Authors: William Shakespeare
To Duke Senior
ROSALIND
To you I give myself, for I am yours.
To Orlando
To you I give myself, for I am yours.
DUKE SENIOR
If there be truth in sight, you are my daughter.
ORLANDO
If there be truth in sight, you are my Rosalind.
PHOEBE
If sight and
shape
112
be true,
Why then, my love adieu!
To Duke Senior
ROSALIND
I’ll have no father, if you be not he.—
To Orlando
I’ll have no husband, if you be not he.—
To Phoebe
Nor ne’er wed woman, if you be not she.
HYMEN
Peace, ho! I
bar
117
confusion:
’Tis I must make conclusion
Of these most strange events.
Here’s eight that must take hands
To join in Hymen’s
bands
121
,
If truth holds true contents.—
To Orlando and Rosalind
You and you no
cross
123
shall part;—
To Oliver and Celia
You and you are heart in heart.—
To Touchstone and Audrey
You and you are
sure
127
together,
As the winter to foul weather.—
Whiles a wedlock-hymn we sing,
Feed yourselves with
questioning
130
,
That reason wonder may diminish
How thus we met, and these things finish.
Song
Wedding is great
Juno’s
133
crown,
O, blessèd bond of
board and bed
134
!
’Tis Hymen
peoples
135
every town,
High wedlock then be honourèd:
Honour, high honour and renown,
To Hymen, god of every town!
To Celia
DUKE SENIOR
O my dear niece, welcome thou art to me!
Even daughter, welcome, in no less degree.
To Silvius
PHOEBE
I will not eat my word, now
thou
141
art mine,
Thy faith my
fancy
to thee doth
combine
142
.
Enter Second Brother
[
Jaques de Bois
]
JAQUES DE BOIS
Let me have audience for a word or two:
I am the second son of old Sir Rowland,
That bring these tidings to this fair assembly.
Duke Frederick, hearing how that every day
Men of great worth resorted to this forest,
Addressed
a mighty
power
148
, which were on foot,
In his own conduct
149
, purposely to take
His brother here and put him to the sword:
And to the skirts of this wild wood he came;
Where, meeting with an old religious man,
After some question with him, was converted
Both from his enterprise and from the
world
154
,
His crown bequeathing to his banished brother,
And all their lands restored to them again
That were with him exiled. This to be true,
I do
engage
158
my life.
DUKE SENIOR
Welcome, young man.
Thou
offer’st fairly
160
to thy brothers’ wedding:
To one his lands withheld, and to the other
A land itself
at large
162
, a potent dukedom.
First, in this forest, let us
do those ends
163
That here were well begun and well begot:
And after,
every
165
of this happy number
That have endured
shrewd
166
days and nights with us
Shall share the good of our returnèd fortune,
According to the measure of their
states
168
.
Meantime, forget this
new-fall’n
169
dignity
And fall into our rustic revelry.
Play, music! And you, brides and bridegrooms all,
With measure heaped in joy
, to
th’measures
172
fall.
JAQUES
Sir, by your
patience
173
. If I heard you rightly,
The duke hath put on a religious life
And thrown into neglect the
pompous
175
court?
JAQUES DE BOIS
He hath.
JAQUES
To him will I: out of these
convertites
177
There is much matter to be heard and learned.—
To Duke Senior
You to your former honour I bequeath,
Your patience and your virtue well deserves it.—
To Orlando
You to a love that your true faith doth merit.—
To Oliver
You to your land and love and great
allies
182
.—
To Silvius
You to a long and well-deservèd bed.—
To Touchstone
And you to wrangling, for thy loving voyage
Is
but for two months victualled
185
. So, to your pleasures.
I am for other than for dancing measures.
DUKE SENIOR
Stay, Jaques, stay.
JAQUES
To see no pastime, I. What you would have
I’ll stay to know at your abandoned cave.
Exit
DUKE SENIOR
Proceed, proceed.— We’ll begin these rites,
They dance
As we do trust they’ll end, in true delights.
[
Exeunt all but Rosalind
]
ROSALIND
It is not the fashion to see the lady the epilogue, but
it is no more
unhandsome
193
than to see the lord the prologue.
If it be true that
good wine needs no
bush
194
, ’tis true that a
good play needs no epilogue. Yet to good wine they do use
good bushes, and good plays prove the better by the help
of good epilogues. What a
case
197
am I in then, that am neither
a good epilogue nor cannot
insinuate with
198
you in the behalf
of a good play! I am not
furnished
199
like a beggar, therefore to
beg will not become me. My way is to
conjure
200
you, and I’ll
begin with the women. I charge you, O women, for the love
you bear to men, to like as much of this play as please you.
And I charge you, O men, for the love you bear to women —
as I perceive by your simpering, none of you hates them —
that between you and the women
the play
may please.
If I
205
were a woman
, I would kiss as many of you as had beards
that pleased me, complexions that
liked
207
me and breaths that
I
defied
208
not. And I am sure, as many as have good beards or
good faces or sweet breaths will, for my kind offer, when I
make curtsy,
bid me farewell
210
.
