If I were to just receive Celia’s cue script, which would
contain only my lines and the last 3 or 4 words of my cue line, I would be
totally surprised by the fact that she marries Oliver at the end. Of course, this would be if I knew nothing of
the play to begin with and that information would be shared with me during my
text session with the director. However,
going by just what’s in the text: how does Celia end up with Oliver? Was Shakespeare in a hurry to finish and just
figured they were the only two single people of similar age, so why not marry
them?
In their first meeting in Act 4 Scene 3, there is never a
moment of attraction from either side in the text:
Take their first lines to each other from the First Folio:
Oliu. Good
morrow, faire ones: pray you, (if you know)
Where in the Purlews of this Forrest, stands A sheep-coat, fenc'd about with Oliue-trees.
Cel. West
of this place, down in the neighbor bottom
The ranke of Oziers, by the murmuring streameLeft on your right hand, brings you to the place:
But at this howre, the house doth keepe it selfe,
There's none within.
Oli. If
that an eye may profit by a tongue,
Then should I know you by description,Such garments, and such yeeres: the boy is faire,
Of femall fauour, and bestowes himselfe
Like a ripe sister: the woman low
And browner then her brother: are not you
The owner of the house I did enquire for?
Cel. It is
no boast, being ask'd, to say we are.
Oli. Orlando
doth commend him to you both,
And to that youth hee calls his Rosalind,He sends this bloudy napkin; are you he?
Calling a woman “low” and “browner” doesn’t instantly recall
other romantic phrases that the Bard is famous for. All of Celia’s lines to Oliver are
straightforward and not really invested in him – unlike her encouragement to “faire”
Orlando in the first act and her flirtatious congratulations to Orlando after
he wins the wrestling bout. Even at the
end of Act 4 Scene 3, Celia is more concerned about her swooning cousin and
basically orders Oliver to help her get “Rosalind” home.
As an Unrehearsed Technique actor, Celia’s cue script for
those first few lines would look like this:
…………………………………………………………….with Oliue-trees.
West of this place, down
in the neighbor bottomThe ranke of Oziers, by the murmuring streame
Left on your right hand, brings you to the place:
But at this howre, the house doth keepe it selfe,
There's none within.
…………………………………………………………… enquire for?
It is no boast, being
ask'd, to say we are.
There’s nothing in Celia’s text that clues me (as the
actress) into the fact that she’s falling in love with whomever she’s speaking
to. Of course, the rest of the scene is
all about Oliver telling how Orlando saved his life and wants him to deliver a
blood-stained napkin to “Rosalind” aka Ganymede. Oliver reveals that he’s Orlando’s evil
brother, but now he’s totally changed and not evil any more. Rosalind faints and they carry her off. Next thing we know, Oliver is telling Orlando
that he’s fallen in love with Celia (or “Aliena” as he knows her) and they’ll
be married. Even Rosalind gets into the
story of love by saying in Act 5 Scene 2:
Ros. O, I know where you are: nay, tis true: there
was neuer any thing so sodaine, but the sight of twoRammes, and Cesars Thrasonicall bragge of I came, saw,
and ouercome. For your brother, and my sister, no soo-
ner met, but they look'd: no sooner look'd, but they
lou'd; no sooner lou'd, but they sigh'd: no sooner sigh'd
but they ask'd one another the reason: no sooner knew
the reason, but they sought the remedie: and in these
degrees, haue they made a paire of staires to marriage,
which they will climbe incontinent, or else bee inconti-
nent before marriage; they are in the verie wrath of
loue, and they will together. Clubbes cannot part
them.
Really? When did this
happen? Yes, they “met” and “look’d”,
but all that sighing stuff didn’t happen when they met. Did this happen after they carried Rosalind
home? The text that’s given for Celia in
the fifth act is conspicuous by its absence.
She has no more lines for the rest of the play after Act 4 Scene 3. She has a couple of entrances, but the
usually witty, intelligent and funny Celia is silent in Act 5. She’s been silent before in the play, but
that’s when she’s watching Rosalind con Orlando into wooing her or dressing
down Phebe. It’s your wedding day,
Celia. And Rosalind’s! No good wishes or even a response to your
beloved uncle when he addresses you?
If Celia is to follow the stage directions in the text, then
the fact that she marries Oliver in the end will come as a complete surprise to
the audience. There’s never a moment in
that earlier scene that tips anyone off to the fact that they’ll end up
together. Did Shakespeare intend
this? Usually when two people meet over
extraordinary circumstances, like one man saving his brother’s life by
wrestling with a lion and rewarding his “love” with a bloody napkin, there’s a
combined emotion of survival and excitement that’s shared after such an intense
moment. But would it last? Doesn’t matter. This is a comedy. Comedies end in marriage. If two people are single and of marrying age
and can still conceive children, then why not marry them in the end? For rehearsed plays, it’s up to the director
how Celia and Oliver’s love connection is perceived. However, in an Unrehearsed production of this
play, the audience gets to draw their own conclusions as to why there’s a
quickie wedding between these two at the end and by simply following the stage
directions given to the actress playing Celia in the text there isn’t
necessarily an answer for it. After all,
love is never easy to understand anyway.
The Unrehearsed Shakespeare Project
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