Touchstone

Touchstone (noted as "clown" in most scripts, but always named as well) is a jester character who appears intemittently througout As You Like It. He is considered to be the play's major comic relief character, and his side story is not truly relevant to the course of the overarching plot of the play. However, he is still aquainted with many of the main characters, particularly Rosalind, Celia, and Jaques.

Story
Touchstone first appears as a messanger to Celia, but his request that she go to her father, Duke Fredrick, is never answered. However, from this scene we are introduced to Touchstone's style of humor, and the fact that he is well aquainted with Rosalind and Celia. During this scene, Touchstone also makes fun of Le Beau and becomes incredulous when it is suggested that the women watch a wrestling match, insisting that the sport is unladylike.

In the next scene, Rosalind and Celia decide to take him with them to the Forest of Arden, and Celia reveals that he is very intimately attatched to her.

Once Rosalind, Celia and Touchstone arrive in Arden, they are shown to be exhausted and starving, but this does not stop Touchstone from leaping up to making jokes at the expense of Corin, whom they happen upon.. He later meets Jaques (off stage) and becomes the first and only person to make him laugh. He also inspires Jaques to aspire to Touchstone's way of life.

Touchstone continues to poke fun at Corin, once attempting to condemn him for not being at court. However, she takes it in good heart and steadily refutes him.

When Touchstone is next introduced, he has become romantically involved with Audrey, a foolish and flirtatious shepherdess. He tries to marry with her via the local vicar, Sir Oliver Martext, but an offended Jaques convinces him to go to a chapel. However, this attempt does not work very well either, and Audrey becomes upset with him, but not for long. After mending his relationship with Audrey, he frightens away William, his only competition for Audrey's love. He and Audrey then resolve to get maaried as quickly as they can. The day before their wedding, they sing A Lover and His Lass with Amiens and some assorted exiled lords. On their wedding day, Hymen marries them, but also compares them to "winter and rough weather".