviting a life of simplicity under the greenwood tree, free from enemies except winter and rough weather. Jaques, the melancholy lord, requests more songs, claiming he can 'suck melancholy' from music. He recites a verse he composed, mocking those who abandon wealth and ease for stubborn will, and then departs to sleep or rail against the world. Amiens goes to prepare the duke's banquet.
Themes in this chapter
Melancholy and Philosophy
Jaques embodies the contemplative, melancholic figure who finds philosophical depth in music and satirizes those who abandon comfort for willfulness.
Court vs. Country
The song celebrates the simple life of the forest, free from ambition and enemies, contrasting with the complexities of court life.
Characters to notice
Key passages
“I can suck melancholy out of a song, as a weasel sucks eggs.”
I can extract sadness from a song just as a weasel sucks the contents from eggs.
Jaques expresses his unique ability to find melancholy in music, highlighting his character's disposition.
“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.”
If a man becomes a fool by abandoning his comfort just to satisfy a stubborn whim, he will find others as foolish as himself if he joins me.
Jaques' satirical verse mocks those who give up prosperity for willfulness, calling them fools.