Quote 13
ROSALIND
No, faith, die by attorney.
The poor world is almost six thousand years old,
and in all this time there was not any man died in
his own person, videlicet, in a love-cause. Troilus
had his brains dashed out with a Grecian club; yet
he did what he could to die before, and he is one of
the patterns of love. Leander, he would have lived
many a fair year, though Hero had turned nun, if it
had not been for a hot midsummer night; for, good
youth, he went but forth to wash him in the Hellespont
and, being taken with the cramp, was
drowned; and the foolish chroniclers of that age
found it was Hero of Sestos. But these are all lies.
Men have died from time to time, and worms have
eaten them, but not for love. (4.1.99-113)
Rosalind uses great tales from Greek mythology (the stories of Troilus and Cressida and Hero and Leander) to tell the most unromantic story possible. While Rosalind jests at love here, the real meat of these stories is the tragedy of love within them.
Quote 14
ROSALIND
If it be true that good
wine needs no bush, 'tis true that a good play needs no
epilogue. (Epilogue 3-5)
Here, the actor playing the role of Rosalind steps forward and says something like "I'm going to deliver an epilogue now, even though the play is so good it doesn't need one—just like good wine doesn't need any special advertising." (FYI: "Bush" refers to a piece of ivy that would have been hung outside a tavern to advertise the sale of wine.)
OK. So, why the heck would someone deliver an unnecessary epilogue and make a self-conscious remark about it? Let's think about this. Just a few moments earlier in the play, we were caught up in the make-believe world of Arden, where anything goes and just about anything's possible. Now, however, we're being reminded that the world of the play isn't reality and that it's time for us to go home to our ordinary lives. If you've read Hamlet, you already know that Shakespeare loves, loves, loves to remind us that we've been caught up in the fake world that he's created. Check out "What's Up With the Ending?" for more.
Quote 15
ROSALIND
Were it not better,
Because that I am more than common tall,
That I did suit me all points like a man?
A gallant curtal-ax upon my thigh,
A boar spear in my hand, and in my heart
Lie there what hidden woman's fear there will,
We'll have a swashing and a martial outside—
As many other mannish cowards have
That do outface it with their semblances. (1.3.121-129)
Rosalind transforms into a man by disguising her height with manly accessories, yet it is likely she will look the same. This transformation is not one of just outward appearances; Rosalind changes her persona.