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Character Comparisons in As You Like It

Summary:

In Shakespeare's As You Like It, Rosalind and Celia are cousins and close friends, highlighting strong female bonds. Rosalind, daughter of the banished Duke Senior, is more assertive, intelligent, and resourceful, often taking the lead and disguising herself as a man for protection. Celia, daughter of Duke Frederick, is loyal, more passive, and supports Rosalind's decisions, joining her in exile. Their relationship explores themes of loyalty, gender roles, and friendship, with Rosalind eventually marrying Orlando and Celia marrying his brother, Oliver.

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Discuss the relationship between Celia and Rosalind in As You Like It.

William Shakespeare was an English playwright who lived from April 26, 1564 to April 23, 1616. His pastoral comedy, As You Like It, was first published in 1623. It is an account of Rosalind and Celia’s journey through the Forest of Arden, on the way encountering all sorts of interesting characters.

In As You Like It, Rosalind and Celia are both young women who come from the same wealthy, aristocratic family. Celia is the daughter of Duke Frederick while Rosalind is the daughter of Duke Senior, Duke Frederick’s banished brother. The two cousins share a very close and possibly homoerotic relationship. In Act I, Scene II, in fact, Celia introduces Rosalind as “my sweet rose, my dear rose”. Additionally, in Act I, Scene II, Celia states that she could “love no man in good earnest” when asked about her thoughts on falling in love.

Rosalind takes on the more traditionally masculine role in their relationship. This is evidenced in her willingness to disguise himself as a man to offer them both protection in the forest. Thus, Rosalind becomes the male Ganymede while Celia chooses to disguise herself as the shepherdess Aliena. Rosalind is also shown to be more brave and adventurous than Celia. While Celia is not as gutsy as Rosalind, however, she proves to be very loyal to her. This loyalty leads her to disobey her father and join Rosalind in the Forest of Arden, where Rosalind’s father, Duke Senior, has held court since his banishment.

While the play hints heavily at an erotic relationship between the two, Rosalind and Celia do not end up with each other. In the end, Rosalind marries Orlando while Celia marries Orlando’s brother, Oliver.

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Discuss the relationship between Celia and Rosalind in As You Like It.

As the play opens, Rosalind and Celia are cousins and very close friends. Both come from aristocratic backgrounds: Rosalind is the daughter of the deposed Duke Senior, whose brother, Celia's father, Ferdinand, has usurped his throne and banished Duke Senior.

The relationship between Rosalind and Celia explores the loyalty and love that can permeate strong female friendships. Their bond is especially intense and has been called homoerotic by some literary critics. In act 1, the two friends are described as “coupled and inseparable”; they always share the same bed (a common practice in Elizabethan times, but one also noted as a symptom of their closeness), and Celia extravagantly offers to give Rosalind the rule of the kingdom after Celia's father dies. People in the court notice that their bond is far tighter than that of ordinary friendship. Thus, when Ferdinand banishes Rosalind, Celia feels no choice but to join her dearest friend in exile in the Forest of Arden.

The same-sex friendship assumes gender-bending qualities in Arden as Rosalind disguises herself as a male to offer them both protection in the forest. She becomes the "man" Ganymede, while Celia takes on the guise of the shepherdess Aliena, a typically female role. After they assume distinct gender identities, they also begin to assume traditional gender roles, with Rosalind more fully taking on the dominant traits associated with "maleness" and becoming an important agent of the happy resolution of the play.

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Compare and contrast Rosalind and Celia in As You Like It.

Rosalind and Celia have grown up together and have formed a strong attachment. Rosalind has the much stronger character. She is more intelligent than Celia and also more self-reliant,  enterprising, and resourceful. Celia is dependent and submissive. Rosalind makes a good leader and Celia a good follower. It is not surprising that it is Rosalind who decides to disguise herself as a man when the two flee from Celia's father's palace to the Forest of Arden. Rosalind also shows herself to be more assertive when she encounters Orlando. She is already in love with him but feels obliged to maintain her masculine disguise because she is acting as Celia's protector. Rosalind displays her cleverness in her battles of wit with Orlando in Act 3, Scene 2 and elsewhere thereafter.

