LINGUISTIC MEDIUM: 65% verse, 35% prose. High proportion of rhyme and interwoven poetry, including sonnets.
DATE: Before 1598. Edition of that year refers to the play being "presented before her Highness [Queen Elizabeth] this last Christmas." A poem by Robert Tofte, also published in 1598, apparently refers to a performance seen in the public theater. Francis Meres' 1598 list of Shakespeare's plays refers to both Love's Labour's Lost and Love's Labour's Won: this may mean that by this time Shakespeare had also written a (now lost) sequel. Could the lovers have been reunited after the year's delay? Stylistic similarity to A Midsummer Night's Dream and other lyrical plays, together with possible references to an Inns of Court Christmas entertainment of 1594-95, lead most scholars to date composition to 1595-96.
SOURCES: One of Shakespeare's few genuinely sourceless plays, though draws on many aspects of the literary culture of the early 1590s (e.g. the vogue for love sonnets and the elaborate "euphuistic" writing style pioneered by John Lyly); the idea of four courtiers retreating from political engagement in order to engage in academic reflection and philosophical discussion may have been inspired by Pierre de la Primaudaye's The French Academy (English translation 1586, reprinted 1589 and 1594). Though not a contemporary political allegory, some of the names in the play apparently allude to historical figures in contemporary France and Navarre (of great interest at the time, since in March 1594 King Henri of Navarre--a discrete kingdom between France and Spain--converted to Catholicism and became King of France).
TEXT: Quarto edition of 1598, "newly corrected and augmented by W. Shakespere"--this may imply that there was an earlier Quarto, now lost. The Folio was printed from the Quarto, making some corrections and introducing some errors. There are some severe textual tangles, particularly over characters' names, where Shakespeare sometimes seems to have become muddled. Some passages, including Berowne's crucial long speech about love at the end of the fourth act, contain repetition that strongly suggests that the printed text retains elements of Shakespeare's first draft as well as the final version: we indicate such "first thoughts" with marginal marks (//).
LOVE'S
LABOUR'S LOST
LIST OF PARTS
Ferdinand KING of Navarre
Lords attending on the king
BEROWNE
LONGAVILLE
DUMAINE
Don Adriano de ARMADO, a Spanish braggart MOTH, a boy, his page COSTARD, a clown JAQUENETTA, a dairymaid Anthony DULL, a constable Sir NATHANIEL, a curate HOLOFERNES, a pedantic schoolmaster The PRINCESS of France
Ladies attending on the princess
ROSALINE
MARIA
KATHERINE
BOYET, a lord attending on the princess Monsieur MARCADE, a messenger from the King of France A FORESTER
Lords, Ladies, Attendants
BEROWNE in Act 4 Scene 3 rhymes with "moon"
MOTH probably pronounced "Mott"; some editors modernize to "Mote"
JAQUENETTA perhaps pronounced "Jake-netta," suggestive of "jakes" (privy, toilet)
Act 1 [Scene 1]
running scene 1
Enter Ferdinand King of Navarre, Berowne, Longaville and Dumaine
KING Let fame1, that all hunt after in their lives,
Live registered upon our brazen2 tombs,
And then grace us in the disgrace3 of death
When, spite of cormorant4 devouring time,
Th'endeavour of this present breath5 may buy
That honour which shall bate his scythe's keen6 edge
And make us heirs of all eternity.
Therefore, brave conquerors -- for so you are,
That war against your own affections9
And the huge army of the world's desires --
Our late edict shall strongly stand in force11.
Navarre12 shall be the wonder of the world,
Our court shall be a little academe13,
Still and contemplative in living art14.
You three, Berowne, Dumaine and Longaville,
Have sworn for three years' term16 to live with me,
My fellow-scholars, and to keep17 those statutes
That are recorded in this schedule18 here.
Shows a paper
Your oaths are passed, and now subscribe19 your names,
That his own hand20 may strike his honour down
That violates the smallest branch21 herein.
If you are armed22 to do as sworn to do,
Subscribe to your deep oaths, and keep it23 too.
LONGAVILLE I am resolved: 'tis but a three years' fast.
The mind shall banquet though the body pine25.
Signs
Fat paunches have lean pates, and dainty bits26
Make rich the ribs, but bankrupt quite the wits.
DUMAINE My loving lord, Dumaine is mortified28.
The grosser29 manner of these world's delights
He throws upon the gross world's baser slaves30.
Signs
To love, to wealth, to pomp, I pine and die,
With all these living in32 philosophy.
BEROWNE I can but say their protestation over33.
So much, dear liege, I have already sworn,
That is, to live and study here three years.
But there are other strict observances36,
As37 not to see a woman in that term,
Which I hope well is not enrolled38 there.
And one day in a week to touch no food,
And but one meal on every day beside,
The which I hope is not enrolled there.
And then to sleep but three hours in the night,
And not be seen to wink43 of all the day --
When I was wont to think no harm44 all night
And make a dark night too of half the day --
Which I hope well is not enrolled there.
