SOURCE: "Chapter 3," in Harvester New Critical Introductions to Shakespeare: As You Like It, Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1992, pp. 38-56.

In the following essay, Ward explores the androgenous dimensions of Rosalind and suggests that her sexual ambiguity heightens sexual intrigue and contributes to the play's sense of unity.

Disguise

At this point the discussion becomes more convoluted. When Rosalind disguises she compounds the fact that all acting is performance anyway, with the further complication that in our day Rosalind is normally played by a woman, whereas Shakespeare had to assume an adolescent male took the part, as indeed was the case for all his female parts. Furthermore, while women characters have already worn male disguise in Twelfth Night, Two Gentlemen of Verona and The Merchant of Venice, As You Like It is unique in that Rosalind also plays another part, the male youth Ganymede, who then plays or re-plays her own...