As You Like It Duke Senior Quotes

Duke Senior's been exiled, but he makes the most of his new life in Arden.  According to the Duke, country life is "more sweet" because it offers safety and freedom from the court, where everybody seems to be two-faced and untrustworthy.

Even though the weather in Arden is not ideal, Duke Senior says he barely notices the "icy fang" of the "winter's wind." Duke Senior seems genuinely happy out of the court, especially because it was a source of such pain and treachery to him. What's interesting about this passage is how Duke Senior likens the forest to Eden before man's fall. (In Genesis, Adam and Eve are booted out of Eden and the earth is cursed. Like a lot of people, Duke Senior interprets this curse to include lousy weather.) 

P.S. Did you notice how the word "Arden" combines the names of Arcadia (an earthly paradise from classical Greek mythology) and Eden (the Biblical paradise)?  

As Duke Senior welcomes Jaques de Boys to Orlando and Rosalind's wedding, it becomes clear that marriage saves the day in a play characterized by family treachery. As we know, younger brother Orlando has received the short end of the stick—after his father died, his older brother inherited everything and treated him like garbage. Still, when Orlando gets hitched to Rosalind, his nuptials provide him with a new family and a new fortune. Not only does Orlando get to marry his dream girl, he also gains a father-in-law (Duke Senior) who replaces, to some extent, his own dead father, Rowland de Boys. What's more, Orlando is now the heir to his new father-in-law's dukedom. 

If the Duke weren't such an upbeat guy, this might leave us a little worried. Even though the world does seem like one big "theater," it's a little depressing to think that our lives are nothing more than a "woeful pageant." It seems like the Duke finds a bit of comfort knowing that human suffering is a universal experience and that there's always someone else in the world with a tougher life than ours.

P.S. Didn't we hear something similar from Macbeth just after he learned that his beloved wife had died? We smell an essay topic!

Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing. (5.5.2)

When Duke Senior orders the wedding party to hit the dance floor, As You Like It begins to look like a modern-day musical, don't you think? 

Duke Frederick's conversion has a major social impact. When he returns the dukedom to his older brother, Frederick makes it possible for Duke Senior, Rosalind, and Orlando to return to court, where they will (presumably) transform the once-treacherous court into a more civilized place.