we feel it everywhere. It works in the thoughts and characters of the persons in the play, until those who have been saddened by misfortune find happiness and those who have been unjust experience regeneration. The story is of the effect of Nature upon man. It was probably while thinking of this play that Milton wrote: "Then to the well-trod stage anon, If Jonson's learnéd sock1 be on, Or sweetest Shakespeare, Fancy's child, Warble his native wood-notes wild." The dramatic persons in the playlet are: Oliver, who deprives his younger brother Orlando of his inheritance; Duke Frederick, who has usurped his brother's dukedom; the two lovely daughters of the dukes, Celia and Rosalind; several lords of the usurper's court, and the little group who followed the elder Duke into his exile. The rôle Shakespeare himself assumed, according to tradition, is that of the old servant, Adam, who enters at the opening of the first scene, with Orlando. ACT 1 Scene 1. Oliver's orchard Adam and Orlando enter [L.].2 Orlando. As I remember, Adam, it was upon this fashion: bequeathed me by will but a thousand crowns, and, as thou sayest, charged my brother, on his blessing, to breed me well; and there begins my sadness. His horses are bred better. He lets me feed with his servants, bars me the place of a brother. I will no longer endure it, though yet I know no wise remedy how to avoid it. Adam. Yonder comes my master, your brother. 1 Jonson's learned sock. Jonson was one of the brilliant dramatists of the age of Elizabeth and was still alive when Milton wrote this. He was learned in classical literature and therefore in his day greatly admired. The sock was the distinctive footwear of the actor in a comedy. 2 L., from the left-hand side of the stage as one faces the audience; R., from the right; C., from the door or opening at the back of the stage in the center. Orlando. Go apart,1 Adam, and thou shalt hear how he will shake me up. [Adam retires to the back of the stage.]2 Oliver enters [R.]. Oliver. Now, sir! what make you3 here? Orlando. Nothing. I am not taught to make anything. Orlando. I am helping you to mar that which Heaven made, Orlando. O, sir, very well; here in your orchard. Oliver. Know you before whom, sir? Orlando. Ay, better than he I am before knows me. I know you are my eldest brother. The courtesy of nations allows you my better, in that you are the first-born; but I have as much of my father in me as you, although, I confess, your coming before me is nearer to his reverence.3 Oliver. What, boy! He tries to strike Orlando, who in return seizes him by the collar near his throat. Orlando. Come, come, elder brother, you are too young in this. Oliver. Wilt thou lay hands on me, villain? Adam. [Coming forward.] Sweet masters, be patient; for your father's remembrance, be at accord. 1 Go apart: go a little way off. 2 An oral reader should omit all stage directions in brackets []. 3 what make you? old style for what are you doing? 4 mar (mär): damage, spoil. be naught: be nothing; a slang expression of those times. 6 Ay (i): yes. 7 courtesy: custom. 8 nearer to his reverence. This was undoubtedly said ironically. Oliver. Let me go, I say. Orlando. I will not till I please. You shall hear me. My father charged you in his will to give me good education. You have trained me like a peasant. The spirit of my father grows strong in me, and I will no longer endure it; therefore allow me such exercises1 as may become 2 a gentleman, or give me the poor allotment my father left. me. [He loosens his hold on Oliver.] Oliver. And what wilt thou do? Beg, when that is spent? Well, sir, get you in. I will not long be troubled with you; you shall have some part of your will. Leave me. Orlando. I will no further offend you than becomes me for my good. [Exit L.] 3 Oliver. [To Adam.] Get you with him, you old dog! Adam. Is "old dog" my reward? Most true I have lost my teeth in your service. Heaven be with my old master! He would not have spoken such a word. [Exit L.] Oliver. Is it even so? Begin you to grow upon me?4 Yet I will give no thousand crowns. Dennis! [Enter Dennis R.]. Dennis. Calls your worship?5 Oliver. Was not Charles, the Duke's wrestler, here to speak with me? 1 exercises: activities, pursuits. 2 as may become: as may be becoming to, or as may be fitting for. 3 The exits which need to be mentioned aloud in a reading will not be enclosed in square brackets and will be described in different words from exit or exeunt. These words should always be omitted, and the reader should show by his expression that the characters are dismissed. 4 Begin you to grow upon me? Oliver, talking to himself, speaks as if he were addressing Orlando, "Do you begin to get the best of me?" 5 your worship: a respectful way of addressing one of high rank in Shakespeare's time. Dennis. So please you,1 he is here. Oliver. Call him in. [Exit Dennis R.] "Twill be a good way; and tomorrow the wrestling is. Charles enters [R.]. Charles. Good morrow to your worship. Oliver. Good Charles, what's the new news at the new court? Charles. There's no news at the court, sir, but the old news: the old Duke is banished by his younger brother the new Duke; and three or four loving lords have put themselves into voluntary exile with him, whose lands and revenues enrich the new Duke. Oliver. Is Rosalind, the old Duke's daughter, banished with her father? Charles. O, no; for the new Duke's daughter so loves her that she would have followed her exile. She is at the court, and never two ladies loved as they do. Oliver. Where will the old Duke live? Charles. They say he is already in the forest of Arden, and many a merry man with him; and there they live like the old Robin Hood of England. Oliver. You wrestle tomorrow before the new Duke? Charles. I do, sir; and I came to acquaint you that your younger brother, Orlando, hath a disposition to come in against me to try a fall. Tomorrow, sir, I wrestle for my credit3; and he that escapes me without some broken limb shall acquit him well. Your brother is young and tender; I would be loath to foil him. Oliver. I have, by underhand means, labored to dissuade him, but he is resolute. I'll tell thee, Charles, it is the stub 1 So please you: if it so please you. 2 disposition: inclination. 3 credit: reputation. 4 him: himself. Б 5 foil: throw. 6 underhand: indirect. bornest young fellow of France, full of ambition,' an envious emulator of every man's good parts, a secret and villainous contriver against me his brother. Therefore use thy discretion; I had as lief thou didst break his neck as his finger. Charles. If he come tomorrow, I'll give him his payment. If ever he walk alone again, I'll never wrestle for prize more. And so Heaven keep your worship! [Exit L.] Oliver. Farewell, good Charles. (And talking to himself, he says) I hope I shall see an end of him; for my soul, yet I know not why, hates nothing more than him. Yet he's gentle; never schooled, and yet learned; full of noble device; of all sorts enchantingly beloved; and indeed so much in the heart of the world, and especially of my own people, that I am altogether misprized. [Exit R.] Scene 2. A lawn before the Duke's palace [Prolog.] At the wrestling appear the usurping Duke Frederick, his daughter, and his niece Rosalind, the daughter of the exiled Duke. [Exit.] [Enter Duke Frederick R., with his court; Celia, Rosalind, Le Beau, the First and Second Lords, Charles, Orlando, Adam, and Dennis.]3 Duke Frederick. Come on. Since the youth will not be entreated, his own peril on his forwardness. 1 full of ambition. Oliver says this sneeringly. 2 First and Second Lords: These two characters appear in this scene only to make the crowd at the wrestling larger. If Charles and Le Beau are doubling for these parts, of course the crowd will be small. 3 Stage directions beginning with the words enter or reënter are put in brackets [] and should not be read aloud. Entrances which it is necessary for a reader to announce have been worded differently, as Oliver enters, or Celia and Rosalind again. The assumption by the oral reader of the voice and manner typical of a character already introduced is often enough to show that this character has made his appearance again on the stage. |