As You Like It: Act II Scene III

1. Context: Adam... 
Why would you be so fond to overcome 
The bonny prizer of the humourous duke? 
Your praise is come too swiftly home before you. 
Know you not, master, to some kind of men 
Their graces serve them but as enemies? 
No more do yours: your virtues, gentle master, 
Are sanctified and holy traitors to you. 
O, what a world is this, when what is comely 
Envenoms him that bears it! (Lines 7-14) 

[Meaning: Why were you so foolish as to defeat the stalwart prize-
fighter of the capricious Duke? Your praise reached the ears of your
brother before you came. You ought to know that to some men their
virtues are a curse. It is true in your case at any rate. Your virtues
have acted as traitors with their holy and innocent airs. It must be a
rotten world where virtues and good qualities should be harmful poison
to their owner.] 

I) What has happened that makes Adam to come to Orlando? How can you
conclude that Adam is fond of Orlando? 

        The wicked Oliver’s plan to set Orlando’s room on fire at night is
not unknown to the faithful Adam and this makes him approach Orlando
to forewarn him. 

        Adam’s fondness of Orlando is clearly evidenced by his manners and
actions. 

        1. Adam warns Orlando of the wicked plans of Oliver. 

        2. He offers all his life’s savings (five hundred crowns) to his
young master, who is now in a state of destitution. 

        3. He also proposes to accompany Orlando to an uncertain faith
because he is so devoted to him. 

ii) Who is the bonny prizer? How was he overcome by Orlando? Why is
the Duke referred to as humourous? 

        The stalwart (bonny) prizer (prize-fighter) is the court-wrestler of
Duke Frederick. 

        No sooner the wrestling begins than Orlando overcomes Charles. The
prize-fighter is seen lying on the ground, unable even to speak just
in a few moments after the bout has begun. 

        The Duke is subject to whims and that’s why he has been referred to
in this term. His capriciousness, greed and lack of moral scruples
make him behave in an unpredictable manner most of the time. 

iii) What is the praise that has come swiftly home before Orlando?
What was its impact? 

        Orlando’s having defeated the formidable wrestler and the subsequent
praise that he has won is being talked about here. 

        Oliver’s heart is filled with jealousy because of this development
and he gets desperate to kill Orlando by hook or crook. 

iv) Give the meaning of 

a) Their graces serve them but as enemies:
        Their virtues and accomplishments invite but enmities for them from
wicked people like Oliver. 

b) Are sanctified and holy traitors to you:
        Your virtues have acted as traitors with their holy and innocent
airs. 

v) What is meant by: what is comely/Envenoms him that bears it? How is
this saying true as far as Orlando is concerned? 

        (It must be a rotten world) where virtues and good qualities should
be harmful poison to their owner.
        Orlando possesses many a noble quality but those have only brought to
him misfortunes and sufferance. 

