As You Like It

In Shakespeare’s As You Like It, I find the character Orlando to be very different than the rest. Unlike some other characters we have read about this semester he is very gullible, or at least acts as if he is. As all the readers know Rosalind dresses as a man to disguise herself as a man, but this is one thing Orlando and all the other characters did not know. One thing that really made me question Orlando as a character is that when Rosalind, while in her disguise, tricked him into courting her as she was dressed as a man. Although Orlando is an attractive young man who, under his brother’s neglectful care, has languished without a gentleman’s education or training I find Orlando to be somewhat of a feminine character because he does agree to court a man and pretend it is Rosalind. This role Orlando plays helps to show the reader of the play the gender roles. Even though  is expressed as being manly in some scenes, such as when he fights the wrestler or saves his brother from the lion, but the moment he agrees to court Ganymede seems to take away some of his credit as a man. Not many men would agree to “meet up” with another man to pretend to court them. I believe that it is not completely unreasonable to believe that Orlando may have begun to have feeling for Ganymede also. This point seems to be emphasized in the epilogue spoken by the newly married Rosalind, where the boy actor playing the role calls attention to the fact that he is not a woman, as if to remind us (maybe) that the happy union of Orlando and Rosalind in which we take such delight has explored other possibilities than heterosexuality. And, of course, if the actor playing Rosalind has made some erotic connections with the audience, then his final revelation in the Epilogue will force the audience member to confront some of his own feelings about gender attachments. The fact that Rosalind cross dresses and Orlando pretends to court her as Ganymede shows how Orlando seems more feminine. While  Rosalind passes herself off easily enough as a man and, in the process, acquires a certain freedom to move around, give advice, and associate as an equal among other men, this freedom gives her the power to initiate the courtship, Orlando falls for it and even seems to begin to like Ganymede. These reasons cause me to believe that Orlando seems to be feminine.