![]() Through this lenses Shakespeare’s choice of the name Ganymede, can be seen as him commenting on aristocratic women functioning as a way for men to gain wealth and privilege.Ī more likely reading of the name Ganymede in As You Like It as a symbol of longing for sexual freedom. Thus, by extension Rosalind becomes a way for a man to access wealth and privilege. Rosalind is the daughter of a duke, and although her father is banished at the beginning of the play he is restored to his title and wealth by its conclusion. In Roman times having a sexually desirable boy servant was seen as a prerequisite for wealth and privilege. One reading of Rosalind taking on the name Ganymede is a commentary on wealth. Some surviving Roman literary works blatantly call Ganymede “ Jupiter’s concubine“. In Roman understandings of this myth the connection of Ganymede to homosexuality is made even more explicit than in Greek interpretations. The main difference is that it is Jupiter, and not Zeus, who captures and makes Ganymede his servant and concubine. In Roman mythology, the story of Ganymede remains relatively unchanged. Their Zeus gave him eternal youth, and made him his lover. One day Zeus either sent an eagle or transformed into an eagle, and kidnapped Ganymede to be cupbearer to the gods on Mt. In the Iliad Homer even states “godlike Ganymede, / Who was the loveliest born of the race of mortals” ( 20:232-4). In Greek mythology Ganymede was a prince of Troy who was and extremely beautiful young man. ![]() The story of Ganymede was originally a Greek myth, but was later adopted by the Romans. ![]() This begs the question, why does Shakespeare choose the name Ganymede to be Rosalind’s alter ego? Also, Rosalind is the daughter of a banished duke and thus an aristocratic figure, yet Ganymede is a “page”, or servant. But Ganymede is not just any old name it has a long history rooted in mythology and is often associated with homosexuality. In Shakespeare’s play As You Like It, Rosalind utters these lines to proclaim here new undercover identity as she goes to the Forest of Arden. “I’ll have no worse name than Jove’s own page, / And therefore look you call me Ganymede.” (2.1.122-3).
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