As You Like It, Act 5 scene 2 - Caesar's thrasonical brag and Irish wolves

As You Like It

Please see the bottom of the page for extensive explanatory notes and other helpful As You Like It resources.

ACT V SCENE II	The forest.
[Enter ORLANDO and OLIVER]
ORLANDO	Is't possible that on so little acquaintance you
	should like her? that but seeing you should love
	her? and loving woo? and, wooing, she should
	grant? and will you persever to enjoy her?
OLIVER	Neither call the giddiness of it in question, the
	poverty of her, the small acquaintance, my sudden
	wooing, nor her sudden consenting; but say with me,
	I love Aliena; say with her that she loves me;
	consent with both that we may enjoy each other: it
	shall be to your good; for my father's house and all
	the revenue that was old Sir Rowland's will I
	estate upon you, and here live and die a shepherd.	12
ORLANDO	You have my consent. Let your wedding be to-morrow:
	thither will I invite the duke and all's contented
	followers. Go you and prepare Aliena; for look
	you, here comes my Rosalind.
[Enter ROSALIND]
ROSALIND	God save you, brother.
OLIVER	And you, fair sister.
[Exit]
ROSALIND	O, my dear Orlando, how it grieves me to see thee
	wear thy heart in a scarf!	20
ORLANDO	It is my arm.
ROSALIND	I thought thy heart had been wounded with the claws
	of a lion.
ORLANDO	Wounded it is, but with the eyes of a lady.
ROSALIND	Did your brother tell you how I counterfeited to
	swoon when he showed me your handkerchief?
ORLANDO	Ay, and greater wonders than that.
ROSALIND	O, I know where you are: nay, 'tis true: there was
	never any thing so sudden but the fight of two rams
	and Caesar's thrasonical brag of 'I came, saw, and	30
	overcame:' for your brother and my sister no sooner
	met but they looked, no sooner looked but they
	loved, no sooner loved but they sighed, no sooner
	sighed but they asked one another the reason, no
	sooner knew the reason but they sought the remedy;
	and in these degrees have they made a pair of stairs
	to marriage which they will climb incontinent, or
	else be incontinent before marriage: they are in
	the very wrath of love and they will together; clubs
	cannot part them.
ORLANDO	They shall be married to-morrow, and I will bid the	40
	duke to the nuptial. But, O, how bitter a thing it
	is to look into happiness through another man's
	eyes! By so much the more shall I to-morrow be at
	the height of heart-heaviness, by how much I shall
	think my brother happy in having what he wishes for.
ROSALIND	Why then, to-morrow I cannot serve your turn for Rosalind?
ORLANDO	I can live no longer by thinking.
ROSALIND	I will weary you then no longer with idle talking.
	Know of me then, for now I speak to some purpose,
	that I know you are a gentleman of good conceit: I
	speak not this that you should bear a good opinion
	of my knowledge, insomuch I say I know you are;
	neither do I labour for a greater esteem than may in
	some little measure draw a belief from you, to do	55
	yourself good and not to grace me. Believe then, if
	you please, that I can do strange things: I have,
	since I was three year old, conversed with a
	magician, most profound in his art and yet not
	damnable. If you do love Rosalind so near the heart
	as your gesture cries it out, when your brother	60
	marries Aliena, shall you marry her: I know into
	what straits of fortune she is driven; and it is
	not impossible to me, if it appear not inconvenient
	to you, to set her before your eyes tomorrow human
	as she is and without any danger.
ORLANDO	Speakest thou in sober meanings?
ROSALIND	By my life, I do; which I tender dearly, though I
	say I am a magician. Therefore, put you in your
	best array: bid your friends; for if you will be
	married to-morrow, you shall, and to Rosalind, if you will.	70
[Enter SILVIUS and PHEBE]
	Look, here comes a lover of mine and a lover of hers.
PHEBE	Youth, you have done me much ungentleness,
	To show the letter that I writ to you.
ROSALIND	I care not if I have: it is my study
	To seem despiteful and ungentle to you:
	You are there followed by a faithful shepherd;
	Look upon him, love him; he worships you.
PHEBE	Good shepherd, tell this youth what 'tis to love.
SILVIUS	It is to be all made of sighs and tears;
	And so am I for Phebe.	80
PHEBE	And I for Ganymede.
ORLANDO	And I for Rosalind.
ROSALIND	And I for no woman.
SILVIUS	It is to be all made of faith and service;
	And so am I for Phebe.
PHEBE	And I for Ganymede.
ORLANDO	And I for Rosalind.
ROSALIND	And I for no woman.
SILVIUS	It is to be all made of fantasy,
	All made of passion and all made of wishes,	90
	All adoration, duty, and observance,
	All humbleness, all patience and impatience,
	All purity, all trial, all observance;
	And so am I for Phebe.
PHEBE	And so am I for Ganymede.
ORLANDO	And so am I for Rosalind.
ROSALIND	And so am I for no woman.
PHEBE	If this be so, why blame you me to love you?
SILVIUS	If this be so, why blame you me to love you?
ORLANDO	If this be so, why blame you me to love you?	100
ROSALIND	Who do you speak to, 'Why blame you me to love you?'
ORLANDO	To her that is not here, nor doth not hear.
ROSALIND	Pray you, no more of this; 'tis like the howling
	of Irish wolves against the moon.
[To SILVIUS]
	I will help you, if I can:
[To PHEBE]
	I would love you, if I could. To-morrow meet me all together.
[To PHEBE]
	I will marry you, if ever I marry woman, and I'll be
	married to-morrow:
[To ORLANDO]
	I will satisfy you, if ever I satisfied man, and you
	shall be married to-morrow:
[To SILVIUS]
	I will content you, if what pleases you contents
	you, and you shall be married to-morrow.
[To ORLANDO]
	As you love Rosalind, meet:
[To SILVIUS]
	as you love Phebe, meet: and as I love no woman,
	I'll meet. So fare you well: I have left you commands.	115
SILVIUS	I'll not fail, if I live.
PHEBE	Nor I.
ORLANDO	Nor I.
[Exeunt]