O, these are barren tasks, too hard to keep:
Not to see ladies, study, fast, not sleep.
KING Your oath is passed to pass away from49 these.
BEROWNE Let me say no, my liege, an if50 you please.
I only swore to study with your grace
And stay here in your court for three years' space52.
LONGAVILLE You swore to that, Berowne, and to the rest.
BEROWNE By yea and nay54, sir, then I swore in jest.
What is the end55 of study, let me know?
KING Why, that to know which else we should not know.
BEROWNE Things hid and barred, you mean, from common sense57?
KING Ay, that is study's godlike recompense58.
BEROWNE Come on59 then, I will swear to study so,
To know the thing I am forbid to know:
As thus, to study where I well may dine,
When I to feast expressly am forbid.
Or study where to meet some mistress fine,
When mistresses from common sense are hid.
Or, having sworn too hard-a-keeping oath65,
Study to break it and not break my troth66.
If study's gain be thus and this be so,
Study knows that which yet it doth not know.
Swear me to this, and I will ne'er say no.
KING These be the stops that hinder study quite70
And train our intellects to vain71 delight.
BEROWNE Why, all delights are vain, and that most vain,
Which with pain purchased doth inherit73 pain:
As74 painfully to pore upon a book
To seek the light of truth, while truth the while75
Doth falsely blind the eyesight of his look76.
Light seeking light doth light of light beguile77:
So, ere you find where light in darkness78 lies,
Your light grows dark by losing of your eyes.
Study me80 how to please the eye indeed
By fixing it upon a fairer81 eye,
Who dazzling so, that eye shall be his heed82
And give him light that
it was blinded by.
Study is like the heaven's glorious sun
That will not be deep-searched with saucy85 looks:
Small86 have continual plodders ever won
Save base87 authority from others' books.
These earthly godfathers of heaven's lights88,
That give a name to every fixed star,
Have no more profit of their shining90 nights
Than those that walk and wot not what they91 are.
Too much to know is to know nought but fame92,
And every godfather93 can give a name.
KING How well he's read, to reason against reading.
DUMAINE Proceeded well, to stop all good proceeding95.
LONGAVILLE He weeds the corn, and still lets grow the weeding96.
BEROWNE The spring is near when green geese97 are a-breeding.
DUMAINE How follows that?
BEROWNE Fit in his99 place and time.
DUMAINE In reason101 nothing.
BEROWNE Something then in rhyme101.
KING Berowne is like an envious sneaping102 frost
That bites the first-born infants103 of the spring.
BEROWNE Well, say I am. Why should proud104 summer boast
Before the birds have any cause to sing?
Why should I joy in any abortive106 birth?
At Christmas I no more desire a rose
Than wish a snow in May's new-fangled shows108,
But like of each thing that in season109 grows.
So you, to study now it is too late110,
That were to climb o'er the house to unlock the gate111.
KING Well, sit you out112. Go home, Berowne, adieu.
BEROWNE No, my good lord, I have sworn to stay with you.
And though I have for barbarism114 spoke more
Than for that angel knowledge you can say,
Yet confident I'll keep what I have sworn
And bide the penance of each three years' day117.
Give me the paper, let me read the same,
And to the strict'st decrees I'll write my name.
Takes the paper
KING How well this yielding rescues thee from shame.
Reads
BEROWNE 'Item, That no woman shall come within
a mile of my court.' Hath this been proclaimed?
LONGAVILLE Four days ago.
BEROWNE Let's see the penalty: 'On pain of losing her tongue.'
Who devised this penalty?
LONGAVILLE Marry126, that did I.
BEROWNE Sweet lord, and why?
LONGAVILLE To fright them hence with that dread128 penalty.
BEROWNE A dangerous law against gentility129!
Reads
'Item, If any man be seen to talk with a woman within
the term of three years, he shall endure such public shame
as the rest of the court shall possibly devise.'
This article133, my liege, yourself must break,
For well you know here comes in embassy134
The French king's daughter with yourself to speak --
A maid of grace and complete136 majesty --
About surrender up of Aquitaine137
To her decrepit, sick and bedrid father:
Therefore this article is made in vain,
Or vainly140 comes th'admired princess hither.
KING What say you, lords? Why, this was quite forgot.
BEROWNE So study evermore is overshot142.
While it doth study to have what it would143,
It doth forget to do the thing it should:
And when it hath the thing it hunteth most,
'Tis won as towns with fire, so won, so lost146.
KING We must of force147 dispense with this decree.
She must lie here on mere148 necessity.
BEROWNE Necessity will make us all forsworn149
Three thousand times within this three years' space,
For every man with his affects151 is born,
Not by might mastered but by special grace152.
If I break faith, this word153 shall speak for me:
I am forsworn 'on mere necessity'.
So to the laws at large155 I write my name,
Signs
And he that breaks them in the least degree
Stands in attainder157 of eternal shame.