Rosalind is peremptorily banished from her uncle Duke Frederick's court because he perceives that she outshines his own daughter Celia. He tells his daughter:

She is too subtle for thee; and her smoothness,
Her very silence and her patience
Speak to the people, and they pity her.
Thou art a fool: she robs thee of thy name;
And thou wilt show more bright and seem more virtuous
When she is gone. Then open not thy lips:
Firm and irrevocable is my doom
Which I have pass'd upon her; she is banish'd.

Since Duke Frederick has no sons to inherit the estate he has usurped from Rosalind's father, called Duke Senior, it is important to Duke Frederick that his daughter should be strong, self-confident, and decisive rather than passive and dependent. Celia cannot change to please her father. She is totally devoted to Rosalind and promises her that when her father dies she will relinquish his estate to her. When Rosalind is banished from the court, Celia gives up everything in order to accompany her friend into exile. Rosalind never displays any ulterior motive in her friendship with Celia. She loves Celia just as much as Celia loves her.

Shakespeare had a practical purpose for stressing the friendship between Rosalind and Celia. In almost any play there must be at least two characters on the stage because all the information is conveyed through dialogue. Rosalind has to be able to tell somebody what she is thinking, what she is planning, etc. This is actually the main reason why Celia accompanies her into exile. Shakespeare solves a similar problem with Orlando by having the devoted family servant Adam accompany him to the Forest of Arden. Once Rosalind and Orlando are actually in the forest, the importance of the roles of Celia and Adam diminish and the relationship between Rosalind and Orlando takes center stage.

In Shakespeare's Hamlet, the Prince is often seen by himself. He engages in long soliloquies to let the audience know what he is thinking, feeling, and planning. But this is a little awkward. Typically Shakespeare has to bring two characters together in order to advance his play. A good example is the many conferences between Macbeth and his wife. Dialogue is the heart and soul of stage plays. It is interesting to observe the combinations of characters Shakespeare creates for the purpose of having them talk to each other. Even in Hamlet he has the Prince talking to his father's ghost, to Polonius, to Ophelia, to Gertrude, to Laertes, to Horatio, to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and to many others.

Celia is not a strong character. She exists mainly to give Rosalind someone to talk to, just as Horatio exists mainly to give Hamlet someone to confide in.

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Compare and contrast Rosalind and Celia in As You Like It.

In Shakespeare's As You Like It, Rosalind and Celia are cousins. Rosalind is the daughter of Duke Senior, who has been deposed and exiled to the Forest of Arden by his younger brother, Duke Frederick, who is Celia's father.

Rosalind and Celia are also best friends and nearly inseparable.

In act 1, scene 3, Duke Frederick calls Rosalind a traitor and banishes her from his court for no reason other than that she is his brother's daughter and is supposedly a bad influence on Celia. Celia protests that if Rosalind is a traitor, so is she, and if Duke Frederick banishes Rosalind, he should banish her as well.

CELIA: . . . if she be a traitor,
Why so am I: we still have slept together,
Rose at an instant, learn'd, play'd, eat together;
And wheresoe'er we went, like Juno's swans,
Still we went coupled and inseparable. . . .

DUKE FREDERICK: . . . Firm and irrevocable is my doom
Which I have pass'd upon her;—she is banish'd.

CELIA: Pronounce that sentence, then, on me, my liege:
I cannot live out of her company. (1.3)

Once Rosalind is banished, Celia is determined to go with her, wherever she goes.

CELIA: Say what thou canst, I'll go along with thee.

They decide to disguise themselves, and together they go to find Rosalind's father, Duke Senior, in the Forest of Arden.

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Compare Rosalind and Celia in As You Like It.

One way to answer this question is to compare the outward affect of the characters, and approach the question as a director or actor might. The two characters are sisters, but it is necessary to have both physical and personality traits that distinguish them.

