Jaques the Melancholy: Post-Modern Philosophy in "As You Like It"

By Colin Cutler

Literary Criticism For
Literature 210 DL (Dr. Hake)
DL Western Literature I
5 December 2006

Francis Schaeffer, in his How Should We Then Live?, explored the dilemma of post-modern man: how does one reconcile the particular with the universal—how does one endue facts with true meaning without depriving the facts of actual being? Schaeffer asserts that only Christianity can satisfactorily reconcile them; many non-Christian philosophers have attempted to give meaning to facts without losing them, but find that it is impossible for their humanistic philosophy. This has led to the dichotomy of pessimistic rationalism and optimistic irrationality, with one choice giving up hope of meaning and reducing life to mere facts, and the other living in a denial of reality and hoping to create its own meaning. Neither can be simultaneously true, nor can man totally deny either meaning or reality, so the two are held in everlasting tension (Schaeffer 2005, 174). Jaques the Melancholy, of Shakespeare’s As You Like It, is an example of this dilemma.

Jaques exemplifies the post-modern philosophical position perfectly. He alternates between these two opposing views: at times he is obsessed with the apparent facts and sardonically derides anyone who he believes ignores these facts. At other times, he voices a hope of escape, but only in madness or in solitude.

In Scene II, Jaques told the Duke of a jester whom he had met in the forest (As You Like It, II.vii.). The jester looked upon a time-piece and remarked, “And so, from hour to hour, we rot and rot; and thereby hangs a tale.” The jester spoke of how human life passes with no visible benefit; the fool was bound by the particular and could give no meaning to it, for there was nothing outside of himself that could do so. Jaques heartily approved the jester’s sentiments, which spoke of life as far as anyone could see it with his natural eyes: the jester presupposed that there was nothing beyond his own life and experience—that death was the ultimate end.
The famous “Seven Ages of Man” speech (As You Like It, II.vii.) examines the periods of a man’s life, concluding with old age, which Jaques says “is second childishness and mere oblivion, sans teeth, sans eyes, sans everything.” In other words, life goes on and then one dies—that is the end. Further, he opens the soliloquy with the words “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players,” which expounds upon the Duke’s fatalistic attitude in the preceding lines (As You Like It, II.vii.135-138). This is the rationalistic theory of man as a machine, as a mere particular. He exists, but whatever he does has no eternal meaning. Small wonder then that Jaques is apathetic toward the world and man’s place in it!

Convinced of the hopelessness and meaninglessness of life, Jaques ridicules those who do not think as he does, whom he perceives as blind optimists and fools. As the couples are arriving for the marriage ceremony, he speaks of them as “very strange beasts, which in every tongue are called fools” (As You Like It, V.iv.36). Though this is said specifically at the entrance of Touchstone and Audrey, who would certainly deserve the description, it does refer to all the lovers, as shown by Jaques’ reference to “another flood” (As You Like It, V.iv.36).

Jaques the Melancholy also sensibly describes Touchstone and Audrey’s marriage as unsure; their “loving voyage is but two months victuall’d” (As You Like It, V.iv). Touchstone had already mentioned the possibility of getting out of marriage at some time (As You Like It, III.iii). Their marriage was based on nothing more than a whim and feelings and had no basis in real vows or reason; this perspective could be identified with the optimistic irrationality which is diametrically opposed to Jaques’ rationalistic thinking.

In Scene II, one of the Duke’s courtiers related a story of Jaques’ moralizing on the plight of a wounded deer (As You Like It, II.i.47-59). Jaques drew three lessons from this situation. First, he compares the deer’s “weeping into the needless stream…giving thy sum of more to that which had too much” to human nature. Two interpretations are possible: that men are often sad and add copious tears to the infinite pain of the world, or that too many men are already in the world and the addition of more only adds to the misery. Either way, Jaques emphasizes the pain of living and the utter meaninglessness of attempting to contribute to something whose measure is full.

Second, he notes that the deer seeks solitude for his suffering. This also lends itself to a comparison with human nature. Those who suffer wish to suffer alone—“thus misery doth part the flux of company.” In isolation, one is free to brood upon his suffering without interruption either by those who would attempt to cheer him or by those who would mock or superciliously ignore him.

Third, Jaques delivers a bitter speech against the herd that ignored their suffering fellow, which “is just the fashion”—it is typical of human nature, as well. He compares the herd of deer to wealthy men who ignore the plight of the needy—or, by extension, those who ignore the dire warnings of pessimists or are unable to answer their questions. Jaques despises these men, who are complacent in their opulence and pass by without regard for their suffering neighbors whom they could assist with financial or spiritual generosity.

Jaques sees no hope for the human condition. He clearly identifies the difficulty in which humanistic man finds himself, but he can offer no remedy. Thus, he finds his solace only in perpetual melancholy and in the hope of madness. He says to Rosalind that he loves melancholy “better than laughing” (As You Like It, IV.i.3). Further, he takes pride in his own melancholy, for it is not mere imitation, but “is a melancholy of mine own” (As You Like It, IV.i). This is his chief reason for his pride: that the melancholy is his own invention, a conglomeration of those ideas he believes best fit his standards.

Jaques may see a possible escape in madness. After describing the fool’s discussion of time and meaninglessness, he cries “O noble fool! A worthy fool! Motley’s the only wear” (As You Like It, II.vii.33-34). Jesters and fools of medieval times were usually considered to be either mentally weak or mad, and they were thus given free rein to speak their minds. Jaques certainly desired this freedom to speak his mind without restraint or moral liability. He may have even hoped to actually fall into madness in an escape from the pessimism and melancholy of his realistic thinking.

This is the irrational optimism of which Francis Schaeffer speaks. Post-modern man is unable to live with the meaninglessness of his particularistic worldview, so he seeks escape in creating his own meaning, however absurd. This meaning may be madness or unrestrained freedom to voice one’s beliefs or even isolation, all of which Jaques advocates. The common thread in these is that their value stems from Jaques’s own mind: he grants them meaning, and thus they have meaning. He never answers the question, however, of whether they really have meaning, or if they only have meaning in his own mind.

This leads us to the last point of Jaques’s philosophy: he is selfish. He points out others’ foibles not to reform them, but to please himself with the satisfaction of calling them foolish. He focuses on his own melancholy without attempting to touch others. Indeed, when invited to dance, Jaques scoffs and declares that he will spend the rest of his life in a solitary cave (As You Like It, V.iv).

Jaques clearly exhibits the post-modern philosophy in his worldview: he is cynical and jaded, and derisive towards anyone who looks only at positive things. Further, his only source of hope is in his own definition of meaning. He creates hope out of nothing, yet he lives in constant tension because he knows that he cannot live in pure melancholy, nor can he accept pure optimism—thus he cannot settle on a solid foundation and must hope for madness to relieve him. Long before Nietzsche and Sartre, Shakespeare had already created Jaques as an archetype of the post-modern man—brooding, despairing, and absurd.


Reference List
Schaeffer, Francis A. How Should We Then Live?, 50th L’Abri Anniversary Ed., 2005.
Wheaton: Crossway Books.

Shakespeare, William. As You Like It, 1998. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications,
Inc.