The fifth act begins with a scene involving Touchstone and Audrey, the shepherdess. They are still discussing their plans to be married, but Audrey thinks that they should have allowed Sir Oliver Martext (who appeared in Act III, Scene 3) to perform the wedding ceremony. She is, perhaps, in doubt whether Touchstone will actually go through with the wedding.
Touchstone changes the topic to Audrey’s rival suitor, a country local named William. William then appears; and Touchstone refers to him as a clown (at line 10), which means country bumpkin in this instance. Touchstone is ready to compete with his rival to win Audrey even though William apparently has no idea that a conflict even exists.
Shakespeare thus sets up a rather unusual skirmish between the Fool (the court jester from the city) and the Clown (the bumpkin or oaf from the country). The battle is, however, one-sided; for William is a man of few words and does not understand Touchstone’s posturing.
Some of Touchstone’s lines refer to physical actions. He tells William to cover his head (at line 16) when William respectfully removes his hat as he greets Touchstone. Later, Touchstone comments that lips were made for eating (lines 31-33), which, most