As You Like It Act 4, Scene 2

 

As You Like It Act 4, Scene 2

Summary

In a brief interlude, Jaques and some foresters celebrate the killing of a deer. Jaques proposes they treat the successful hunter like a Roman conqueror and crown him with the deer's antlers as a "branch of victory." He requests a song, and the foresters sing a mocking tune titled "What shall he have that killed the deer?" The song's refrain insists that the hunter should wear the horns proudly, as they are a traditional crest, and are "not a thing to laugh to scorn."

Analysis

1.     Jaques as Stage Manager of Irony:

o   Jaques orchestrates this entire mock-heroic ceremony. His suggestion to crown the hunter like a Roman victor is deeply ironic, reducing a noble martial image to a rustic hunt. This highlights his characteristic tendency to frame and comment on human actions as theatrical, often absurd, performances.

2.     The Symbolism of Horns:

o   The deer's horns are a loaded symbol. Literally, they are a hunter's trophy. In the cultural context, they are also the universal symbol of the cuckold (a man whose wife is unfaithful).

o   The song's insistence that wearing horns is honorable and traditional ("Thy father’s father wore it") is satirical. It simultaneously:

§  Mocks the hunter's "victory."

§  Makes a cynical joke about the supposed inevitability of cuckoldry in marriage.

§  Connects back to Touchstone's anxious jokes about horns in Act 3, Scene 3, weaving a thread of marital anxiety through the comedy.

3.     Contrast with the Main Plots:

o   This scene acts as a satirical pastoral interlude. It contrasts sharply with the preceding scene's focus on the intellectual and emotional complexities of romantic love. Here, the forest community is shown engaging in a simple, ritualized, and somewhat barbaric act, undercutting the pure "green world" ideal.

o   It reminds the audience that the Forest of Arden is not just a place of philosophical discussion and courtship, but also a place where life and death continue, and where the exiles still impose their courtly rituals (however mockingly) upon nature.

4.     Thematic Reinforcement: Performance and Nature:

o   The scene reinforces the idea that life in the forest is a series of performances. Just as Rosalind performs Ganymede, the hunters perform a conquest. Jaques, true to form, is the director who finds melancholy amusement in the spectacle.

o   It also touches on the theme of man's relationship with nature. The killing of the deer recalls the wounded stag from Act 2, Scene 1—another moment where Jaques moralized about human cruelty. Here, however, the tone is not melancholy but ribald and mocking, showing a different, more communal (if cynical) way of processing the same violent act.

In essence, this short scene is a bawdy, satirical choral interlude. It allows Jaques to exercise his ironic perspective, injects a note of earthy, cultural humor via the horn symbolism, and provides a momentary shift in tone away from the central lovers. It serves as a reminder that the forest is a multifaceted world where refinement and rusticity, romance and mockery, coexist.

 

Location: United States

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