Rosalind, however, is too upset to grasp Celia’s wit and asks plainly and directly why Orlando did not show up at the appointed time. Celia then decides to play the role of the devil’s advocate – she takes the contrary position by once again declaring that Orlando is false in love. Celia declares that “the oath of a lover is no stronger than the word of a tapster” (27-28). Tapsters, men who served drinks at inns or pubs, had a notorious reputation for being dishonest: a great many of them would water down their alcoholic drinks in order to increase their profits. Celia’s comments about false lovers parallels Touchstone’s comments about love poets in the previous scene. A theme regarding true and false love runs throughout the play and appears in several other scenes, including Rosalind’s earlier comments about lovers and time (in Act III, Scene 2) as well as the several scenes involving the shepherd Silvius and his love for Phoebe. Shakespeare indirectly declares that love is often confusing and that true love is not
always so easy for one to recognize.
During the conversation between the two ladies, Celia brings up the topic of Duke Senior, Rosalind’s father (lines 29-30). Rosalind admits that she had met her father and briefly exchanged a few lines with him. However, she has no desire to think about him at present: “But what talk we of fathers when there is such a man as Orlando?” (33-34). Under other circumstances, Rosalind would be extremely happy and excited to have been united with her father, whom she loves dearly. However, her love for Orlando is so intense and so pervasive