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) Shepperton Film Studios and at the never-before-filmed gardens of Wakehurst Place. The film is a production of The Shakespeare Film Company, financed by HBO Films. It is Kenneth Branagh's first Shakespearean film shot in a Super 35 format. "See the Plot for the original Play". Although the film was not made in Japan, Branagh reimagines the play there during the late nineteenth century, where many English traders lived. Branagh portrays Duke Senior's court as a British outpost whose ruler admires Japanese culture: although most of the inhabitants wear European clothes, Duke Senior and his brother both wear Japanese clothes. Each