some other man. Rosalind states that the tone is too cruel and too harsh to have come from a woman’s “gentle brain” (33). Rosalind declares that the words are like those of a Turk being addressed to a Christian (also line 33). In other words, they are the words of an uncivilized pagan. Rosalind also declares that the words are Ethiopian (line 35). She is saying that the words are black, like the dark-skinned natives of eastern Africa: she is suggesting that the words are dark and sinister.
Rosalind tells Silvius that she will read the letter out loud, but she first asserts that in the letter “She Phoebes me” (39). The reader should note here how Rosalind (Shakespeare actually) turns a noun into a verb. Rosalind implies that Phoebe writes in a disdainful and scornful style, in the same manner in which the shepherdess had spoken earlier to Silvius.
Rosalind begins reading the letter (at line 40), but she also interrupts herself (at lines 42, 46, and 49) to inject her criticism of the contents. The reader (and listeners in the audience) should note that Rosalind is purposely misinterpreting the contents. Phoebe’s letter is a poem in simple rhymed couplets. Phoebe’s letter begins by declaring that Ganymede is a god disguised as a shepherd in order to claim a woman’s heart. Just as Jupiter (the Roman equivalent to the Greek god Zeus) often disguised himself in various shapes in order to seduce mortal women, Phoebe is declaring that Ganymede has seduced her. Phoebe is actually praising Ganymede, but Rosalind misinterprets it as “railing,” as heaping harsh and abusive language upon her. Silvius is