Duke Senior’s daughter, Rosalind is the voice of reason and wisdom, and the heroine of the play. When Duke Frederick finally forces her to abandon the court as he did her father, she and Celia go looking for Duke Senior, Rosalind dressed as Ganymede. Rosalind is clever and cunning, and in the end of the play, she acts as a prudent judge of love, articulating the characters’ romantic associations, and arranging them in sensible marriages, including the joining of herself and Orlando. She is not altogether above becoming passionate and a bit ridiculous regarding her love for Orlando, however.
Rosalind Quotes in As You Like It
The As You Like It quotes below are all either spoken by Rosalind or refer to Rosalind. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Act 1, Scene 2
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Act 1, Scene 3
Quotes
Come, come, wrestle with thy affections.
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Let’s away and get our jewels and our wealth together, devise the fittest time and safest way to hide us from pursuit that will be made after my flight. Now we go in content to liberty, and not to banishment.
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Act 3, Scene 2
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Run, run, Orlando, carve on every tree the fair, the chaste, and unexpressive she.
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Orlando’s Poems
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Then there is no true lover in the forest, else sighing every minute and groaning every hour would detect the lazy foot of Time as well as a clock.
Love is merely a madness, and, I tell you, deserves as well a dark house and a whip as madmen do; and the reason why they are not so punished and cured is that the lunacy is so ordinary that the whippers are in love too. Yet I profess curing it by counsel.
Act 3, Scene 5
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Dead shepherd, now I find thy saw of might, “Who ever loved that loved not at first sight?”
Act 4, Scene 1
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Nay, you were better speak first, and when you were graveled for lack of matter, you might take occasion to kiss. Very good orators, when they are out, they will spit; and for lovers, lacking – God warn us! – matter, the cleanliest shift is to kiss.
Act 5, Scene 2
Quotes
Your brother and my sister no sooner met but they looked; no sooner looked but they loved; no sooner loved but they sighed; no sooner sighed but they asked one another the reason; no sooner knew the reason but they sought the remedy; and in these degrees have they made a pair of stairs to marriage.
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[To Orlando] As you love Rosalind, meet. [To Silvius] As you love Phebe, meet. And as I love no woman, I’ll meet. So fare you well.
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Rosalind Character Timeline in As You Like It
The timeline below shows where the character Rosalind appears in As You Like It. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Act 1, Scene 1
...brother, Duke Senior, whom several lords have since willingly joined in exile. He adds that Rosalind, the banished duke’s daughter, has remained in court with her beloved cousin Celia (Duke Frederick's...
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Act 1, Scene 2
Celia coaxes Rosalind to be “merry.” Rosalind asks how she is supposed to feel merry given that her...
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Rosalind, with renewed gratitude and merriment, goes on to ask Celia what she thinks of falling...
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Monsieur Le Beau, who is one of Duke Frederick's courtiers, enters, and Celia, Rosalind, and Touchstone continue jesting with him in the same vein. Le Beau tells of three...
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...confirms that he should not fight on account of his youth, and encourages Celia and Rosalind to try to dissuade him. The sisters call Orlando over and try to convince him...
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Having learned the identity of Orlando’s father, Rosalind declares that she would have been all the more insistent that he not fight: her...
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Act 1, Scene 3
Celia begs Rosalind to break her silence. She jests, “Cupid have mercy, not a word?” Rosalind explains that...
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Duke Frederick enters and orders Rosalind to leave the court. He threatens her with death if she does not comply. Shocked,...
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Celia declares that if Rosalind is banished, she will go with her, maintaining her refusal to leave Rosalind’s side. When...
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Rosalind agrees, but says that she’ll disguise herself instead like a man, given her height, and...
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Act 2, Scene 4
The scene opens with Rosalind (disguised as Ganymede) rejoicing in her merry spirits and Touchstone complaining of tired legs. Rosalind...
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Rosalind and Touchstone are touched by Silvius’s speech, which they have overheard. Touchstone fondly remembers his...
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On Celia’s request, Rosalind approaches Corin and asks if he has any food for Celia, who’s become faint with...
