As You Like It Rosalind (Ganymede) Quotes

OMG! Rosalind can't wait to hear what Orlando's been up to when she finds out that he's not only in the forest, but that he's also been tagging up all the trees with poetry about her.  Like we've said, even Rosalind, who's usually a calm and collected girl, is laid flat by love. 

Rosalind really does believe love is a madness; she is not just speaking in jest here.  One of her intricacies as a character is to admit that love is madness and still be perfectly happy to get caught up in it (something someone like Jaques could not do).

Oh, burn!  When Phoebe acts like a snotty Petrarchan mistress, Rosalind is not having any of it.  She even advises Phoebe to marry Silvius now while she can because nobody else will want her: "For I must tell you friendly in your ear,/ Sell when you can: you are not for all markets."  Ouch.

That Rosalind sure is a clever girl.  Disguised as "Ganymede," Rosalind offers to help her crush Orlando practice his moves.  Orlando takes up the offer—he pretends that "Ganymede" is Rosalind and woos "him." It's a little confusing, we know.  Still, as critic Katharine Eisaman Maus points out, here, Orlando and Rosalind indulge in an "elaborate game of 'Let's pretend.'"  By playing make-believe, Orlando and Rosalind can indulge in their fantasies without any consequences. They even have a pretend wedding—how sweet!  

We also want to point out that Orlando's enthusiastic willingness to woo "Ganymede" raises the question of whether or not Orlando is attracted to "Ganymede." We never really know for sure, but Shakespeare definitely wants us to think about it.

Rosalind is a big, big fan of being in love, but she's also got a really good head on her shoulders, which makes her different than all the other foolish lovers in the play.  When sappy Orlando declares that he'll just "die" if Rosalind doesn't love him, she quickly points out that he's being melodramatic.  Here, she's also rejecting the silly pose of the Petrarchan mistress.  (See Quote #10 above for more on this.)  

From the play's very beginning, love is associated with foolishness and folly. Here, Rosalind and Celia think of "falling in love" as nothing more than an amusing "sport" that will help pass the time. 

The fact that Rosalind can pose as a "man" by dressing like one and carrying weapons suggests that masculinity is merely a role to be played, rather than something that's inherent to one sex or the other. Yet, when Rosalind says she'll hide her "woman's fear," she seems like she subscribes to the idea that women are naturally fearful. At the same time, Rosalind also admits that there are many "mannish cowards" who merely pretend to be brave. So, fear is not limited to women alone, and thus bravery might not be limited to men alone.

On the surface, Rosalind seems to make a lot of ridiculous assumptions about what it means to be the "weaker vessel" (read: a woman). Here, she suggests that women are prone to crying and that it's a man's job to comfort women. Is she serious or is she being ironic?

In her giddiness over her crush Orlando, Rosalind seems to fit a stereotypical role—a silly girl who gushes over boys.   

Ugh. Do things ever change? More fairly, is this statement a reasonable characterization of women?

When the actor playing Rosalind appears on stage at the play's end, he points out that most epilogues are spoken by male characters in Elizabethan drama. The statement also functions as a reminder of the gender politics of Elizabethan theater. Since women weren't allowed to perform in public plays, the role of Rosalind was definitely not played by a "lady." The part would have been given to a boy actor. Check out "Themes: Art and Culture" for more on this. 

Love-struck Rosalind shows that when a person falls in love, familial ties and loyalties can quickly fade into the background. Because Orlando is in the Forest of Arden, Rosalind is so not interested in talking about her encounter with her exiled father, whom she hasn't seen in a really long time. We also notice that, once Rosalind starts spending time with dreamy Orlando, her relationship with her BFF/cousin Celia fades into the background.

Rosalind uses great tales from Greek mythology (the stories of Troilus and Cressida and Hero and Leander) to tell the most unromantic story possible. While Rosalind jests at love here, the real meat of these stories is the tragedy of love within them.

Here, the actor playing the role of Rosalind steps forward and says something like "I'm going to deliver an epilogue now, even though the play is so good it doesn't need one—just like good wine doesn't need any special advertising." (FYI: "Bush" refers to a piece of ivy that would have been hung outside a tavern to advertise the sale of wine.)

OK. So, why the heck would someone deliver an unnecessary epilogue and make a self-conscious remark about it? Let's think about this. Just a few moments earlier in the play, we were caught up in the make-believe world of Arden, where anything goes and just about anything's possible. Now, however, we're being reminded that the world of the play isn't reality and that it's time for us to go home to our ordinary lives. If you've read Hamlet, you already know that Shakespeare loves, loves, loves to remind us that we've been caught up in the fake world that he's created. Check out "What's Up With the Ending?" for more.

Rosalind transforms into a man by disguising her height with manly accessories, yet it is likely she will look the same. This transformation is not one of just outward appearances; Rosalind changes her persona.

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.  

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.

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.