{"id":287,"date":"2024-04-14T06:13:11","date_gmt":"2024-04-14T13:13:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/shakespeare\/?page_id=287"},"modified":"2025-11-15T11:26:05","modified_gmt":"2025-11-15T19:26:05","slug":"loves-labors-lost-1","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/shakespeare\/loves-labors-lost-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Love’s Labor’s Lost"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Questions on
Shakespeare’s Comedies<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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HOME<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
OLLI<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
QUESTIONS<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
COMMENTARIES<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
AUDIO<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
GUIDES<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
LINKS<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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ACT 1<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
ACT 2<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
ACT 3<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
ACT 4<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
ACT 5<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Shakespeare, William. Love\u2019s Labor\u2019s Lost.<\/em> Folio. (The Norton Shakespeare: Comedies,<\/em> 3rd ed. 333-94.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ACT 1<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

1. At the beginning of Act 1, Scene 1, what proposition does King Ferdinand of Navarre repeat for the audience and for the benefit of the men who have already verbally pledged to participate in it? In the most general terms, what is to be done, where is it to be done, and what is the purpose of such a scheme? (The details follow in the rest of the scene.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. In Act 1, Scene 1, in the dialogue between the key male characters, what specific rules emerge as the fabric of the general scheme that King Ferdinand has devised? What will life be like for the four men\u2014the King, Longueville, Dumaine, and Biron\u2014who will undertake the prescribed three years of intense study? In the main, what things and activities must they either avoid or, in some cases, strictly limit?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. In Act 1, Scene 1, since Biron is the most hesitant about signing on to King Ferdinand\u2019s three-year plan with its strong set of do\u2019s and don\u2019ts, how does this lord explain the reasoning that underlies his doubts? What does Biron question both about the plan\u2019s particulars and about its more general and supposedly serious and philosophical purpose?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. In Act 1, Scene 1, even in the first hundred lines or so, readers of Love\u2019s Labor\u2019s Lost <\/em>will no doubt have noticed that it is full of elaborate figures and elegant poetry. Focus on one major example, which is the English sonnet (rhyming abab cdcd efef gg) that Biron speaks from lines 80-93. What argument against excessive learning\u2014and in favor of passion\u2014does this sonnet advance? Why is the sonnet form more effective in the present context than either prose or unrhymed iambic pentameter?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. In Act 1, Scene 1, the monarch at the center of things is Ferdinand of Navarre, whom scholars have long recognized as an analog of, or allusion to, the historical ruler Henry of Navarre, who by 1589 had been crowned as King Henry IV of France, and who by 1593 had converted to Catholicism. Do some research (possibly including the American Shakespeare Center\u2019s July 2017 post \u201cThe Dark Side of Love\u2019s Labour\u2019s Lost<\/em><\/a>\u201d), and try to explain the significance of the historical underpinnings of Shakespeare\u2019s otherwise light-hearted comic play. Another source: \u201cElizabethan Views of the \u2018Other\u2019: French, Spanish, and Russians in Love\u2019s Labor\u2019s Lost<\/em><\/a>.<\/em>\u201d Felicia Londre. Elizabethan Review <\/em>Spring-Summer 1995, Volume 3, Number 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. In Act 1, Scene 1, for what offense is the clown, Costard, to be punished? We know that the King expects much entertainment or \u201crecreation\u201d from the company of Armado during his long learning experiment in Navarre. So how do the King and others present judge Armado\u2019s style in the letter he has sent to them regarding Costard\u2019s offense? What sentence does the King pass on Costard, and in what spirit does the latter receive this sentence? According to Biron at scene\u2019s end, what lesson should<\/em> the King take from Costard\u2019s behavior?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7. In Act 1, Scene 2, Armado trades witticisms with his assistant or \u201cpage,\u201d Mote. What kind of relationship do these two seem to have? What image of Armado emerges from this conversation? What affliction does he ask the Page to comfort him about, and what effect do the Page\u2019s observations have on his master?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