Rosalind dresses as a boy (Ganymede) but Celia remains in women's clothes, though dressed in rustic mode as a shepherdess, to maintain their disguise as forest dwellers. Rosalind also mentions being "more than common tall" which suggests Celia is shorter; this also suggests a slightly more masculine demeanor in Rosalind, who, as Ganymede, speaks boldly to men and has no trouble convincing others that she is a man. 

Celia teases Rosalind/Ganymede when she mentions seeing Orlando, and when Rosalind, regressing to an excited, feminine flurry of emotional excitement, bombards her with questions, she replies: "You must borrow me Gargantua's mouth first. 'Tis a word too great for any mouth of this age's size." This again suggests a physical difference in size between the two, and suggests a casting decision to be made with Rosalind being played by a taller actress.

When Rosalind speaks to Orlando about her sister's love for his brother, she is suggesting parallel connections among the four: "Your brother and my sister no sooner met but they looked, no sooner looked, but they loved," etc. and in this way also emphasizes the immediate attraction between Rosalind and Orlando (and Orlando's more latent "attraction" to Ganymede, portrayed as male bonding). 

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Compare Rosalind and Celia in As You Like It.

Rosalind starts out with a secondary role demonstrated by the fact that Celia is the one who verbally encourages Orlando while he is wrestling Charles. After Rosalind is exiled by the Duke, she takes charge and makes decisions for her escape to Ardenne Forest and for her safety, plans for which encompass Celia who chooses to go into voluntary exile with Rosalind.

In Ardenne Forest, Rosalind, as Ganymede, a name taken from Greek mythology, is in the male position that is free from anxiety and worry because she is dressed as a man. Rosalind's natural superiority of mind is given full play in her interactions with Silvius, Phoebe and Jaques. One wonders if she would have so bold in speaking her mind and giving instructions if she were still clothed as a wealthy woman.

Though Celia dominates at first, she slips into a quieter, supportive role when she and Rosalind enter Ardenne Forest as Ganymede and Aliena, a role that is necessary to insure their continued safety. Nonetheless, even this quiet role is a powerful one. It is she who buys the cottage and sets up housekeeping. However, since her role and power are quiet and in the background, there is less to say about her.

Comparing these two women brings up the obvious questions of women's safety, women's wit and intelligence, women's ingenuity and capability, and women's friendship. In all of these Celia and Rosalind have equal concern and equal measure. In fact, in regard to safety, they take turns with Celia being protective of Rosalind in the beginning of As You Like It and Rosalind, disguised as the man Ganymede, taking over the protecting role while in Ardenne Forest.

Other less obvious questions are also brought up. One of these questions is the relationship between public power and voice: Can you only have public power if you have the right to speak up, as a man does, as Ganymede does? Another is the value given to silent private power: Is quiet (voiceless) private power of equal value as public power? Another question is whether suppression of the voice (the right to speak up on any or all topics in any or all places) correlates to the suppression of intellect and personality?    

(It is interesting to note that some contend that once the women are in Ardenne Forest they are safe and the need for their disguises is dissolved, however, this is an illogical assumption. As we can be see from the play, there are frequent male travelers, there are whole bodies of male exiles, there are poor people who might look kindly at sharing wealth without being invited to do so by way of stealing. There is no reason to think that Shakespeare believed Rosalind and Celia would be safe as women once they were in Ardenne Forest.)

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How does the character of Celia in As You Like It compare to Rosalind?

Celia is Rosalind's cousin as well as her good and true friend. She is Duke Frederick's daughter. She lives at the palace with Rosalind, who comes to live there are Celia's father ousts Rosalind's father, Duke Senior. Despite her father's actions, the two young women become very close. They love to laugh and make fun of the goings-on in the court, and enjoy bantering with Le Beau and Touchstone, particularly.

Celia is amused by Rosalind's infatuation with Orlando. She is troubled when her father banishes Orlando from the court after the wrestling match. She becomes outraged when Duke Frederick also ousts Rosalind, and, true friend that Celia is, she accompanies Rosalind to the Forest of Arden.

