Characters in As You Like It attending on Duke Senior in the forest of Arden. He agrees with the Duke when the latter says "sweet are the uses of adversity". He is not prepared to exchange his life in the forest with the comfortable life at the court. He is deeply attached to Duke Senior and, therefore, has willingly accompanied him to the forest of Arden. Amiens does not, in any way, contribute to the action of the play. He does however sing two songs that allude to and perhaps clarify the plot. Oliver is the eldest son of Sir Rowland de Boys and the heir
As You Like It of convention is continued when the epilogue is given in prose. Act II, Scene VII, features one of Shakespeare's most famous monologues, spoken by Jaques, which begins: <poem>All the world's a stage And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts</poem> The arresting imagery and figures of speech in the monologue develop the central metaphor: a person's lifespan is a play in seven acts. These acts, or "seven ages", begin with "the infant/Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms" and work through six further vivid