I have more reason to be distressed. CELIA: No you haven’t, cousin. Please, be cheerful. Don’t you realize the duke has also banished me, his daughter?
ROSALIND: No, he hasn’t. CELIA: Oh, he hasn’t? Well, then, you don’t have the affection that would teach you that you and I are one. Will we be separated?
Should we part, sweet girl? No. Let my father find another heir. So, help me plan how we’ll escape, where we’ll go, and what we’ll take with us.
ROSALIND: But where will we go? CELIA: To the Forest of Arden, to find your father. ROSALIND: But what danger we’ll put ourselves in, two young, innocent women travelling so far! Fresh beauty attracts thugs and thieves even more than money.
CELIA: I’ll put on some poor and ragged clothes and smudge my face with dirt. You do the same, and we’ll be able to travel without attracting any attackers’ attention. ROSALIND: Wouldn’t it be better—since I’m unusually tall for a woman—to dress myself like a man? I’ll wear a big sword in my belt, carry a boar-spear in my hand, and hide all my womanish fear in my heart.
We’ll maintain a swaggering, warrior look, like so many cowardly men, whose manner has nothing to do with what they’re feeling. CELIA: What should I call you when you’re a man? ROSALIND: I’ll take no lesser name than that of Jove’s own servant. So call me Ganymede.
And what will you be called? CELIA: Something that refers to my current state. Instead of Celia, call me Aliena. 12th Communicative English Book.indb Page ROSALIND: Cousin, what if we brought that clownish fool of your father’s court, Touchstone?
Wouldn’t he be a comfort to us in our travels? CELIA: He’d walk the whole wide world with me. Leave me alone to go convince him. Let’s go gather our jewels and money.
We’ll figure out the best time and safest route to avoid being found out by my father’s guards, whom he’ll send out as soon as he discovers I’ve gone. Now, we go contentedly to freedom— not