Exit
F = First Folio text of 1623, the only authority for the play
F2 = a correction introduced in the Second Folio text of 1632
F3 = a correction introduced in the Third Folio text of 1664
Ed = a correction introduced by a later editor
SH = speech heading (i.e. speaker’s name)
List of parts
= Ed
1.1.98 she
= F3. F = hee
143 SH OLIVER
= F2.
Not in
F
1.2.3 yet I were
= Ed. F = yet were
51 SH TOUCHSTONE
= Ed. F =
Clow
. (
then Clo. throughout
)
73 SH CELIA
= Ed. F =
Ros
.
1.3.76 her
= F2. F = per
128 be
= F2. F = by
2.1.51 much
= F2. F = must
2.3.10 some
= F2. F = seeme
16 SH ORLANDO
= F2.
Not in
F
30 SH ORLANDO
= F2. F =
Ad
.
72 seventeen
= Ed. F = seauentie
2.4.39 thy
= Ed. F = they
wound
= F2. F = would
64 you, friend
= F2. F = your friend
69 travel
= F3. F = trauaile
2.5.1 SH AMIENS
= Ed.
Not in
F
2.7.38 brain
= Ed. F = braive
88 comes
= F2. F = come
186 The
= F. Ed = Then
202 master
= F2. F = masters
3.2.24 good
= Ed. F = pood
113 this a
= Ed. F =
this
133 her
= Ed. F =
his
218 forth such
= F2. F = forth
242 more
=
modernization of
F
’s
moe
332 deifying
= F2. F = defying
339 are
= F2. F = art
349 accoutrements
spelled
accoustrements
in
F
3.3.81 SH TOUCHSTONE
= F2. F =
Ol
.
3.4.27 of a
= F2. F = of
3.5.22 Lean but
= F2. F = Leane
108 erewhile
= Ed. F = yere-while
4.1.1 me be
= F2. F = me
17 my
= F2. F = by
26 travel
= F3. F = trauaile
91 Sestos
= F2. F = Cestos
134 hyena
= Ed. F = Hyen
145 wilt
= F3. F = wil’t
183 in, it
= F2. F = in, in
4.2.2 SH FIRST LORD
= Ed. F = Lord
7 SH SECOND LORD
= Ed. F =
Lord
.
10 SH LORDS
= Ed.
Not in
F
4.3.7 bid
= F2. F = did bid
146 In
= F2. F = I
5.1.34 sir
= F2. F = sit
52 policy
= F2. F = police
5.2.7 nor her
= Ed. F = nor
25 swoon
= Ed. F = sound
29 overcame
= F2. F = overcome
98 Who
= Ed. F = Why
5.3.17 ring
= Ed. F =
rang
5.4.74 lied
= Ed. F = lie
75 to the
= F2. F = ro
105 her
= F3. F = his
143 SH JAQUES DE BOIS
= Ed. F =
2. Bro
.
156 them
= Ed. F = him
164 were
= F2. F = vvete
Lines 1–24:
Orlando complains to Adam about his eldest brother’s treatment of him. Orlando has inherited “but poor a thousand crowns” and, while their other brother is at university, Oliver keeps Orlando at home, unoccupied. He tells Adam that he “begins to mutiny,” but admits that he cannot see any “wise remedy” for his circumstances. He sees Oliver approaching and tells Adam to “Go apart” and watch how Oliver scolds and abuses him.
Lines 25–75:
Orlando responds insolently to Oliver’s questions, saying that he has nothing to do and has not been taught any useful occupation. Oliver asserts his place as “the first-born,” introducing the theme of social position and status. Orlando acknowledges this but argues that, although his brother has inherited their father’s estate and title, they have both inherited his “blood,” establishing the theme of lineage and inheritance. Their argument becomes physical and Adam steps in. Orlando repeats his complaints, but Oliver sends him off, telling the “old dog” Adam to go, too. Offended, Adam observes that their father would not have spoken to him in such a way.
Lines 76–151:
Oliver calls for Charles, “the duke’s wrestler.” He asks for news of the court, and Charles, setting the background for the play, says that there is only “old news”: Duke Senior remains banished by his usurping younger brother, Duke Frederick, along with “three or four” of his lords who have remained faithful; a brotherly rift that echoes the discord between Orlando and Oliver. The old duke and his followers are living in the Forest of Arden, “like the old Robin Hood of England” in “the golden world,” an allusion that acknowledges the play’s mythological qualities and its roots in traditional romantic narratives. Charles reports that Duke Senior’s daughter,
Rosalind, remains at court. He describes how her cousin Celia, Duke Frederick’s daughter, loves Rosalind so much that she would have “died” had she been separated from her, an image of female unity that contrasts with the discordant male relationships presented so far. The conversation moves to Charles’ forthcoming wrestling match. Charles has heard that Orlando intends to disguise himself and wrestle against him. He says that if Orlando does fight, he must “foil” him, but he is worried about the disgrace to Oliver. Oliver thanks Charles but tells him that his brother is “a secret and villainous contriver.” He warns him that Orlando means to defeat him “by some treacherous device,” and advises Charles to break his brother’s neck. Oliver’s soliloquy reveals how he hates Orlando for the good qualities that make people prefer him. He hopes that Charles will kill Orlando.