unexpected happens: Phoebe falls in love with Rosalind/Ganymede. Rosalind’s words did not have the effect she wanted. She then tries to tell Phoebe that she has no interest in the plain-featured shepherdess. However, the more Rosalind rejects Phoebe, the more Phoebe becomes enamored of her.
Rosalind then tries to persuade Silvius to stop being so foolish. She explains that the more he flatters Phoebe, the prouder she becomes:
‘Tis such fools as you That makes the world full of ill-favoured
children. ‘Tis not her glass but you that flatters her, And out of you she sees herself more proper Than any of her lineaments can show her.
(53-57)
Rosalind explains that ill-favored or ugly children are the result when a man foolishly falls in love with an ugly woman (and because in the transports of his affection he imagines that the woman is much prettier than she actually is). Thus, Rosalind tells Silvius that he is functioning like a mirror (glass) to Phoebe. She believes that she is much prettier than she actually is because he keeps telling her she is so beautiful. Silvius flatters Phoebe and exaggerates her beauty (as do love poets), and Phoebe accepts his words as truth. Rosalind advises Phoebe to accept Silvius –
“sell when you can” (61) – because Phoebe may not get a better offer (or any other offer) of marriage at all. She will then regret rejecting Silvius.
Despite Rosalind’s harsh words to her, Phoebe