The girls know that they are in danger in such a place, and adopt disguises for their safety. Rosalind becomes "Gaynmede," a male persona; Celia remains a woman, but calls her self "Aliena" (a clever Shakespearean pun of the word "alien" for Celia acts as an alien, that is, an outsider, but she has also "alienated" herself from her father and his rule).

Celia is the less dynamic of the two female characters, and after her transformation, her role in the play is diminished. She is reduced to a go-between for Orlando and Rosalind. Her own relationship with Oliver is never directly played out, only observed in conversation with other characters.

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Compare the characters Rosalind and Celia in As You Like It.

Rosalind and Celia are cousins, both members of the royalty. Though they have similar backgrounds and upbringings, Rosalind is much more adventurous and unconventional than Celia is.  They are very close - so close that Celia sides with her cousin and defies her father to be with Rosalind. Celia is neither as smart nor as witty as Rosalind, but she is kind and loyal and willing to go along with Rosalind's scheme to sneak out of court and join Duke Senior in the Forest of Arden, where he holds court since he has been banished by his brother, Celia's father.

Celia would like to be as brave as Rosalind, and she does make an attempt, but she is not as well-suited to the outdoor life of a shepherdess as she thought she would be. She discovers her own kind of bravery in the process of following in Rosalind's footsteps, but still lets her cousin take the lead.

In the end, she marries Oliver, the brother of Rosalind's love Orlando, and Shakespeare ends the play leaving the audience with the sense that the two young women will remain close friends.

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How do Rosalind and Celia compare in As You Like It?

I can give you some ideas to get you started on your comparison of Rosalind and Celia that you can use along with your own thoughts about the two characters.

Celia and Rosalind are, of course, cousins - both privileged, much-loved only daughters of men who are leaders. Though Celia's father has usurped the position of Rosalind's father, banishing him to the forest of Arden, she and Rosalind are still very close friends, almost like sisters. They are both loyal to their fathers, though Celia has not really come to terms with what her father has done to her uncle. Where they differ, however, is in the way that they express themselves. Rosalind is a leader; she is independent, stubborn, and intelligent. She knows what she wants, and she is not afraid to pursue it. When her uncle banishes her, she immediately decides to disguise herself as a boy and go find her father.

Celia is more of a follower. She is a little bit ditzy, but very sweet and easygoing. She decides to go with Rosalind, dressed as a lower-class young woman, but Rosalind is the one who is clearly in charge. Celia has her own kind of bravery in that she is willing to defy her father and go with her cousin, but she does let Rosalind take the lead. The two young women are great foils for each other; their personalities work well together. Celia's caution balances Rosalind's hot-headedness.

If you use this response in your own work, it must be cited as an expert answer from eNotes. All expert answers on eNotes are indexed by Google and other search engines. Your teacher will easily be able to find this answer if you claim it as your own.

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Does Rosalind overshadow Celia in As You Like It? How?

Rosalind definitely overshadows Celia throughout the play. Rosalind is a major character, while Celia is only a minor character who exists partly to provide opportunities for dialogue which informs the audience of important plot developments, such as the fact that Rosalind is in love with Orlando and that Rosalind intends to join her banished father in the Forest of Arden. Celia's father recognizes that Rosalind overshadows his daughter. He tells her: "She is too subtle for thee; and her smoothness, / Her very silence and her patience, / Speak to the people, and they pity her. / Thou art a fool. She robs thee of thy name, / And thou wilt show more bright and seem more virtuous / When she is gone." It is because Rosalind is the stronger character that she chooses to disguise herself as a man when the two young women travel together. Rosalind makes all the decisions and acts as protector of Celia. Both characters, of course, were played by young males. No doubt the one who played Rosalind/Ganymede was older and taller than the boy who played Celia.

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Does Rosalind overshadow Celia in As You Like It? How?

