Rosalind is the heroine and protagonist of the play As You Like It (1600) by William Shakespeare. In the play, she disguises herself as a male shepherd named Ganymede. Many actors have portrayed Rosalind, including Maggie Smith, Elisabeth Bergner, Vanessa Redgrave, Helena Bonham Carter, Helen Mirren, Patti LuPone, Helen McCrory, Bryce Dallas Howard, Adrian Lester and Sarah Wayne Callies.
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Origins
Rosalynde is the heroine of Thomas Lodge's Euphues' Golden Legacy. The Victorian critic George Fletcher wrote: “'Faire Rosalind' had, however, at this time, acquired a fresh poetic fame as the object of Spenser's attachment, celebrated in his Shephearde's Calendar, 1579, and Colin Clouts Come Home Againe, 1595. Of all the sweet feminine names compounded from Rosa, that of Rosa-linda seems to be the most elegant, and therefore most befitting that particular character of ideal beauty which the dramatist here assigns to his imaginary princess.”