Wednesday, September 18, 2019

What does Celia mean by "lame me with reasons"?

This line comes in act 1, scene 3, after Rosalind has become instantly smitten with Orlando following their encounter at the end of the previous scene.
Celia is confused because Rosalind has been rendered speechless. Celia, knowing Rosalind extremely well, understands what is going on and that she must be hopelessly infatuated with Orlando.
Trying to get Rosalind to speak on her own behalf, Celia says,

“No, thy words are too precious to be cast away upon curs.Throw some of them at me.Come, lame me with reasons" (1.3.4–6).

This is in direct response to Rosalind’s figurative answer that she doesn’t even have a word to throw at a dog. Celia uses this metaphor to cajole Rosalind into talking about her feelings. When she says to “lame” her with words, she is comparing words to stones that one can throw. Celia wants Rosalind to confess everything, as if she were throwing so many stones that they could permanently injure a dog.
Admittedly, this is a strange metaphor from a modern perspective, but Shakespeare often uses dogs as a symbol of weakness or abuse, since animal cruelty was not a widely discussed topic of the day.

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