After Act III, Scene II of As You Like It, Celia's work in the play is done and she retires to the background. Since the audience/reader knows that she has purchased a cottage and a flock of sheep and hired a shepherd, the old Corin, it is not unreasonable that care of these things would rightly occupy her. In addition, she professes boredom ("And I'll sleep" 4.1) at Rosalind's love-stricken condition.

However in earlier acts, Celia is critical to establishing the theme of pure love between women who love each other as sisters and Rosalind's character traits, which make reasonable her later assertive behavior in Arden forest. Therefore, Celia is not overshadowed by Rosalind though she does retire from the action when the thematic concern shifts from pure women's love to romantic love.

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Does Rosalind overshadow Celia in As You Like It? How?

It is hard to ignore the fact that Rosalind is the true focus of this excellent comedy and that Celia is a lesser character in comparison with her cousin. She is characterised by her deep love for her cousin, Rosalind, and her unmatched devotion. Note how she responds to the banishment of Rosalind:

Shall we be sundered? Shall we part, sweet girl?

No, let my father seek another heir!

...For by this heaven, now at our sorrows pale,

Say what thou canst, I'll go along with thee.

As such, she is a character who plays "second fiddle" to Rosalind.

It is Rosalind of course that is the most fully realised character in this comedy, outshining both Orlando and the observations of Touchstone and Jaques in her wit and wisdom. Part of her success as a character lies in her desire to fully engage in life and the way that she is happy to criticise both herself and others. She is able to play many different roles and give voice to many different opinions, and it is this ventriloquism that makes her such an enduring heroine of Shakespeare's work. Celia acts as a kind of sidekick, who does have value in herself, but is overshadowed by a greatness with which she cannot contend.

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Does Rosalind overshadow Celia in As You Like It? How?

Your instructor has really left an easy out for students with the wording "completely overshadowed." It would be easy for students to qualify "not completely but." However, your paper will be a stronger analysis if you take the stand "Yes she was," or "no absolutely not." My suggestion would be to start out with a three column chart in which you put Rosalind in one column, Celia in another, and a column in between the two labeled similarities. In the characters' columns go through a point by point analysis of character traits, attitudes and behaviors. For example if Rosalind likes apples for breakfast, look at what Celia likes for breakfast. Don't stop there, try to decide why these differences occur or why they're important. In the similarities column explain how the similarities are important to the character development. Good luck.

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In Shakespeare's As You Like It, how does Adam compare to Celia?

Adam is dutiful servant to both Oliver and Orlando, but chooses to be more of a father-figure for Orlando. Adam is a supportive character for Orlando just as Celia supports Rosalind. The dedication and loyalty that both Adam and Celia show to Orlando and Rosalind, respectively, is truly admirable. Adam tells Orlando some of the reasons for his loyalty to him by saying:

What, my young master?--O my gentle master!
O my sweet master! O you memory
Of old Sir Rowland! why, what make you here?
Why are you virtuous? why do people love you?
And wherefore are you gentle, strong, and valiant?
Why would you be so fond to overcome
The bonny prize of the humorous duke?
Your praise is come too swiftly home before you (II.ii).

And Celia makes her love and loyalty known when she says:


Herein I see thou lov'st me not with the full weight that I
love thee; if my uncle, thy banished father, had banished thy uncle, the duke my father, so thou hadst been still with me, I could have taught my love to take thy father for mine; so wouldst thou, if the truth of thy love to me were so righteously tempered as mine is to thee(I.ii).

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What similarities exist between Adam and Celia in As You Like It?

One central similarity between these two characters is the way that both play the role of sidekicks or loyal friends and servants to the characters that they are paired with. Let us remember that Adam is the loyal servant of Oliver and Orlando's father, who when he challenges Oliver about his treatment of his brother, then leaves with Orlando and journeys into the Forest of Arden with him, giving Orlando his life savings. Adam is clearly persented as the model loyal servant that lives his life based on concepts such as virtue, honour and loyalty rather than trying to selfishly improve his own station in life. Note how he practically begs Orlando to let him accompany him:

Let me go with you.

