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 "Young". Donovan set "Under the Greenwood Tree" to music and recorded it for "A Gift from a Flower to a Garden" in 1968. Michael John Trotta composed a setting of "Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind" for choir in 2013. According to the history of radio station WCAL in the US state of Minnesota, "As You Like It" may have been the first play ever broadcast. It went over the air in 1922. On 1 March 2015, BBC Radio 3 broadcast a new production directed by Sally Avens with music composed by actor and singer Johnny Flynn of the folk rock