Celia and Rosalind — As You Like It I.iii

Production Notes

Two young women facing exile together. Celia has chosen her cousin over her father’s wishes. This scene is about loyalty, fear, and the courage required to leave everything behind. Beneath the quick wit lies genuine terror and genuine love.

Script

CELIA:

Why, cousin! why, Rosalind! Cupid have mercy! not a word?

ROSALIND:

Not one to throw at a dog.

CELIA:

No, thy words are too precious to be cast away upon curs; throw some of them at me; come, lame me with reasons.

ROSALIND:

Then, there were two cousins laid up; when the one should be lamed with reasons and the other mad without any.

CELIA:

But is all this for your father?

ROSALIND:

No, some of it is for my child’s father. O, how full of briers is this working-day world!

CELIA:

They are but burs, cousin, thrown upon thee in holiday foolery: if we walk not in the trodden paths, our very petticoats will catch them. Come, come, be merry: now, my Rosalind, be cheerful: though thou hast been condemn’d as rival to the duke.

ROSALIND:

Is it possible?

CELIA:

Ay; and my father hath not one thought in him of what has happened here. He thinks entirely of his banishment.

ROSALIND:

O my dear Celia! I show more mirth than I do feel, but yet I feel some lightness in me. Is it possible that on so little acquaintance you should like him? that but seeing you should thus be won?

CELIA:

Shall we away?

ROSALIND:

Ay, marry, let’s away. I do desire we may be better strangers.

CELIA:

I’ll go along with thee Whither shall we go?

ROSALIND:

To seek my uncle in the forest of Arden.

CELIA:

Alas, what danger will it be to us, Maids as we are, to travel forth so far! Beauty provoketh thieves sooner than gold.

ROSALIND:

I’ll have you to know me for a man in my apparel, and when you see me again, you shall call me Ganymede. But now I will put on such a poor and mean habit that no one will know me; and I will speak with such freedom and licence as a boy might use.

CELIA:

But what shall I be?

ROSALIND:

You shall be call’d Aliena, and the waiter shall think you some merchant’s careful wife, that for some reason of import hath put herself into this masculine plight; and it is a thought and likely one, too, for often we see such transformations in the shipwracks of fortune.

CELIA:

But, prithee, how shall this help us?

ROSALIND:

Rosalind is gone; here stands a man call’d Ganymede. But what is in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. So shall my person be to thee Ganymede; and in this shape will I live and die.

CELIA:

What shall I do with my doubts and hose? You must borrow my longings, and I’ll borrow your gravity: Leap with me into the streams of this wild wood, and let us away.

Exeunt together.

Facilitator Notes

This scene works because Celia is willing to risk everything for love of Rosalind. The Players should feel the weight of that commitment. Try it with Rosalind as the stronger half of the pair first, then switch — let Celia drive the scene. How does the relationship shift? This scene also marks the beginning of Rosalind’s transformation into Ganymede. Notice how the language changes from plaintive to active, from passive to scheming, as she moves from woman to “man.” The wit is a survival mechanism.