Rosalind and the masksIn this essay I would like to focus on Rosalind's - or rather Ganymede's - concern for the external appearance of things. It is not yet clear to me whether this is due to the disguise, the reason for this or the way in which the playwright reveals his presence, but on the one hand Rosalind's constant insistence on the truth of the masks and on the other her willingness to doubt that this same truth fascinates me. When she decides to dress as a boy, Rosalind seems to think that a masculine appearance is enough to convince the world at large (I.iii.111-118). She is "higher than common" and so all she needs is a "gallant curtle-axe", a "boar's spear", and a "fearful and martial exterior" to hide her feminine anxiety. Assuming that no one will have the intuition to look beyond her masculine costume, she argues that since cowardly men are able to hide these feminine qualities, she should be able to pass herself off as a man, simply by acting masculine. depending on his disguise not being discovered, it's funny how he continues to doubt anyone who doesn't put on an outward show commensurate with his claims of feeling. The first to testify in this way is Orlando. As Ganymede Rosalind refuses to accept Orlando's claim to be the desperate author of the love verses he found hanging from trees on the grounds that he has no visible signs of love on him. A thin cheek, which you don't have; a deep-set blue eye, which you don't have; an indisputable spirit, which you do not have; a neglected beard, which you have not (...) Then your stockings should be untied, your cap untied, your sleeve unbuttoned, your shoe untied, and all around you demonstrating careless desolation. (III.ii.363-371)In other words, he is not exactly the picture of the desperate suitor. Not even Jaques lives up to Rosalind's expectations of the melancholy traveler. He greets him with a "they say you are" (IV.i.3), and sends him away with the order: Look, he stammers and wears strange clothes; disable all benefits of your country; be disaffected with your nativity, and almost reproach God for having made the face you are; or I will hardly think that you swam in a gondola.