The Doubtful Truth of the Masks in As You Like It The most obvious concern of As You Like It is love, and in particular the attitudes and language appropriate for young romantic love. Here, Rosalind's role is decisive, and much of how one reacts to this play will depend on her reaction. Rosalind is Shakespeare's greatest and most vibrant female comic role. The central point of this essay is Rosalind's preoccupation with the outward spectacle of things. Whether this is the result of her cross-dressing, the reason for it, or how Shakespeare reveals her presence is unclear, but Rosalind's constant insistence on the truth of the masks and, on the other hand, her will to doubt this same truth fascinates me. When she decides to disguise herself as a boy, Rosalind seems to have in mind a masculine exterior sufficient to convince the world at large (I.iii.111-118). She is "more than tall" and therefore all she needs is a "gallant axe", a "boar's spear" and a "striking and martial exterior" to hide her feminine anxiety. Taking for granted that no one will have the intuition to look beyond her masculine attire, she believes that since cowardly men are able to hide these feminine qualities, she should be able to pass herself off as a man, simply by behaving in a manly way. Being so totally dependent on her own disguise not being discovered, it's funny how she begins to doubt anyone who doesn't put on an outward show that matches her pretensions to feeling. The first to be put on trial is Orlando. As Ganymede, Rosalind refuses to accept Orlando's claim to be the desperate author of the love verses he found hanging from the trees on the grounds that he has no visible mark of love on him . A thin cheek, which you do not have; a blue, sunken eye, which you don't have; an incontestable spirit, which you do not have; a neglected beard, which you do not have (...) Then your stockings must be without a garter, your cap untied, your sleeve unbuttoned, your shoe untied, and all the while showing you a carefree desolation. (III.ii.363-371) In other words, he is not exactly the image of the desperate suitor. Jaques also fails to live up to Rosalind's expectations of the melancholy traveler. She greets him with “they say you are” (IV.i.3), and sends him away with the following order: Look, you lisp and wear strange costumes; deactivate all benefits in your own country; be disenchanted with your nativity and almost reproach God for having made this face that you are; or I barely think you swam in a gondola. (IV.i.31-36) She thus seems constantly disposed to emphasize the external expression of feelings. However, when her own disguise falters for a moment, she quickly questions the fixity of the assumed identity of others. This is perhaps most clear in the scene where Orlando failed to show up the first time. Her anxiety - helped by the fact that she is alone with Célia - forces her to lower her defenses for a moment. His instinctive attack on Orlando flies in the face of his appearance: "His hair is a concealed color." (III.iv.6) A moment later, she seems to undo this with her "I think her hair is a good color." (III.iv.9) Either she is now very confused, or she is saying that the ability to conceal is a good thing. If Rosalind had been a human being, we might have seen this preoccupation with people's appearance as an expression of insecurity about her own identity, conscious or unconscious. An insecurity that would be completely natural in her situation as heiress.