Jaques (As You Like It) Jaques (As You Like It) Jaques () is one of the main characters in Shakespeare's "As You Like It". The 'Melancholy Jaques', as he is known, is one of Duke Senior's noblemen who lives with him in the Forest of Arden (or Ardennes). The role has long been a favourite for famous Shakespearean actors. Jaques' distinguishing characteristic is his unmitigated cynicism. He is the only purely contemplative character in Shakespeare. He thinks, and does nothing. His whole occupation is to amuse his mind, and he is totally regardless of his body and his fortunes. Hazlitt describes him as "the prince
As You Like It (2006 film) prologue defines exactly the moment that Duke Frederick usurps his brother's kingdom, a moment that Shakespeare himself did not. The epilogue deliberately interrupts the closing credits with Rosalind's speech, as the camera pans to see Rosalind's actor, Bryce Dallas Howard, walking to her dressing trailer on the film's location. Despite the cultural transposition, Shakespeare's language and the names of his characters remain the same. The film closely follows Shakespeare's plot. Some critics praised the setting. Others found it useless and irrelevant, since few of the characters are Japanese. The film was released theatrically in Italy on 1 September 2006, in