| Love's Labour's Lost |
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Period written: 1595 First known performance: The play opens with the King of Navarre and three noble companions, Berowne, Dumaine, and Longaville, taking an oath to devote themselves to three years of study, foreswearing bodily pleasures and the company of women. One of the companions, Berowne, refuses to take the vow seriously, and argues the merits of sensual love, but is overruled and promises to abide. Berowne then reminds the King that the Princess of France has an appointment to meet him in order to discuss the surrender of the region of Aquitaine. The King denies the Princess and her retinue (which includes three lovely young women) entry into his court, insisting that they camp at a distance. The King and his friends then interview the Princess and her companions, and each falls in love with one of the ladies. The main plot is supplemented by several other comic subplots. A bombastic Spanish swordsman, Don Armardo, woos a low-born country wench, Jaquenetta, assisted by Moth, his witty page, and Costard, a country bumpkin. There are also two pedantic scholars, Holofernes and Sir Nathaniel, who sometimes speak to each other in schoolboy Latin. In the final act, the comic characters stage an inept pageant to entertain the noble persons, just as the mechanicals perform a barbarous play for the court at the end of A Midsummer Night's Dream. At the end of this lighthearted play, events suddenly take a darker turn. News arrives that the Princess's father has died and she must leave to take the throne. The nobles swear to remain true to their ladies, but the ladies, unconvinced by their youthful ardour, demand that they wait a whole year to prove their seriousness. The play thus ends with no weddings, a surprising conclusion for an Elizabethan comedy. There is evidence that Shakespeare may have written a sequel, Love's Labour's Won which has since been lost. Discuss this play in our forums.
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