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Act 3, Scene 2
...as a pale sphere in the sky, and includes a resolve to post poems about Rosalind on every tree in the forest. Having finished reading the poem in his hand, Orlando...
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Rosalind, dressed as Ganymede, enters, reading one of Orlando’s poems that she has pulled from a...
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Celia enters, reading another of Orlando’s tree poems, which describes Rosalind as the synthesis of all the best features of Helen, Cleopatra, Atalanta, and Lucretia. At...
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Celia recounts having found Orlando under a tree, dressed like a hunter. Rosalind comments that Orlando is dressed that way because he has come to kill her heart....
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Orlando and Jaques enter, bickering. Jaques insults Rosalind’s name, and tells Orlando that being in love is the worst fault. He says that...
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Rosalind (still disguised as Ganymede) approaches Orlando and asks what time it is. When he answers...
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Orlando doubts that Rosalind, who he takes for a country shepherd, could have acquired her manner of speaking in...
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Rosalind mentions the poems on the trees and expresses her desire to meet and advise the...
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Orlando agrees to try her method, which begins with calling her by the name Rosalind.
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Act 3, Scene 4
Rosalind confides to Celia that she feels like weeping. She is upset that Orlando did not...
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Rosalind then tells Celia of having met with Duke Senior the day before and of him...
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Corin then enters and invites Celia and Rosalind to come witness the "pageant" of Silvius, whose helpless love Rosalind had been so touched...
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Act 3, Scene 5
...begs his mistress, Phebe, not to scorn him and compares her to a hardhearted executioner. Rosalind and Celia enter, in their disguises as Ganymede and Aliena, along with Corin, just as...
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Rosalind (as Ganymede) steps forward and interjects with an extended insult directed at Phebe: she accuses...
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After Rosalind and Celia leave, Phebe decides to keep Silvius around so she can talk to him...
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Act 4, Scene 1
Jaques approaches "Ganymede," wanting to get better acquainted. Rosalind calls Jaques a “melancholy fellow,” and Jaques accepts the characterization, but specifies that his kind...
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Orlando enters and Rosalind (dressed as Ganymede) scolds him for missing their meeting that morning, claiming that she’d rather...
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Rosalind teases Orlando that she will not accept him as a lover and he dramatically replies...
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Next, Rosalind (as Ganymede) tries to make herself (Rosalind) seem unappealing by promising Orlando that she will...
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Celia criticizes Rosalind for portraying women so badly. Rosalind responds by gushing to Celia how much she’s in...
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Act 4, Scene 3
Rosalind (still disguised as Ganymede) is impatiently awaiting Orlando, who is now late. Celia suggests that...
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Silvius approaches and gives a letter to Rosalind, which, he reports, Phebe wrote with an angry look on her face—a “stern brow.” Rosalind...
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Rosalind then reads the letter aloud, interjecting “Did you ever hear such railing?” The content of...
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...are the owners of the cottage. When they confirm that they do, Oliver gives to Rosalind a bloody napkin, which was sent to her by Orlando. Rosalind is confused, and Oliver...
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Act 5, Scene 2
Rosalind enters just as Oliver departs, and discusses with Orlando the sudden love between her cousin...
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Rosalind responds that that she is skilled in the art of magic and promises that, if...
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Rosalind resolves the scene by telling everyone what will happen the next day: Orlando, Silvius, and...
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Act 5, Scene 4
...promise, Orlando says that he sometimes believes and sometimes doubts that it will come true. Rosalind (disguised as Ganymede) enters along with Silvius and Phebe and makes sure that everyone is...
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When Rosalind (as Ganymede) and Celia leave, the Duke remarks that Ganymede reminded him of his daughter,...
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Hymen, the god of marriage, enters, with Celia and Rosalind at his side, dressed now as themselves. Rosalind presents herself to Duke Senior and to...
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Epilogue
Rosalind begins the Epilogue by acknowledging that it is unusual in a play for a woman...
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Deeming that her task is to “conjure” the audience, Rosalind tells the women to like as much of the play as pleases them based on...
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