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) Shakespeare adaptations, which had reached what many considered a low point with "Love's Labour's Lost". A negative US reviewer was film critic Stanley Kauffmann, who had admired Branagh's film versions of "Henry V", "Much Ado About Nothing", and "Hamlet"; he blasted the film, saying that he could barely get through it, and that, by giving it such an unusual setting, Branagh seemed to be trying to "apologize" to the viewing audience for the fact that "As You Like It" was a Shakespeare film. Critic Virginia Heffernan, writing for "The New York Times", was also negative, pointing out that film reduces