Orlando, who suddenly bursts upon Duke Senior and the others, interrupts Jacques’ comments on the role of the fool. Orlando has his sword drawn, and he demands that the Duke and the others should give him some food.
Duke Senior tells the desperate Orlando that he does not need his sword. Rather, he is welcome to join them in their feast. Orlando is surprised to find such civility in the wild forest, and he then gently asks Duke Senior and the others to wait for him while he goes back to collect his old trusted servant Adam.
After Orlando’s departure, Duke Senior comments that there are plenty of people in the world who are more unfortunate than they:
Thou seest we are not all alone unhappy. This wide and universal theater
Presents more woeful pageants than the scene Wherein we play. (135-38)
This play is famous for its metaphor that life is a play. Here, Duke Senior’s comment suggests that the stories are more often tragedies than comedies.
Jacques continues the metaphor and builds upon it, and he thus begins his famous speech on the Seven Ages of Man: