Jaques

Play

As You Like It

Summary

Jaques (pronounced JAY-kweez in performance tradition) is the melancholy philosopher and self-appointed satirist who haunts the Forest of Arden in Duke Senior's exiled court. A world-weary traveler who luxuriates in his own sadness, he serves as the play's contrarian voice, deflating romance and optimism with mordant wit. He delivers the most famous speech in the play — the "seven ages of man" — and alone among the major characters refuses the happy ending, choosing to stay behind and philosophize.

Notable Quotations

"All the world's a stage, / And all the men and women merely players; / They have their exits and their entrances, / And one man in his time plays many parts, / His acts being seven ages." *(II.vii)*

"I can suck melancholy out of a song as a weasel sucks eggs." *(II.v)*

"I am ambitious for a motley coat." *(II.vii)*

"The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool." *(V.i)*

Cross-references

• As You Like It — the play
• Comedies — genre
• character_duke_senior — the exiled Duke whose court Jaques inhabits
• character_touchstone — the professional fool Jaques admires and debates
• character_rosalind — who deflates his affected melancholy with sharp wit