2. Context: Orlando: Why, whither, Adam, wouldst thou have me go?
Adam: No matter whither, so you come not here.
Orlando: What! Wouldst thou have me go and beg my food?
Or with a base and boisterous sword enforce
A thievish living on the common road?
This I must do, or know not what to do:
Yet this I will not do, do how I can;
I rather will subject me to the malice
Of a diverted blood and bloody brother.
[Meaning: Adam – You may go wherever you like but you can not come
here.
Orlando: Would you have me go and beg for my food? Or take to the
highway and rob the passers-by for a living? I shall have to do this,
or I know not what to do. Yet I have no mind to take to highway
robbery for a living, whatever I may do. I will rather submit to the
ill-will of a brother who is estranged from me.]
i) Explain the circumstances due to which Adam advises Orlando to
leave his house.
        Oliver gets extremely jealous of Orlando when the news of his
youngest brother’s victory over Charles and how he has been praised
for that reaches his ears. The villainous Oliver immediately plots to
kill Orlando by setting fire to his room at night. However, Adam gets
to learn of the plot and also realises that Oliver will not rest till
he gets Orlando out of his way. So Adam warns his young master to
leave the place immediately.
ii) According to Orlando, what options are open for him after leaving
his house?
        Orlando says that either he has to beg for food or be a highway
robber to earn his living if he has to leave his home. Being
uneducated and not accomplished in anything, he says he has no other
option before him.
iii) Give the meaning of:
a) Or with a base and boisterous sword enforce
A thievish living on the common road.
        I (Orlando) have only another choice except begging. I have to rob
the travellers on highways with a dishonest and riotous sword and live
a corrupt living.
b) Of a diverted blood and bloody brother.
        A brother who has an antipathy for me and who has only the thought of
murder in his heart for me.
iv) Finally, what does Orlando say that he would prefer?
        Orlando finally says that he would rather submit to the ill-wills of
his elder brother than adopting the humiliating life of a beggar or
the corrupt one of a highway robber.
v) Referring to the extract, state what sort of a man is Orlando?
        The words spoken by Orlando in the extract clearly demonstrate
Orlando’s sense of honesty and his upright nature. He is ready to face
the dangerous villainy of Oliver but will not adopt an unfair way of
life, come what may.
vi) ***According to the dramatic necessity, Orlando has to go to the
forest. Justify this statement.
        Orlando’s going to the Forest of Arden is a dire dramatic necessity
for Shakespeare because otherwise Orlando and Rosalind can not be
together. Some good reason was needed for Orlando to decide to go to
the Forest of Arden. Oliver’s conspiracy provides that reason and in
order to save his life, it seems only natural that Orlando will run
away to the Forest of Arden.
3. Context: Take that; and He that doth the ravens feed,
Yea, providently caters for the sparrow.
Be comfort to my age! Here is the gold;
All this I give you. Let me be your servant:
Though I look old, yet I am strong and lusty;
For in my youth I never did apply
Hot and rebellious liquors in my blood.
Nor did not with unbashful forehead woo
The means of weakness and debility.
[Meaning: Take that money, and God who feeds the ravens, and provides
for sparrows, will be my comfort in my old age. Here is the gold; all
this I offer you. Let me be your servant. Though I look old, I am
strong and vigorous, for when I was young, I never indulged in excess,
nor lived a dissolute life which enfeebles a man.]
i) Why does Adam give away his gold coins to Orlando?
        He does so as he is truly devoted to his young master. He knows how
honest Orlando is and so hands over his entire life’s savings to him
to help him in his destitution.
ii) How did Adam come to possess the gold? Why had he saved it?
        Adam saved the gold bit by bit during his long tenure of service with
Orlando’s father, Sir Rowland de Boys. Being thrifty by nature, he
could save the princely sum of five hundred crowns.
        He had saved the money to be the means of his support in his old age
when he would be unable to work with no one to help him.
iii) Give the meaning of:
Nor did not with unbashful forehead woo
The means of weakness and debility.
        I never indulged in unrestrained behaviour brazenly, nor lived an
immoral life which enfeebles a man.
iv) Besides giving money and gold, what else does Adam offer to
Orlando?
        Adam offers to be Orlando’s servant even at this old age claiming
that he is still strong enough to do so as he has not dissipated his
physical strength as many young men do in their youth by running after
pleasures.
v) What type of relationship did exist between a master and a servant
in the olden times?
        A servant would go on rendering faithful service to his master in the
ancient world. People worked out of a sense of duty rather than for
reward or for wages.