8. In Act 1, Scene 2, after he is through speaking to the Page, Costard, and Jaquenetta, what reflections does Armado offer with regard to his predicament as a soldier who has fallen suddenly in love with a young woman? How does he plan to deal with \u201cCupid,\u201d or in other words to pursue Jaquenetta\u2019s affections?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ACT 2<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

9. In Act 2, Scene 1, the Princess and Boyet converse. How does she receive the praise this attendant lord gives her? If it annoys her, why? What message does she send to the King of Navarre by way of Boyet? What does the Princess do to accommodate the male courtly society she is entering in Navarre?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

10. In Act 2, Scene 1, Maria, Katherine, and Rosaline share observations about Longueville, Dumaine, and Biron. How do the women respectively characterize the wit and manners of these men? How do they parse the strengths and weaknesses of each?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

11. In Act 2, Scene 1, when the King of Navarre enters, how should we regard the diplomatic and financial negotiations that go on between the Princess and the King? How does she react to his insistence on lodging her and the women in her party outside the court and in the open field? What is the Princess\u2019s mission? Who gets the best of whom in the conversation, and how so?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

12. In Act 2, Scene 1, while the Princess and the King of Navarre engage in diplomacy over money and Aquitaine, we also hear Biron and Rosaline\u2019s first encounter, which is short but sharp. What is the subject, and how does Rosaline manage to expose the egocentric quality of Biron\u2019s conversation? All the same, in what sense does this brief exchange perhaps mark them as potential partners?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

13. In Act 2, Scene 1, Longueville, Dumaine, and Biron begin to inquire of Boyet about the women who catch their eye, and Boyet passes along his observations to the Princess concerning the King of Navarre\u2019s interest in her. Which woman has caught the attention of each man, respectively? How does Boyet discern and describe the King\u2019s attraction to the Princess? Does Boyet himself seem somewhat frustrated? Explain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ACT 3<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

14. In Act 3, Scene 1, what advice does the Page offer Armado about his love pursuit of Jaquenetta in this conversation? How, according to the Page\u2019s innuendo-filled responses, should Armado bear himself while in love, and how can he win the object of his affections?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

15. In Act 3, Scene 1, Armado tells the Page, Mote, to free the rustic clown Costard and bring him into his presence. What task does he pay Costard to carry out? Consider, too, the playful, suggestive banter that moves this scene along, including the conversations between Armado and the Page, and then adding Costard into the mix with his misunderstandings. Aside from comic relief, how does this eccentric style of talking relate to and reflect on the language, manners, and pursuits of the aristocratic characters in the play?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

16. In Act 3, Scene 1, Biron espies Costard as he makes his way towards fulfilling the task given him by Armado, and gives him a new task, which is to deliver a love letter to Rosaline. Once he is alone, what self-reproaches does Biron air? What blame does he cast on love itself, what does he suggest about Rosaline\u2019s qualities, and with what resolution does his soliloquy end?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ACT 4<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

17. In Act 4, Scene 1, what is the connection between the Princess\u2019s quips about deer hunting and the play\u2019s emphasis on love pursuits? The idea of love as involving a chase or a hunt is common from ancient literature onwards, so how does Shakespeare inflect it in this sophisticated comedy about European nobility? In your response, address the way this trope is folded into the Princess\u2019s slightly flirtatious comments to the Forester who is helping her with the mechanics of archery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

18. In Act 4, Scene 1, Costard mistakenly delivers Armado\u2019s letter not to Jaquenetta but to the Princess, and the letter is read out loud to the aristocratic company. How does this letter represent Armado\u2019s love pursuit of Jaquenetta, and what do the nobles think of its \u201cEuphuistic\u201d eccentricities? (Look up Euphues, Euphuism.) How do the various puns about archery (\u201chitting the target,\u201d etc.) then cap off the scene?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

19. In Act 4, Scene 2, Nathaniel and Holofernes converse, and Constable Dull joins in. What\u2019s the basic subject of the conversation, and why do the more learned characters tolerate Dull\u2019s inept attempts to join in? What does Holofernes say about the benefits of learning or education? How does his opinion compare to the way learning was described in the first act? What does Holofernes say about his own gifts as an academician?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

