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1 2 2 I n t e r p r e t a t i o n Volume 41 / Issue 2Shakespeare’s own name is possibly a corruption of the French name, JaquesPierre, one could wonder whether the character of Jaques might represent theplaywright’s extended reflection on the dangers of one aspect of his own temperament;if so this would again show the uniquely personal nature of thisplay. One may contrast Shakespeare’s other alter ego, Prospero, who seems tophilosophize only a third of the time (see The Tempest, 5.1.312). Living TheGood Life is rather more important to Shakespeare than analyzing it, and forhim, in contrast to the classical tradition, these two things are not identical,although they can exist in harmony.