Next: As You Like It, Act 5, Scene 3
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Explanatory notes for Act 5, Scene 2
From As You Like It. Ed. Samuel Thurber, Jr. and Louise Wetherbee. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1922.
(Line numbers have been altered.)
__________

This is a preparatory scene for the denouement in Scene 4. Another sudden love affair does not surprise us, as we expect it in Arden.

Line 4. pers�ver: always spelled and accented like this in Shakespeare's time.

5. Perhaps the suddenness of this love-making may be the explanation of Oliver's conversion.

8. Why should the older brother ask the younger's consent?

11. What about the claims of the other brother?

17. Why brother and sister here?

20. heart: Does Rosalind use the word purposely?

27. greater wonders: Does Orlando suggest that Oliver has told him of his suspicions as to the identity of this Ganymede? Rosalind certainly seizes the reins of the conversation quickly.

30. thrasonical: boastful. I ... overcame: a translation of Caesar's famous message after the defeat of Pharnaces at Zela. The message in Latin is familiar: "Veni, vidi, vici," and Shakespeare seems fond of it, for he has used it more than once. In fact Julius Caesar is evidently one of his favorite characters.

37. incontinent: immediately.

38. clubs: "In any public affray the cry was Clubs! Clubs! by way of calling for persons with clubs to part the combatants." Our policemen still carry clubs, sometimes called billies.

51. conceit: intelligence.

53. insomuch: since.

56. grace me: gain me credit.

59. damnable: not to be condemned to the punishment which was then dealt to those practicing magic.

60. gesture: bearing.

63. inconvenient: disagreeable.

67. tender dearly: hold dear. Of course, she means that she was risking her life by calling herself a magician.

Enter Silvius and Phebe. With the entrance of the lovers, verse begins again.

72. ungentleness: unkindness.

89. fantasy: imagination. A beautiful description of love.

93. The repetition of observance suggests that it got into the folio texts by some oversight. Numerous other readings for the word have been suggested of which obedience seems as good as any.

103. howling ... moon: There were wolves in Ireland long after they disappeared from England. Everything Irish interested the English of Shakespeare's time. The scene ends with gratifying anticipation on the part of everyone including the audience.

QUESTIONS

1. Is there anything here that seems unreal?

2. Explain Oliver's humble mood.

3. How much has Celia told Oliver? Discuss the possibility.

4. Does Orlando know his Rosalind now? Discuss the question.

5. Is there any difference between the Rosalind alone with Orlando and the one with Celia present?

6. Does she show any tenderness?

7. Picture the scene when Silvius describes love.

8. How is it saved from absurdity?

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How to cite the explanatory notes:
Shakespeare, William. As You Like It. Eds. Samuel Thurber, Jr. and Louise Wetherbee. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1922. Shakespeare Online. 10 Aug. 2010. (date when you accessed the information) < http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/asu_5_2.html >.

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