4. Context: Orlando: O good old man! How well in thee appears
The constant service of the antique world,
When service sweat for duty, not for meed!
Thou art not for the fashion of these times,
Where none will sweat but for promotion,
And having that, do choke their service up
Even with the having: it is not so with thee,
But, poor old man, thou prun’st a rotten tree,
That can not so much as a blossom yield,
In lieu of all thy pains and husbandry.
[Meaning: O good old man, you set the example of loyalty which marked
the servants of the past age, when service was inspired by a sense of
duty, and not by a mercenary motive. You do not follow the custom of
these days, when none will work except with a view to a financial
reward, and having that, he forgets his master. You are not like them.
But, poor old man, you take care of one who can not compensate you for
your devotion or kindness to me.]
i) To whom is Orlando speaking? What is meant by the antique world?
What constant service has he given to Orlando?
        Orlando is speaking to the simple yet loyal and noble-hearted Adam
who has been serving the Boys’ household for decades.
        The antique world points to the ancient times when people worked with
utmost devotion regardless of what reward he received for the same.
        Adam had been serving Sir Rowland de Boys faithfully when he was
alive and now is doing the same to Orlando without any expectation of
monetary reward. He is more of a father-figure to Orlando than a paid
servant and completely identifies himself with the welfare of his
young master.
ii) What type of service is rendered in these times? How is it
different from the services of the ancient times?
        People have entirely forgotten the true spirit in which a service
should be rendered in these times (Shakespeare here talks of his times
i.e. the Elizabethan Age). Instead, they have become sloppy in their
work though their mercenary spirit has grown stronger.
        It is different from the services of the ancient times in the sense
that the workers of today are neither devoted to their masters nor do
they serve for the sake of duty but only for money. They also often
desert their masters in spite of being paid.
iii) Give the meaning of:
a) When service sweat for duty, not for meed!
        When service was inspired by a sense of duty and not by greed for
unearned money.
b) In lieu of all thy pains and husbandry.
        In return for all your pains and careful rearing.
iv) In what context does Orlando say to the old man, thou prun’st a
rotten tree? What is meant by this expression?
           Since Orlando is penniless and can not reward Adam for his
services, he compares himself with a rotten tree which can not yield
blossoms to the gardener (Adam) who is taking so much care of it.
        But, poor old man, to what end you are trimming the rotten tree
(Orlando).
V) What do Orlando and the old man finally decide to do?
        The two of them finally decide to leave from the Boys’ ancestral home
to escape the malice of Oliver which has grown into such dangerous
proportion of late.


5. Context: Adam: Master, go on, and I will follow thee
To the last gasp with truth and loyalty.
For seventeen years till now almost fourscore
Here lived I, but now live here no more.
At seventeen years many their fortunes seek;
But at fourscore it is too late a week:
Yet fortune can not recompense me better
Than to die well and not my master’s debtor.
[Meaning: Master go on, and I shall follow you to my last breath, with
true devotion. From seventeen years till now when I am almost eighty,
I lived here, but I am leaving the place for ever. At seventeen many
begin their life, but at eighty it is too late in the day. Yet the
best thing that can happen to me is to die in your service,
discharging my debt to my master.]
i) State why Adam does not want to ‘live here no more’. *How long has
he been serving in the family?
        Adam makes up his mind to leave Oliver’s house for ever as he finds
him, unlike his noble father, a scheming and utterly wicked fellow.
Besides, when he sees Oliver plotting against his own brother’s life,
he (Adam) is compelled to abandon the house where he has spent almost
63 years of his life serving the Boys’ family, and the place which has
become almost his own home.
        *He has been serving the family for about 63 years.
ii) Besides giving money and gold, what else does Adam offer to
Orlando?
        Adam not only offers to accompany Orlando to an uncertain destination
but also expresses his wish to serve him ‘to the last gasp with truth
and loyalty’. The way he does this ignoring his age wins a glowing
compliment from Orlando.
iii) Give me the meaning of:
a) To the last gasp with truth and loyalty.
        I shall follow you to my last breath, with true devotion.
b) Yet fortune can not recompense me better.
        Yet the best thing that can happen to me is to die in your service,
discharging my debt to my master.
iv) How can you conclude from the extract that Adam was honest and
loyal?
        Adam’s decision to follow Orlando into an uncertain future at the age
of eighty because he thinks that dying in his young master’s service
will be a tribute to his former master, Sir Rowland de Boys, proves
his unquestioned honesty and loyalty to the family which has given him
food and shelter for more than six decades.
v) ***What role does Adam play in the progress of the story?
        Adam’s informing Orlando about Oliver’s evil designs on his youngest
brother makes Orlando to decide to flee his own house. It is this
action of Adam that propels the story forward to enable the later
actions of the drama to take place in the Forest of Arden.