As You Like It, Act 2, Scene 6

William Shakespeare

Every note, for your class

The story so far

Earlier in the play

Adam warns Orlando of Oliver’s murder plot, offers his savings, and leaves with him.

In the last scene: Act 2, Scene 5

Amiens sings at Jaques’s request, then leaves to find the Duke, whose banquet is ready.

SCENE VI. Another part of the Forest

Enter Orlando and Adam.

ADAM

Dear master, I can go no further. O, I die for food! Here lie I down and measure out my grave. Farewell, kind master.

ORLANDO

Why, how now, Adam? No greater heart in thee? Live a little, comfort a little, cheer thyself a little. If this uncouth forest yield anything savage, I will either be food for it or bring it for food to thee. Thy conceit is nearer death than thy powers. For my sake, be comfortable. Hold death awhile at the arm’s end. I will here be with thee presently, and if I bring thee not something to eat, I’ll give thee leave to die. But if thou diest before I come, thou art a mocker of my labour. Well said, thou look’st cheerly, and I’ll be with thee quickly. Yet thou liest in the bleak air. Come, I will bear thee to some shelter and thou shalt not die for lack of a dinner if there live anything in this desert. Cheerly, good Adam!

This line sets Adam's imagination against his bodily strength, so Orlando treats despair, not hunger, as the real danger.

Orlando's nurturing speech blends martial valour with maternal provision.

Orlando urges Adam not to give up and promises to hunt, even at risk of his life.

Recasts survival as a duty owed to the master, in Adam's own language

Orlando offers to carry Adam and find food for him, repaying Adam’s loyalty through practical care. Their loyalty means taking responsibility for keeping each other alive.

The first phrase pretends death needs Orlando's permission; the second calls dying an insult to his work. This joking bossiness pushes Adam to stay alive.

Orlando thinks Adam is less close to death than he fears and begs him to hold on.

The possibility of being eaten by wild animals presents the forest as dangerous rather than idyllic. Finding food here requires courage and struggle.

Before searching for food, Orlando decides to carry Adam somewhere sheltered.

'No greater heart in thee…

Exeunt.

Characters

Speaking

1 speech
1 speech

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Themes

Friendship and loyalty2 passages

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Questions on this scene

Reading
What does Adam say he is dying for?
Reading
Reading

Locations

Forest of Arden?Scene
The principal setting, where the banished Duke Senior lives with his followers, Rosalind disguises herself as Ganymede, and the lovers are eventually united. Shakespeare's forest evokes both Warwickshire's Arden and the continental Ardennes, but its dramatic geography cannot be located precisely.
Set here · 5 quotes in this scene

Also mentioned

Oliver's house and orchard?characters travel here or from here