20. In Act 4, Scene 2, Jaquenetta and Costard visit Holofernes and the Parson, and ask the latter to read a letter that Costard, as it turns out, has misdelivered on Biron\u2019s behalf. Biron\u2019s sonnet is read aloud by Nathaniel. What is the sonnet\u2019s subject, and what does Holofernes, the quintessential fussy literary critic, make of its qualities? What does Nathaniel tell Jaquenetta to do with this letter?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

21. In Act 4, Scene 3, Biron continues to lament his love-stricken case, though this time in prose, and eavesdrops on the self-implicating poems\u2014the King\u2019s extended or \u201ccaudate\u201d (tailed) English sonnet, Longueville\u2019s standard English sonnet, and Dumaine\u2019s couplet-rhyming \u201code.\u201d Describe the successive acts of eavesdropping, exposure, and mockery that take place in this episode up to line 279, when the King and the others turn to Biron for perspective. In particular, how does the King make fun of Biron for his choice of Rosaline, and how does Biron defend himself and his love interest from such mockery?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

22. In Act 4, Scene 3, from line 279 forward, Biron is called upon to stop defending himself and instead to provide a mature perspective on the men\u2019s common predicament. Describe Biron\u2019s essentially Neoplatonic defense of love\u2014not mere pedantry or scholarly imperatives\u2014as the true ground of learning. What are the elements of this argument in favor of an \u201cerotics of learning,\u201d as he lays them out? How does romantic attraction and love affect the spirit and the intellect, according to Biron? What quasi-religious transformation does it bring about in lovers?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

23. In Act 4, Scene 3, what resolution does Biron\u2019s impassioned defense of passion as the ground of academic excellence lead the King, Biron himself, Longueville and Dumaine to affirm? What plans do they make with regard to the objects of their affection (the Princess, Rosaline, Maria, and Katherine)? How has their attitude towards time suddenly shifted, and why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ACT 5<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

24. In Act 5, Scene 1, what general portrait and specific criticisms of Armado\u2019s style does Holofernes offer the curate Nathaniel and others as they gather in the King\u2019s park? How does the Page take the pedant Holofernes down a peg or two? When Armado arrives, what exciting news does he announce to all present, and how do plans concerning it begin to shape up in the last part of this brief scene?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

25. In Act 5, Scene 2, Boyet alerts the Princess and her female entourage (who have just been sharing news about the gifts given to them by the lords of Navarre) to the King of Navarre and his lords\u2019 plan to court them anonymously as \u201cMuscovites.\u201d What strategy do the women devise to counter this move, and what two main reasons does the Princess advance for wanting to counter it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

26. In Act 5, Scene 2, how does the counter-strategy that the Princess and her ladies devise, once put into operation, play out? Why does it so easily confound the men\u2019s efforts at courting them? Choose at least one example of a lady\u2019s conversation with one of the men, and explain how she gets the better of him. Also, what is the significance of the ladies\u2019 collective refusal to dance?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

27. In Act 5, Scene 2, when the King of Navarre and his three lords have finished their attempted courtship and left the women to talk among themselves, how do the latter reckon up the weaknesses each man has shown in his courting exercise? What is the ladies\u2019 general account of the lords\u2019 quality as suitors? What is the current situation\u2014who has plighted faith to whom among the four respective couples? How do the Princess and her women plan to follow up their advantage over the men?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

28. In Act 5, Scene 2, when the King and his lords regroup, what tribute does Biron pay to the Princess\u2019s counselor Boyet\u2014what qualities and abilities does he admire in this French lord? Up to this point, how important has Boyet been to the play\u2019s action, themes, and ambience? Choose a few instances of Boyet\u2019s skills in action\u2014for example, his baffling of the Page\u2019s prologue at the beginning of the men\u2019s suit to the ladies\u2014and discuss his significance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

