Research Paper On Rosalind

of my uncle’s marks upon you” (Shakespeare, 1975, 3.2.359). The audience can clearly see that Orlando is in love with Rosalind, but Rosalind wants to hear it for herself as Ganymede. She tells him that the symptoms of love are a thin face, sleepless eyes, an irritable temper, a neglected beard, clothes all disoriented, and everything about love that demonstrates absent-mindedness and anguish. So she denies that he is in love because he is so neat and well-dressed that he looks like he loves himself more than anyone else. But Orlando continues to pursuit in saying that he is in love with his Rosalind.

Rosalind continues to dismiss love as she states that “love is merely a madness” (Shakespeare, 1975, 3.2.388). Again, she points at Orlando in his state of pining while stating that he cannot be in love, because all who fall in love deserves to go in a “dark house,” (Shakespeare, 1975, 3.2.389) an asylum for those of insanity. But Rosalind continues, saying that her criticism should not be taken lightly, for she knows how to cure it. She pretends that she once cured a man of his love by making the man
The play thus becomes an early proponent of feminism, one that exposes the lunacy of traditional gender roles and, moreover, the limited power of women after marriage. Shakespeare uses the humor of the disguise, the banter between Orlando and Rosalind, and the joy of youthful romance to soften the audience to the deeper meaning of the play. Rather than using a direct approach to challenge societal convention, he subtly draws the audience into the play. He develops Rosalinde as a very likable character, one that will be become very sympathetic to the audience. When the audience begins to root for Rosalind in her scheme to trick Orlando, Shakespeare has succeeded in making the audience reconsider the strict gender roles of the