As You Like It Celia (Aliena) Quotes

Cousins Celia and Rosalind are super-close and they're <em>always</em> professing how much they love each other, which prompts some audiences to wonder if there's something steamy going on here.  Some literary critics just see a very close-knit female friendship here.  Others describe the relationship as being "homoerotic" ("homoerotic" just refers to erotic emotions and desires that are directed toward a person of the same sex).  

The name "Ganymede" would have been particularly significant to an Elizabethan audience because, in the 16th century, "Ganymede" was a slang term for a boy in a sexual relationship with another (older) man. This alerts us to the possibility that Orlando may be attracted to "Ganymede" as well as Rosalind.  

Celia says that lovers tend to make idealized pictures of their mates, and women in particular fall victim to being put on a pedestal.  Orlando is guilty of the same thing; all the women he cites here have had some great tragedy befall them.

Celia calls Rosalind out on how abusive she has been toward her own gender. Rosalind (as Ganymede) seems comfortable making these statements that play up stereotypes of women. Is this because she knows all these stereotypes are untrue, or because she really believes that women are as silly as Ganymede has made them out to be? You decide.

When Celia and Rosalind talk about Orlando's poetry, it sounds as if they're talking about a "lame" show pony that's been prancing around on injured feet at the Rose Parade. What's up with that? Well, the joke is that Orlando doesn't have a very good ear for meter (a poem's rhythm). Since the most basic unit of rhythm in a poem is referred to as a "foot," it's easy for Ros and Celia to compare the lousy rhythm of Orlando's "verses" to a creature that hobbles around on lame feet.

Shakespeare the poet/playwright just can't resist cracking these kinds of jokes. You want an example? Fine. In Sonnet 89, the speaker of the poem says to his young friend "Speak of my lameness, and I straight will halt," which can be read as "If you bag on the lame/limp meter of my poetry, I'll stop writing poems to you."

Both of Rosalind's transformations are made out of need—she needs to leave the comfort of the court, and she must dress as a man to protect Celia and herself on their travels to Arden. Celia's transformation, by contrast, is entirely of her own choosing. She chooses to be alienated from her home, and later claims that she goes not to banishment, but liberation. It is clear Celia does not take this as seriously as Rosalind.

Celia's life philosophy leans toward the glass-half-full side. Sometimes all you need is a little perspective, which has the power to change the entire feel of what could otherwise be a bad situation.