29. In Act 5, Scene 2, when the lords and ladies come back together after an awkward attempt at courtship, the latter inform the men that each of them delivered his private, earnest vow to the wrong woman. Catalog the verse forms in this sophisticated segment from lines 338-484. How do these forms affect our perception of the exchange as a whole? In particular, focus on Biron\u2019s multiply extended caudate sonnet (i.e. sonnet with extra lines): in what sense is this sonnet ironic when we compare its structure and language with the promise it makes to the ladies? How do Rosaline and the Princess take its message?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

30. In Act 5, Scene 2, following a bit of unpleasantness between the flustered Biron and Boyet, Holofernes and his crew stage their \u201cNine Worthies\u201d pageant (i.e., a series of scenes, in this case presenting five\u2014not nine\u2014mythical and historical figures) for the aristocratic lords and ladies. Why does the King try to prevent the performance, and why does the Princess overrule him\u2014what critical principles does she lay out from lines 513-18? As the pageant proceeds, what factors\u2014in addition to the bare performances\u2014come together to entertain the noble audience? All the same, what news brought in by Costard, and then by Marcad\u00e9, causes the pageant to end in an unexpected manner?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

31. In Act 5, Scene 2, with the announcement of the King of France\u2019s death, the Princess must return home suddenly and mourn her father\u2019s passing. But first, how does she answer the King of Navarre when he impertinently tries to bring his and the lords\u2019 courtship to a quick, happy conclusion to match the diplomatic success of the Princess\u2019s embassy? (He is seconded by Biron\u2019s gambit of speciously blaming <\/em>the ladies for allegedly causing the men to break their scholarly vows.) Why does she reject an immediate betrothal, and what must her suitor do to win her love? What makes this requirement or test so appropriate to the circumstances?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

32. In Act 5, Scene 2, after the Princess sets forth her conditions for eventual acceptance of the King of Navarre\u2019s suit, what conditions do Rosaline, Katherine, and Maria lay out respectively for Biron, Dumaine, and Longueville? How is each set of conditions calibrated to fit the defects or shortcomings of each man in his turn?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

33. At the end of Act 5, Scene 2, a chastened Armado returns to the stage and announces that he will serve his love, Jaquenetta, for three years to solidify their relationship. He has one last question\u2014would the King and those still present like to hear the dialogue between the owl and the cuckoo that Holofernes and Nathaniel have apparently worked up to end the pageant? Yes, His Majesty would, and the dialogue is sung in turn by \u201cSpring\u201d (who focuses on the cuckoo) and \u201cWinter\u201d (who focuses on the owl). What connection may be asserted between this concluding dialogue\u2019s internal themes and the broader action and themes of Love\u2019s Labor\u2019s Lost?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

34. General question. This play is sometimes said by critics to be somewhat thin with respect to its action, its plot. In truth, it consists mostly of dialogue rather than substantial activity. Still, it isn\u2019t, as some people quipped (admiringly or otherwise) about the celebrated comic series Seinfeld, <\/em>about nothing. <\/em>What qualities, then, provide both the entertainment value and any \u201cheft\u201d that we might care to attribute to this comic play?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

35. General question. Especially in his comedies, Shakespeare sometimes exposes to scrutiny the intensity, even the excessiveness, of the oaths and promises that various characters tend to make and then repeatedly reaffirm, with an emphasis on the evasiveness and shallowness of these forms of speech as well as the peril that they may bring in their train. How does Love\u2019s Labor\u2019s Lost <\/em>inflect this frequent Shakespearean concern? In what sense does the admonition apply particularly to some of the play\u2019s male characters?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Edition.<\/strong> Greenblatt, Stephen et al., editors. The Norton Shakespeare: Comedies + Digital Edition. <\/em>3rd ed. W. W. Norton, 2016. ISBN-13: 978-0-393-93861-6.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Copyright \u00a9 2025 Alfred J. Drake<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Document Timestamp: 11\/14\/2025 7:16 PM<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shakespeare, William. Love\u2019s Labor\u2019s Lost. Folio. (The Norton Shakespeare: Comedies, 3rd ed. 333-94.) 1. 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