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.

I

In two instances Rosalind refers to the hare or “its more plebeian...