Rosalind (As You Like It)


Rosalind is the heroine and protagonist of the play As You Like It by William Shakespeare.
She is the daughter of the exiled Duke Senior and niece to his usurping brother Duke Frederick. Her father is banished from the kingdom, breaking her heart. She then meets Orlando, one of her father's friends' sons and falls in love with him. After angering her uncle, she leaves his court for exile in the Forest of Arden. Disguised as a shepherd named Ganymede, Rosalind lives with her sweet and devoted cousin, Celia, and Duke Frederick's fool Touchstone. Eventually, Rosalind is reunited with her father and married to her faithful lover, Orlando.

Her significance

Rosalind is one of Shakespeare's most recognized heroines. Generally noted for her resilience, quick wit, and beauty, Rosalind is a vital character in As You Like It. Most commonly seen next to her beloved cousin Celia, Rosalind is also a faithful friend, leader, and schemer. She stays true to her family and friends throughout the entire story, no matter how dangerous the consequences. Rosalind dominates the stage. Her true decision-making skills can be seen in the last scene of Act V where she has to present herself as Rosalind to her father and to Orlando, but at the same time change Phebe's opinion to marry Silvius. She is the main character of the
play who extracts the clarity of important traits in other characters.

Gender conventions

In As she likes it : Shakespeare's unruly women, Penny Gay analyses Rosalind’s character in the framework of gender conventions that ascribe femininity with qualities such as “graciousness, warmth … tenderness”. However, Rosalind’s demanding tone towards Orlando contradicts these conventions. She rejects these stereotypes of femininity believing that “the wiser , the waywarder” she is. By claiming that women who are wild are smarter than those who are not, Rosalind often refutes the perception of women as passive in their pursuit of men. In the book A Feminist Companion to Shakespeare, Carol T. Neely supports this by mentioning that through her actions, Rosalind often adopts stereotypical “masculine behavior,” such as “initiating conversations” and “arranging marriages”.

Art and stage depictions

Rosalind has been played by various notable actresses including Elizabeth Bergner in a 1936 film opposite Laurence Olivier as Orlando, Vanessa Redgrave rose to fame playing the part in 1960 with the Royal Shakespeare Company, Helena Bonham Carter in the 2000 BBC Radio 4 version, Helen Mirren in the 1978 BBC version of the play directed by Basil Coleman, and Bryce Dallas Howard in the 2006 production directed by Kenneth Branagh.
American actress Patti LuPone played the role at the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis, after her award-winning portrayal of Eva Peron in the original Broadway run of Evita. This caused much speculation because LuPone was leaving the Broadway stage and moving to "regional" work.
Adrian Lester won a Time Out Award for his performance as Rosalind in Cheek by Jowl's 1991 production of As You Like It. A male actor in the role underlines the confusion of gender roles within the play: at one point, a male actor is playing a woman who is pretending to be a man acting the part of a woman.