I'll do the service of a younger man

In all your business and necessities.

There is definitely a common feeling of love and kindness between Adam and Orlando, and it is important to note the way in which after Jacques gives his famous "Seven Ages of Man" speech, which concludes with a terrible image of old age as isolation and oblivion, Orlando then enters straight away bearing Adam on his back, pointing out how wrong Jacques is.

Celia bears many similarities to the character of Adam, but in the way she acts as foil to Rosalind. Even though she is not a servant but a noblewoman, she, like Adam, decides to leave the court with Rosalind, in spite of the dangers involved. She plays second fiddle to Rosalind, her companion, and serves as the go-between in her relations with Orlando. As the play proceeds, her character receeds, yet her loyalty and friendship towards Rosalind remains constant.

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What similarities exist between Adam's and Celia's characters in As You Like It?

Adam and Celia are similar in their loyalty -- Adam to Orlando and Celia to Rosalind.  Both leave the court for the Forest of Arden as a show of this loyalty and solidarity to Orlando and Rosalind, even though this puts them in league with the characters who are out of favor at the court.

Adam was the servant of Orlando and Oliver's father, but has stayed on after his death to continue to watch over his property and his sons.  He recognizes that Orlando is being ill-treated by Oliver and decides to cast his lot with Orlando, fleeing with him to the Forest as his good and faithful servant.  He chooses to serve where he feels the most loyalty, not where it would seem he owes the most duty.

Celia is not Rosalind's servant, she is her cousin, but Celia does feel such a strong bond of loyalty to her cousin that she decides to leave with her when Celia's father banishes her (as he did his brother, Rosalind's father) from the court.  Celia also chooses a bond of love and loyalty over duty.

For more on Celia and Adam, please use the links below.

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What are the similarities between Celia and Adam in As You Like It?

One obvious similarity between Celia and the servant Adam is the love and loyalty they both feel. Celia loves Rosalind so much that she can't bear to be parted from her. As a result of her love, Celia tells her father to banish her as well when he decrees Rosalind to be banished from the dukedom. Due to her love for Rosalind, she very loyally travels with her into the Forest of Arden. Likewise, though just a servant of the late Sir Rowland de Boys' family, it's very clear that Adam loves Orlando very much. Adam loves Orlando so much that, despite how old Adam is, he also very loyally follows Orlando into the Forest of Arden when Orlando flees to escape his villainous brother.

We especially see Adam's love for Orlando in all of the things Adam says to praise Orlando's nature and character. For example, when Orlando returns to the house after having defeated Charles the wrestler, whom Orlando's brother Oliver had hoped would kill Orlando in the fight, Adam gives a speech proclaiming Orlando's praises, while also warning Orlando that Oliver has decided to burn Orlando's house to the ground in hopes of killing Orlando. We especially see Adam praising Orlando's character in the lines:

O, my gentle master!
O my sweet master! O your memory
Of old Sir Rowland! why, what make you here?
Why are you virtuous? why do people love you?
And wherefore are you gentle, strong and valiant? (II.iii.2-6)

In this passage, it is quite obvious that Adam is praising Orlando by calling him both "gentle" and "sweet." Beyond that, we even see that Adam is relating Orlando's character to the character of Orlando's late father, Adam's first master, as we see when Adam associates Orlando with the "memory of old Sir Rowland" (3). We also see Adam calling Orlando well loved, "virtuous," "strong," and "valiant."

Adam feels so strongly about Orlando, that when Orlando despairs at the news his brother is trying to kill him and says he has no place to turn to because he is penniless, Adam offers Orlando his life's savings, set aside for his retirement when he is too old to work. Not only does Adam generously give Orlando all of his money to rescue Orlando, he even offers himself as Orlando's faithful servant to accompany Orlando on his escape, despite how old Adam is. Adam's willingness to help Orlando, even his willingness to sacrifice himself for Orlando's sake, certainly shows not only how much he loves Orlando but also just how loyal he is to Orlando.

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