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Everybody needs a friend who can cast an objective eye on our troubles when we have no solutions of our own. For the melancholy and love-struck Rosalind in Shakespeare's As You Like It, Celia is that friend. Celia's function in the play is to show Rosalind another way of looking at her problems. In each situation in which Rosalind is struggling, Celia is on the opposite side. Rosalind does not have her father, Celia does; Rosalind is desperately in love, Celia is not. So when Rosalind is grieving over her banished father, Celia offers her own father as well as herself as replacements. While Rosalind pines for the love of Orlando, Celia tries to pull Rosalind back to the reality and reason that exist outside of love's madness. Celia's objective eye can have both negative and positive implications. The negative side of her objectiveness comes in the form of not fully understanding Rosalind's pain and therefore exhibiting a slight lack of sensitivity to the true emotions brewing within Rosalind's heart. The positive side is, of course, Celia's ability to show Rosalind that her problems are perhaps not as bad as they seem and that Rosalind has someone to comfort her. Celia's efforts to comfort her cousin are obviously genuine attempts to help Rosalind overcome her melancholy and longing for Orlando. But Celia will never fully understand her cousin's feelings until she is in the same condition of love.

When we first meet them, Celia is trying to console Rosalind as she grieves over her banished father, Duke Senior. Rosalind's sadness is not unfounded; it is natural for her to feel melancholy while her father is away. Perhaps in this situation, it would be best to let Rosalind grieve; a father is someone who is not easily replaced. But Celia does not want to see her cousin, whom she loves as a sister, feel unhappy and therefore chides, "I pray thee, Rosalind, sweet my coz, be merry" (As You Like It I. ii. 1). Celia believes that Rosalind should look to Duke Frederick as her own father and therefore be comforted. Celia's claim that she would do the same if the situation were reversed shows a want for vicarious emotion. It is Celia's lack of understanding for the situation that makes it easy for her to tell Rosalind to simply "be merry". But Celia's utter love for Rosalind places in her a strong desire to see her cousin happy. Here we see an example of poor advice mixed with good intentions. Rosalind knows that her cousin means well, and for Celia's sake, attempts

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