Understanding Shakespeare: As You Like It by Robert A. Albano - HTML preview

toward the young shepherd and his situation of unrequited love. Rosalind comments that the unfortunate lover reminds her of her own situation – of her feelings for Orlando (lines 39-40). And Touchstone fondly remembers all of the ridiculous actions that he had performed when he had been in love:

1. Breaking his sword upon a stone that he imagined was a rival suitor
2. Kissing the wooden bat used for beating clothes while washing them because that bat belonged to the woman he loved
3. Remembering (or perhaps even kissing – the line is purposely ambiguous) the udders of a cow that the woman had milked
4. Wooing a peascod while imagining that the peascod is the woman he loves

The fourth action refers to an English courting ritual: in many rural areas pea pods (or peascods) were given as lovers’ gifts. The long pea pods and the round peas actually symbolized male genitalia and thus suggested the sexual desires of the men giving such gifts.