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kharsa
kharsa

How are Rosalind and Celia related? Who are their fathers? Where do they all live?  Why doesn't Rosalind live with her father?

the question is part of drama "As you like it" For Shakespeare

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Posted by kharsa on Thursday October 8, 2009 at 7:02 AM and tagged with as you like it, celia, characters, dukes, family tree, reference, rosalind, shakespeare.

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  1. robertwilliam

    eNotes Editor

    Best answer as selected by question asker.

    All good questions, and ones with really important answers for the way you look at the play. The two Dukes, Duke Senior (banished, living out in the forest) and Duke Frederick (currently the Duke) are brothers.

    Rosalind is Duke Senior's daughter and Celia is Duke Frederick's daughter, though, according to Le Beau, she doesn't really behave like she is. When Orlando asks him which of the two girls at the wrestling match is the Duke's daughter, Le Beau responds:

    Neither his daughter, if we judge by manners:
    But yet indeed the smaller is his daughter:
    The other is daughter to the banish`d duke,
    And here detain`d by her usurping uncle,
    To keep his daughter company; whose loves
    Are dearer than the natural bond of sisters.

    So the two girls are incredibly close - as close, as they say and more than one other character says at various points in the play, as sisters are. But they aren't sisters - they're cousins!

    So the Duke lives in the Duke's palace, and with him lives his daughter, Celia. Rosalind lives with Celia and the Duke (though of course - he does banish her after the wrestling!). Rosalind's father, the Old Duke (Duke Senior) has been banished into the forest, and he lives there. So that's why father and daughter don't live together.

    One small word of warning: though Rosalind and Celia are cousins, 'cousin' in Shakespeare doesn't always mean 'cousin' as we mean it - it can just mean a close friend or family member.

    Hope it helps!

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/as-you-like-it
    http://www.enotes.com/as-you-like-it-text

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    Posted by robertwilliam on Thursday October 8, 2009 at 9:10 AM

  2. titiksha
    titiksha Student
    High School - 9th Grade

    Rosalind and Celia are cousins. Though they are daughters of different fathers, the depth of their love towards each other is unfathomable. Their fathers are duke Senior and Duke Frederick respectively. Rosalind, Celia and Duke Frederick live in the city palace. In the latter half Rosalind is banished and hence Celia accompanies her to the forest of Arden to search for Duke Senior who lives there as he was banished. Rosalind doesn't live with her father as she was stopped by Duke Frederick whilst her father was banished. 

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    Posted by titiksha on Thursday October 8, 2009 at 11:31 PM