"The worst fault you have is to be in love." - Jaques
"'Tis a fault I will not change for your best virtue. I am weary of you."- Orlando III.ii.
I've got to say, of all the stories we've read Orlando has certainly been the most impressive male character. Sure Iago was brilliantly devilish and Othello was a brave strong guy, but Orlando is the perfect love interest. He wins a wrestling match against all odds, probably to impress Rosalind. Then they fall in love at first sight, and he can't get her off his mind. To distract himself he writes all these sweet love notes to her. Then because that is not enough, he begins to post them on the trees all over the forrest, proclaiming his love for her. He proceeds to tell anyone who will listen how much he loves her. What girl wouldn't want a guy like this? Charming, valiant, probably very attractive... He has all the makings of a perfect love interest. Now in most stories this would be the point where I would say but... However there is no but for this guy. They fall in love, he loves her the whole way through the play, then they get married. There wasn't even a conflict. This sort of bothered me because, frankly in real life couples have to face conflict. Although I've never been in a relationship with a perfect guy, so I guess if he's really that great then he could avoid little relationship squabbles. Overall he gets a perfect ten rating on the cute boyfriend scale. Rosalind however tricks him into wooing her the way she wants, by being disguised as a man. This means their whole relationship is based on a lie, and that can only lead to disaster. That's just me being cynical though. Overall this play was basically one big "and they all lived happily ever after" story. It was a sort of nice change of pace from everyone dying, but I do like stories with a little more conflict or plot.
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