As You Like It, Act 3 scene 3 - Touchstone and Audrey decide to marry

As You Like It

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

ACT III SCENE III	The forest.
[Enter TOUCHSTONE and AUDREY; JAQUES behind]
TOUCHSTONE	Come apace, good Audrey: I will fetch up your
	goats, Audrey. And how, Audrey? am I the man yet?
	doth my simple feature content you?
AUDREY	Your features! Lord warrant us! what features!
TOUCHSTONE	I am here with thee and thy goats, as the most
	capricious poet, honest Ovid, was among the Goths.
JAQUES	[Aside] O knowledge ill-inhabited, worse than Jove
	in a thatched house!	10
TOUCHSTONE	When a man's verses cannot be understood, nor a
	man's good wit seconded with the forward child
	Understanding, it strikes a man more dead than a
	great reckoning in a little room. Truly, I would
	the gods had made thee poetical.
AUDREY	I do not know what 'poetical' is: is it honest in
	deed and word? is it a true thing?
TOUCHSTONE	No, truly; for the truest poetry is the most
	feigning; and lovers are given to poetry, and what
	they swear in poetry may be said as lovers they do feign.
AUDREY	Do you wish then that the gods had made me poetical?
TOUCHSTONE	I do, truly; for thou swearest to me thou art
	honest: now, if thou wert a poet, I might have some
	hope thou didst feign.
AUDREY	Would you not have me honest?
TOUCHSTONE	No, truly, unless thou wert hard-favoured; for
	honesty coupled to beauty is to have honey a sauce to sugar.	30
JAQUES	[Aside] A material fool!
AUDREY	Well, I am not fair; and therefore I pray the gods
	make me honest.
TOUCHSTONE	Truly, and to cast away honesty upon a foul slut
	were to put good meat into an unclean dish.
AUDREY	I am not a slut, though I thank the gods I am foul.
TOUCHSTONE	Well, praised be the gods for thy foulness!
	sluttishness may come hereafter. But be it as it may
	be, I will marry thee, and to that end I have been
	with Sir Oliver Martext, the vicar of the next
	village, who hath promised to meet me in this place
	of the forest and to couple us.
JAQUES	[Aside] I would fain see this meeting.
AUDREY	Well, the gods give us joy!	45
TOUCHSTONE	Amen. A man may, if he were of a fearful heart,
	stagger in this attempt; for here we have no temple
	but the wood, no assembly but horn-beasts. But what
	though? Courage! As horns are odious, they are
	necessary. It is said, 'many a man knows no end of
	his goods:' right; many a man has good horns, and
	knows no end of them. Well, that is the dowry of
	his wife; 'tis none of his own getting. Horns?
	Even so. Poor men alone? No, no; the noblest deer
	hath them as huge as the rascal. Is the single man
	therefore blessed? No: as a walled town is more
	worthier than a village, so is the forehead of a
	married man more honourable than the bare brow of a
	bachelor; and by how much defence is better than no
	skill, by so much is a horn more precious than to
	want. Here comes Sir Oliver.
[Enter SIR OLIVER MARTEXT]
	Sir Oliver Martext, you are well met: will you
	dispatch us here under this tree, or shall we go
	with you to your chapel?
SIR OLIVER MARTEXT	Is there none here to give the woman?	52
TOUCHSTONE	I will not take her on gift of any man.
SIR OLIVER MARTEXT	Truly, she must be given, or the marriage is not lawful.
JAQUES	[Advancing]
	Proceed, proceed I'll give her.
TOUCHSTONE	Good even, good Master What-ye-call't: how do you,
	sir? You are very well met: God 'ild you for your
	last company: I am very glad to see you: even a
	toy in hand here, sir: nay, pray be covered.
JAQUES	Will you be married, motley?
TOUCHSTONE	As the ox hath his bow, sir, the horse his curb and
	the falcon her bells, so man hath his desires; and
	as pigeons bill, so wedlock would be nibbling.
JAQUES	And will you, being a man of your breeding, be
	married under a bush like a beggar? Get you to
	church, and have a good priest that can tell you
	what marriage is: this fellow will but join you
	together as they join wainscot; then one of you will
	prove a shrunk panel and, like green timber, warp, warp.
TOUCHSTONE	[Aside] I am not in the mind but I were better to be
	married of him than of another: for he is not like
	to marry me well; and not being well married, it
	will be a good excuse for me hereafter to leave my wife.	75
JAQUES	Go thou with me, and let me counsel thee.
TOUCHSTONE	'Come, sweet Audrey:
	We must be married, or we must live in bawdry.
	Farewell, good Master Oliver: not,--
	O sweet Oliver,
	O brave Oliver,
	Leave me not behind thee: but,--
	Wind away,
	Begone, I say,
	I will not to wedding with thee.	85
[Exeunt JAQUES, TOUCHSTONE and AUDREY]
SIR OLIVER MARTEXT	'Tis no matter: ne'er a fantastical knave of them
	all shall flout me out of my calling.
[Exit]

Next: As You Like It, Act 3, Scene 4
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Explanatory notes for Act 3, Scene 3
From As You Like It. Ed. Samuel Thurber, Jr. and Louise Wetherbee. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1922.
(Line numbers have been altered.)
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There is nothing but Shakespeare in this scene, for only he could so perfectly burlesque the brilliant love scene which has just preceded it. Jaques has found another pair to watch with cynical eye.

Line 1. Audrey: short for Ethelreda. The adjective tawdry has interesting derivation from the fact that all sorts of gewgaws were sold at St. Audrey's fair.

3. feature: Touchstone means his figure but Audrey evidently never heard the word.

6. goats: This gives Touchstone an opportunity to pun on capricious and Goths, which was pronounced then so that it had the sound of goats.

7. capricious: derived from Latin caper, goat; therefore, changeable. Ovid: Roman poet who wrote "Metamorphoses," one of the most familiar of which is the story of Pyramus and Thisbe used by Shakespeare in "Midsummer Night's Dream."

9. ill-inhabited: poorly housed.

10. Jove ... house: This refers to the story of Philemon and Baucis when Jupiter and Mercury were given the best the humble house contained, even though their hosts did not recog nize them.

13. great ... room: a large bill of entertainment in a small inn. [It is argued that Shakespeare here alludes to the death of Christopher Marlowe. Please click here for more.]

16. Audrey, munching an apple of which fruit her pockets seem to be full, stops with open mouth at the unfamiliar word.

18. truest ... feigning: Shakespeare liked to make gentle fun of his own art. feigning: pretending.

28. hard-favored: harsh-featured.

31. material: full of matter.

34. foul: Touchstone means dirty, but Audrey below means ugly.

41. Sir Oliver: Sir was often used of clergymen by Shakespeare.

53. On the principle that he is suspicious of anything given away.

57. Does Touchstone recognize Jaques? Notice his apology for Audrey and his change of manner when Jaques comes forward.

58. God ... you: God yield you.

60. covered: put on your hat.

65. This advice from Jaques has its amusing side.

71. What kind of love has Touchstone for Audrey?

80. These are verses from an old song.

87. Sir Oliver is no fool as his last speech shows.

QUESTIONS

1. Audrey comes in eating apples and tossing them to Touchstone. Picture the scene and describe Audrey.

2. What does Jaques enjoy most? Why does he follow Touchstone and scorn Orlando?

3. What is the purpose of the scene? Why is the marriage postponed?

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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_3_3.html >.

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