As You Like It (Vol. 69) | Marta Powell Harley (essay date 1985)
Marta Powell Harley (essay date 1985)
SOURCE: Harley, Marta Powell. “Rosalind, the Hare, and the Hyena in Shakespeare's As You Like It.” Shakespeare Quarterly 36, no. 3 (autumn 1985): 335-7.
[In the following essay, Powell considers the relationship between animal allusions and Rosalind's shifting sexual identity in As You Like It.]
The presentation of the character Rosalind in Shakespeare's As You Like It produces a dizzying cycle of both physical and verbal sexual disguises: the boy-actor plays Rosalind, who plays Ganymede, who assumes the nominal identity Rosalind, which is dropped in her return to Rosalind, who ultimately gives way to the boy-actor in the play's epilogue. Though the play's menagerie and Rosalind's delight in her role have drawn a good deal of critical attention, no one has yet remarked Rosalind's use of animal lore as she playfully alludes to her role as sexual chameleon.
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