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What passion hangs these weights upon my tongue?
I cannot speak to her, yet she urged conference.
O poor Orlando! Thou art overthrown.
Or Charles or something weaker masters thee. (1.2.258–62)
Orlando speaks to himself after meeting Rosalind for the first time, shortly after his wrestling match. Orlando reflects on how he became painfully tongue-tied when speaking to her, and he acknowledges that something, an emotion perhaps, has “mastered” him. Orlando’s love for Rosalind takes hold fast, as does her love for him, and he quickly becomes the tortured lover.
Hang there, my verse, in witness of my love. (3.2.1)
Orlando, madly in love with Rosalind, writes poems to her and hangs them on the trees of the Forest of Arden. Like Silvius, Orlando plays the role of the gentleman lover and as such makes public, somewhat embarrassing professions of his love. Orlando’s behaviors demonstrate his nobility as a character and endear him to the reader. Yet, as will soon be revealed, his poems are embarrassingly bad.
Which I take to be either a fool or a cipher. (3.2.294)
Orlando speaks to Jaques, who has just criticized him for being such a fool in love. Orlando tells Jaques to look into a river and explains that there he’ll find either a “fool or a cipher” reflected back. Orlando might be uneducated, but he has every bit as much with as Jaques, and throughout this exchange he matches the educated nobleman’s insults note for note.
I am he that is so love-shaked. I pray you tell me your remedy. (3.2.373–74)
Orlando tells Rosalind, disguised as Ganymede, that he’s willing to follow Ganymede’s advice, so long as the remedy offered can cure him of his “love-shaked” condition. Orlando openly acknowledges he has become lovesick, which is a brave admission on his part. Showing a willingness to do the ridiculous, Orlando agrees to pretend that Ganymede is Rosalind and to rid himself of love by courting “her.”
I can live no longer by thinking. (5.2.53)
Orlando tells Rosalind, who remains disguised as Ganymede, that he can no longer go through with their role-playing. After watching his brother, Oliver, run off with his new love, Aliena, which is Celia in disguise, he grows weary of pretending and wants to be with his true love, Rosalind, in real life. This moment is crucial, as Rosalind now sees she is about to lose Orlando and feels forced to act.
Who could be out, being before his beloved mistress? (4.1.86–87)
Orlando addresses this question to Rosalind, who remains disguised as Ganymede, as they discuss what events might play out if he and Rosalind were actually to meet again. Orlando feels incredulous that two people in love could ever run out of things to talk about. Like Silvius, Orlando possesses an idealized vision of love.
A man that had a wife with such a wit, he might say “Wit, whither wilt?” (4.1.175–76)
Orlando speaks to Rosalind after she claims that the smarter a woman is, the less she can be controlled or kept by a man. In his response, Orlando tries to make an amusing play on words. The phrase “Wit, whither wilt?” is a proverbial expression that he slightly misuses here. Conventionally, a speaker would address this question to a person who’s gotten carried away by their own speech. Rosalind registers his mistake and responds to the literal meaning of the expression. Despite Orlando’s intelligence, he cannot compete against Rosalind’s wit.
I sometimes do believe and sometimes do not,
As those that fear they hope, and know they fear. (5.4.2–3)
Duke Senior asks Orlando whether he trusts the boy named Ganymede to deliver on his promise to get Rosalind to marry him. Here, Orlando responds to such doubts, saying even though he understands that being hopeful seems risky, he will hope anyway. Orlando’s generous, hopeful, and optimistic spirit shines throughout the play, making him an extremely likable character.
If there be truth in sight, you are my Rosalind. (5.4.123)
When Rosalind arrives at the marriage ceremony she has set up at the end of the play, Orlando almost can’t believe his eyes. Rosalind’s appearance is ostensibly the work of magic, as Rosalind, speaking as Ganymede, explained to Orlando back in act 5, scene 2. Yet the “magic” is in truth the restoration of reality, as Rosalind finally removes her disguise and once again becomes herself. This blend of reality and magic strikes an appropriate balance between the real and the ideal—that is, between the two types of love whose extremes our lovers have learned to avoid.
