Skip to content

Shakspeare, As you like it, Act II, Scene I

1803, Engraving
Shakspeare, As you like it, Act II, Scene I
Shakspeare, As you like it, Act II, Scene I
Shakspeare, As you like it, Act II, Scene I
Share
Category
Library Item
Item no
40234
Title
Shakspeare [Shakespeare]. As you like it, Act II, Scene I
Description
1st LORD: To-day my Lord of Amiens and myself/ Did steal behind him as he lay along/ Under an oak whose antique root peeps out/ Upon the brook that brawls along this wood.

This engraving is not centred so much around the drama and its plot but rather a single character, the melancholy lord, Jaques, who is a nobleman of the usurped Duke Senior, and as such now sentenced to live in exile in the forest. He is a thinker, a very philosophical character, it is an interesting choice to visualise him of all the characters, since he does very little other than observe. Hodges depicts him in Act II, Scene I, although the event is only described in the play, Jaques does not appear yet. Lord Amiens and an unnamed Lord are telling the story when they were secretly watching Jaques in the woods. In the picture, they are shown hiding behind a tree on the right side, and their figures are barely visible. Jaques lies down by the river, where he sees and mourns a suffering, wounded stag, and seemingly the whole forest mourns it too with its darkness. The emphasis of the print is on nature, and how humans disturb its balance. This is a rather dark scene for a comedy illustration.
Engraver
Samuel Middiman
Date
1803
Size
63.5 x 50 cm
Type
Location
Art and Design Library
Rights and purchasing
Option
Price
Digital FileElectronic file 72 dpi JPEG​
£6.10(inc. VAT 20%)
Digital FileElectronic File 300 dpi TIFF​
£31.00(inc. VAT 20%)
You can view and use digital images for personal and educational use. For more information, read our policy on image use. If you wish to use our images for commercial use, please contact us.