Not everyone reacts to life in the forest in a positive manner, and Shakespeare creates the character of the melancholy Jacques to express an opposing viewpoint.
When Duke Senior suggests to his lords that they should go hunting and obtain some venison (the meat of a deer), he also admits to feeling guilty about killing such sweet and beautiful creatures, especially since the deer are the native inhabitants of the forest and the Duke and his men are the intruders or invaders there.
One of the Duke’s men – a character simply referred to as First Lord – then responds that he had heard Jacques make a very similar comment:
The melancholy Jacques grieves at that, And in that kind swears you do more usurp
Than doth your brother that hath banished you.
(26-28)
Jacques, who is also a lord loyal to Duke Senior, is a philosopher and moralizer. Every action presents a moral lesson to be learned. And most of those lessons cause Jacques to become sad and gloomy. In this instance Jacques compares Duke Senior to Duke Frederick. His brother Frederick usurped (took power over) the dukedom, but Duke Senior then responded by usurping the Forest of Ardenne. But where Frederick was satisfied just to banish his brother, Duke Senior is killing the inhabitants of the