Quote 16
ROSALIND [as Ganymede]
Was 't you he rescued?
CELIA [as Aliena]
Was 't you that did so oft contrive to kill him?
OLIVER
'Twas I, but 'tis not I. I do not shame
To tell you what I was, since my conversion
So sweetly tastes, being the thing I am. (4.3.10)
Hmm. This is a mighty convenient time for Oliver to undergo a transformation. Gee. We wonder if it has something to do with the fact that Oliver's life was just saved by Orlando. Here, Oliver confesses that he's no longer the same guy he was before. (The one who tried to have his little bro killed... twice.) Nevertheless, Oliver does seem to have experienced a "conversion" after entering Arden.
Quote 17
ROSALIND [to Duke]
To you I give myself, for I am yours.
[to Orlando] To you I give myself, for I am yours. (5.4.120-121)
Rosalind has removed her "Ganymede" disguise and is now ready to marry Orlando. Still, we have to wonder: Is Rosalind's transformation from "Ganymede" back to Rosalind a change for the better? It seems like she's now undergone the obvious transformation from a young man to a marriageable woman. The more potent transition, though, is her change from the state of freedom to some tied-down-relationships. Throughout the entire play, Rosalind has been a fairly independent woman, managing on her own with Celia. This very formal "giving over" of herself to husband and father seems like a transformation—maybe even a reversion—of the lively, strong-willed, whip-tongued Rosalind we have come to know in the forest.
Quote 18
ROSALIND [as Ganymede]
They say you are a melancholy
fellow.
JAQUES
I am so. I do love it better than laughing.
ROSALIND [as Ganymede]
Those that are in extremity
of either are abominable fellows and betray
themselves to every modern censure worse than
drunkards. (4.1.3-9)
Rosalind's comment is illuminating about her own choices. It makes sense that she believes in temperance, or the middle road, as she is so deft at balancing completely opposite temperaments.