The highlight (or centerpiece or heart) of the play is the comic dialogue between Rosalind and Orlando (which begins in Act III, Scene 2, and concludes in this scene). Shakespeare delighted in presenting odd or unusual love scenes. In Much Ado about Nothing, for example, Shakespeare presented a pair of eavesdropping scenes for the main characters (the stubborn Benedick and Beatrice) who are unaware of their own true feelings for one another. And in this play the character of Rosalind oddly attempts to dissuade the man she loves into loving her. Rosalind, the reader should recall, is disguised as Ganymede but is also pretending to be Rosalind in order to cure Orlando of his unrequited love (as agreed upon in Act III, Scene 2). However, she is really testing Orlando to find out whether his love is true. After Jacques exits (at line 33), Rosalind immediately begins to criticize Orlando for being late. Her nagging him is part of the process of her test. Although Orlando claims that he is only an hour late,
Rosalind argues that a true lover would not even be one second late: a true lover would be on time.
Rosalind adds further that she would rather have a snail for her suitor (line 46: “wooed of a snail”). She explains that a snail has two advantages over Orlando. First, the snail carries his house (his shell) with him. Orlando has no house and no money, and thus Rosalind is implying that a woman will criticize him over his lack of material goods. Second, the snail has horns. Rosalind suggest that these are