It is always important when trying to deduce the meaning
of specific words to look at them in context. At the beginning of Act I scene 3 of this
famous pastoral comedy, Rosalind is unusually silent, having fallen in love with
Orlando. Celia jests with Rosalind about this, urging her to try and cheer herself up.
Having said how difficult it is for her to overcome her love-sick mood, Celia urges
Rosalind to "wrestle with they affections," which represents a wrestling pun meaning to
try to overcome or overthrow one's passions. This wrestling pun, linking wrestling and
falling in love stresses the way that romance and aggression can be linked. Note how
Rosalind responds to Celia's suggestion:
O, they take the part of a better wrestler than
myself.
Rosalind follows this
verbal pun by arguing that her affections are actually stronger and more cunning in
wrestling than she herself is, thus pointing towards the way she feels unable to
vanquish or overcome her feelings of love. Having fallen in love, she finds herself
dominated and overpowered. The wrestling puns help to reinforce
this.
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