How we cite our quotes: (Act.Scene.Line). Line numbers correspond to The Norton Shakespeare, second edition, published in 2008.
Quote #10
DUKE SENIOR
Welcome, young man.
Thou offer'st fairly to thy brothers' wedding:
To one his lands withheld, and to the other
A land itself at large, a potent dukedom. (5.4.172-175)
As Duke Senior welcomes Jaques de Boys to Orlando and Rosalind's wedding, it becomes clear that marriage saves the day in a play characterized by family treachery. As we know, younger brother Orlando has received the short end of the stick—after his father died, his older brother inherited everything and treated him like garbage. Still, when Orlando gets hitched to Rosalind, his nuptials provide him with a new family and a new fortune. Not only does Orlando get to marry his dream girl, he also gains a father-in-law (Duke Senior) who replaces, to some extent, his own dead father, Rowland de Boys. What's more, Orlando is now the heir to his new father-in-law's dukedom.