Antagonist

           An antagonist is a "person who is opposed to, struggles against, or competes with another." (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/antagonist) Jaques as an antagonist is an interesting idea because there are who of them. However, Jaques of the court is a very good candidate for antagonist because he is the opposite of everyone in the plat. Jaques's actions and comments all contradict those of the other characters in the play.
            Jaques's melancholy actions and comments often show the opposite of those around him whoa re all in love or happy with their life at the current time.
                    "Jaques: What statues is she of?
                     Orlando: Just as high as my heart.
                     Jaques: You are full of pretty answers. Have you not been acquainted with goldsmiths' wives, and conned them out of rings?
                     ...
                     Jaques: I'll tarry no longer with you. Farewell, good Signior Love.
                     Orlando: I am glad of your departure. Adieu, good Monsieur Melancholy." (Act 3 Scene 2, Lines 249-253 and 270-273)

His mocking of love shows the ridiculousness of both sides; that the love at first sight attitude is extreme as is the complete rejection of love. In the discussion with the producers Dominic Cooke and Michael Boyd, Dominic Cooke thinks that "Jaques is the cynic who was once the lover. He was once the Orlando figure, and that;s why he despises Orlando so much: because Orlando represents something that he has crushed within himself-- the loving, open-hearted, vulnerable young man who will, in Jaques' eyes, inevitably get hurt."(As You Like It, In performance: The RSC and Beyond) I think that with the limited knowledge of Jaques background this could very well be true after seeing his actions around people in love or those who are joyous.
            Jaques's actions that are not relating to those character in love also portray Jaques's opposite reactions to things compared to the others around him.
                     "First Lord: ...His weeping into the needless stream;
                                      'poor deer,' quoth he,'thous mak'st a testament
                                      As worldlings do, giving thy sum of more
To that which had too much.'"  (Act 2 Scene 1, Lines 21 and 37-44)
  Jaques's reaction to the deer displays him as the opposite to every body  because they all see it as necessary to survive in the forest in which they have been banished while Jaques is sad and depressed about the loss of life in the deer.       

Interpretation and Adaptation

Michael Boyd

One thing that stood out to me a lot is that the performances are very subjective. The adaptation and interpretation does not only appear withthe acting of the play but also what do the producers do with the costuming andsetting. Things that stay the same to show the similarities that the readermust interpret from reading, also the differences that are subtle also play alarge part in the audience’s perception. I found the ways that the separateproducers interpreted really changed the way that I looked at the play even forthe brief moments that I was reading their descriptions. In regard to thedisplay of the two worlds the opposite approach was used by Michael Boyd opposed to Dominic Cooke. I thought that not only was the change inperspectives interesting but also the way Boyd and Cooke demonstrated theirviews of the play in their performances.While Cooke focuses on the harsh reality of theforest and bare human nature, Boyd focuses on the romantic view of nature andpulling your true self into the open. I found, in Becca's blog, and interesting conclusion she came too, "Boyde tends to be on the more simple side of things than Cook "

The placement of the tragic court and the comic Arden discussion was also interesting because of the view that Cooke had. Cooke's opinion was that Shakespeare implementation of the forest and the court had more to them then just tragedy and comedic relief; his view was that the obviousness of the falseness of the court was actually amplified in the forest. I found this interesting because from this perspective the play was not showing the true nature of people but rather just another mask that everybody has on. Cooke uses Rosalind as his support in this perspective, and that I also found interesting. Because of the mask of Ganymede that she wears for Orlando I see where Cooke is coming from, after watching the play performed by the globe where Orlando actually knows that Ganymede is Rosalind this really shows the depth of changes and adaptations that can be made without really changing Shakespeare's original play.

http://rrobbins.hsblogs.aes.ac.in/2011/09/05/adaptation/