Suggestions are to others as to me158:
But I believe, although I seem so loath,
I am the last that will last keep his oath160.
But is there no quick161 recreation granted?
KING Ay, that there is. Our court, you know, is haunted162
With a refined traveller of Spain,
A man in all the world's new fashion planted164,
That hath a mint165 of phrases in his brain,
One who the music of his own vain tongue
Doth ravish like enchanting harmony,
A man of compliments168, whom right and wrong
Have chose as umpire of their mutiny169.
This child of fancy, that Armado hight170,
For interim171 to our studies shall relate
In high-born172 words the worth of many a knight
From tawny Spain lost in the world's debate173.
How you delight174, my lords, I know not, I,
But I protest I love to hear him lie,
And I will use him for my minstrelsy176.
BEROWNE Armado is a most illustrious wight177,
A man of fire-new words, fashion's own knight.
LONGAVILLE Costard the swain and he shall be our sport179,
And so to study three years is but short.
Enter a constable [Dull] with a letter, with Costard
DULL Which is the duke's181 own person?
BEROWNE This, fellow. What wouldst?
DULL I myself reprehend183 his own person, for I am his
grace's tharborough184. But I would see his own person in flesh
and blood.
BEROWNE This is he.
DULL Signior Arme ... Arme ... commends you187. There's
villainy abroad188. This letter will tell you more.
Shows a letter
COSTARD Sir, the contempts thereof are as touching189 me.
KING A letter from the magnificent190 Armado.
BEROWNE How low soever the matter, I hope in God for high191
words.
LONGAVILLE A high hope for a low heaven193. God grant us
patience.
BEROWNE To hear, or forbear195 hearing?
LONGAVILLE To hear meekly, sir, and to laugh moderately, or to
forbear both.
BEROWNE Well, sir, be it as the style198 shall give us cause to climb
in the merriness.
COSTARD The matter is to200 me, sir, as concerning Jaquenetta.
The manner of it is, I was taken with the manner201.
BEROWNE In what manner?
COSTARD In manner and form following, sir, all those three203. I
was seen with her in the manor-house, sitting with her upon
the form, and taken following her into the park205, which, put
together, is 'in manner and form following'. Now, sir, for the
manner207: it is the manner of a man to speak to a woman. For
the form: in some form.
BEROWNE For the 'following', sir?
COSTARD As it shall follow in my correction, and God defend210
the right!
KING Will you hear this letter with attention?
BEROWNE As we would hear an oracle.
COSTARD Such is the simplicity214 of man to hearken after the
flesh.
Reads
KING 'Great deputy, the welkin's vicegerent216 and
sole dominator217 of Navarre, my soul's earth's god, and body's
fostering218 patron'--
COSTARD Not a word of Costard yet.
Reads
KING 'So it is'--
>
COSTARD It may be so: but if he say it is so, he is, in telling
true, but so222.
KING Peace224!
COSTARD Be224 to me and every man that dares not fight.
KING No words!
COSTARD Of other men's secrets226, I beseech you.
Reads
KING 'So it is, besieged with sable-coloured227
melancholy, I did commend the black oppressing humour228 to
the most wholesome physic of thy health-giving air, and, as229
I am a gentleman, betook myself to walk. The time, when?
About the sixth hour, when beasts most graze, birds best
peck, and men sit down to that nourishment which is called
supper: so much for the time when. Now for the ground,
which? Which, I mean, I walked upon. It is ycleped234 thy park.
Then for the place, where? Where, I mean, I did encounter
that obscene and most preposterous236 event that draweth from
my snow-white pen the ebon-coloured237 ink, which here thou
viewest, beholdest, surveyest, or seest. But to the place,
where? It standeth north-north-east and by east from the
west corner of thy curious-knotted240 garden; there did I see
that low-spirited swain, that base minnow of thy mirth241'--
COSTARD Me?
Reads
KING 'That unlettered243 small-knowing soul'--
COSTARD Me?
Reads
KING 'That shallow vassal245'--
COSTARD Still me?
Reads
KING 'Which, as I remember, hight Costard'--
COSTARD O, me!
Reads
KING 'Sorted and consorted249, contrary to thy
established proclaimed edict and continent canon250, which
with -- O, with -- but with this I passion to say wherewith251'--
COSTARD With a wench.
Reads
KING 'With a child of our grandmother Eve, a
female, or, for thy more sweet understanding, a woman. Him
I (as my ever-esteemed duty pricks255 me on) have sent to thee,
to receive the meed256 of punishment, by thy sweet grace's
officer, Anthony Dull, a man of good repute, carriage257,
bearing, and estimation258.'
DULL Me, an't259 shall please you. I am Anthony Dull.
Reads
KING 'For Jaquenetta -- so is the weaker vessel260
called which I apprehended with the aforesaid swain -- I
keep her as a vessel of the law's fury, and shall, at the least of262
thy sweet notice, bring her to trial263. Thine, in all compliments
of devoted and heart-burning heat of duty. Don Adriano de
Armado.'