Rosalind (As You Like It) Rosalind (As You Like It) Rosalind is the heroine and protagonist of the play "As You Like It" (1600) by William Shakespeare. She is the daughter of the exiled Duke Senior and niece to his usurping brother Duke Frederick. Her father is banished from the kingdom, breaking her heart. She then meets Orlando, one of her father's friends' son and falls in love with him. After angering her uncle, she leaves his court for exile in the Forest of Arden. Disguised as a shepherd named Ganymede, Rosalind lives with her sweet and devoted cousin, Celia (who is disguised as Ganymede's
As You Like It printed among his "Canterbury Tales". Although it was first printed in 1721, "The Tale Gamelyn" must have existed in manuscript form in Shakespeare's time. It is doubtful that Shakespeare had read it, but Lodge must have built his pastoral romance on the foundation of "The Tale of Gamelyn", giving it a pastoral setting and the artificial sentimental vein, much in fashion at the time. The tale provided the intertwined plots, and suggested all the characters except Touchstone and Jaques. Some have suggested two other minor debts. The first is Michael Drayton's "Poly-Olbion", a poetic description of England, but there is