Love's Labour's Lost

“These earthly godfathers of heaven’s lights,

That give a name to every fixèd star,

Have no more profit of their shining nights

Than those that walk and wot not what they are.”

Berowne discusses another contemporary academic development: The growing field of astronomy. He notes the practice of astronomers discovering new stars or planets, and giving them names, but questions what practical value this has, pointing out that it does not change their lived experience of the night sky. He suggests it only really serves to bring them fame, rather than producing worthy knowledge. William Shakespeare explores the connection between The Complexities of Language and actuality, questioning whether naming an object changes the relationship to it, or increases knowledge of it.

“Necessity will make us all forsworn

Three thousand times within this three years’ space.”

Berowne mocks the idea that necessity can be used as an excuse. The use of language to rationalize actions is a recurring idea throughout the play, with the Lords as the primary example. His criticism reveals the emptiness of the oath to begin with, by exposing that it is not viable given the King’s political obligations, and showing that promises can be broken. Shakespeare undermines the value of language—it can be dishonest. Berowne’s exaggerated statement that they will all break their oaths thousands of times also foreshadows that they do, in fact, immediately do this.

“COSTARD. With a wench.

KING (reads). with a child of our grandmother Eve, a

female; or, for thy more sweet understanding,

woman.”

The contrast between Armado and Costard’s way of saying the same thing—a woman—reveals the enormous differences in their characters and The Complexities of Language. Where Costard uses a one-syllable word, Armado uses three descriptions, ironically claiming that he does so for better understanding. Shakespeare lampoons his use of complex language as an affectation, showing that it does not necessarily lead to more effective communication. Costard’s use of the word “wench” reflects his social class: It is an unrefined way of referring to a woman that suggests familiarity and possibly a service role. Armado’s mention of Eve hints at Jaquenetta’s role in the play: She is an object of temptation to both Armado and Costard. This also ties in with the Lords’ continual insistence that the women are to blame for their actions, because of their beauty.

“KING. …And go we, lords, to put in practice that

Which each to other hath so strongly sworn.

(King, Longaville, and Dumaine exit.)

BEROWNE. I’ll lay my head to any goodman’s hat,

These oaths and laws will prove an idle scorn.”

Shakespeare uses rhyming iambic pentameter to reflect the dichotomy of Berowne’s bond with, and dissent toward, the King. The King delivers a concluding couplet and leaves the stage with the other Lords, but Berowne does not follow immediately, showing his independence. He delivers his own couplet, taking the last word in the argument. He ties his couplet into the King’s through rhyme, creating a complete rhyme scheme when the statements are taken together (ABAB). This shows their close relationship, giving his lines a mirroring quality as he turns the King’s statement on its head. Rhyme was also a typical way to close a scene, creating a sense of conclusion.

“The roof of this court is too

high to be yours, and welcome to the wide fields too

base to be mine.”

The Princess implicitly censures the King for his inhospitality, questioning why they are in a field. Her comparison of the outdoors to a court with the sky as its roof suggests that the world is God’s court, tying into an idea that was gaining popularity in the 16th century that studying nature was a way of connecting to God through his work. Her poetic critique shows her intelligence and her assertiveness: She knows her status and her diplomatic role.

“O my little heart!”

Berowne’s exclamation comes in the middle of a long soliloquy in which he rants about Cupid and Rosaline, frustrated with their power over him. It is filled with analogies, long sentences, and complex, multi-layered descriptions, so this short, simple phrase stands out from the rest of the speech. Shakespeare uses the sound “O” and the exclamation mark, as well as the shortness of the phrase, to suggest that it is a short, spontaneous cry—Berowne’s cynical, analytical thought-train is interrupted by an upsurge of genuine emotion. The word “little” encapsulates the powerlessness and vulnerability he feels in the face of his attraction to Rosaline; the word heart combined with the exclamatory nature of the phrase suggests the physical sensation of his emotions.

“BOYET. Do not curst wives hold that self sovereignty

Only for praise’ sake when they strive to be

Lords o’er their lords?

PRINCESS. Only for praise; and praise we may afford

To any lady that subdues a lord.”

Boyet raises the idea that, within marriage, women must be subservient to their husbands. Crucially, the Princess counters Boyet’s question with a witty retort praising women who exercise control over men, thus challenging The Masculine Pursuit of Love. This is backed up by the end of the play: The Princess asserts that marriage is too big a decision to make now, and she must wait a year, which helps her gain leverage over the King.

“[U]ndressed, unpolished, uneducated, unpruned, untrained, or rather unlettered, or ratherest, unconfirmed fashion.”

Holofernes’s long-winded counter-argument to Dull encapsulates his verbosity, demonstrating that more words do not necessarily equal better communication. His list of words with the prefix “un-” reflects the play’s concern with words as imperfect and complex: Rather than finding words that describe what he wants to say, he has used language that negates another part of its meaning. This also foreshadows the ending of play: It creates a sense of the incomplete or unfinished.

“[T]hine eyes,

Where all those pleasures live that art would

comprehend.”

Berowne’s sonnet explores the idea that art seeks to recreate beauty, but that true beauty is the thing itself, invoking Fantasy Versus Reality. He suggests that the complexity of language cannot capture some things, including love and beauty. This is an idea that runs through Shakespeare’s sonnets, which explore their own short-comings as a vehicle for his topics. “Eyes” were a popular feature to focus on as an embodiment of beauty; they feature in Shakespeare’s sonnets and are mentioned frequently in the play.

“[T]he heavenly rhetoric of thine eye,

’Gainst whom the world cannot hold argument

Persuade my heart to this false perjury?”

Longaville’s sonnet employs the eye as a focal point for beauty, just as Berowne’s does. He places responsibility for breaking his oath with Maria rather than himself, arguing that her beauty forced him to do it. His use of the word “rhetoric” is a metaphor for her beauty’s persuasiveness, but also brings The Complexities of Language into his praise, reflecting Maria’s skillful and witty use of words. His framing of courtship as an argument recalls the banter that forms the backbone of the Lords’ interactions with the ladies and ties into the common conception of love as a struggle or competition.

“I post from love. Good lover, let me go.”

Berowne tries to flee the scene as Costard and Jaquenetta enter: He has just condemned the Lords for breaking their oaths through The Masculine Pursuit of Love, but is now confronted with a reminder that he has broken his. Shakespeare comically exposes his hypocrisy and suggests his cowardice and state of denial: He does not want to face the consequences or reality of his actions, a theme that reoccurs throughout the play. His flight from love has a triple meaning: He presents himself as running from love as a concept (in keeping with his oath) and the other Lords’ love (as he is above it), but he actually runs from his own love, in the form of the letter he gave Costard, which will now be exposed.

“A lady walled about with diamonds!”

The King’s gift to the Princess was a popular courting gift among the wealthy—a miniature portrait of her, framed in small diamonds. It recalls Sir Thomas Wyatt’s poem “Whoso List to Hunt, I Know where is an Hind,” in which a diamond collar signifies that the object of desire is claimed already by a King. The gift encapsulates the King’s wealth and status, but this imagery also indicates a man’s ownership of their wife in this period. It suggests the entrapment of the woman by the wealth and status of their suitor.

“The numbers true; and were the numb’ring too

I were the fairest goddess on the ground.”

Rosaline critiques the fantastical nature of Berowne’s sonnet: She compliments his correct use of meter (“the numbers true”) but discredits his quantification of her beauty. She suggests that a technically skilled poem may not communicate truth, reflecting the theme of Fantasy Versus Reality. In fact, adherence to romantic convention may obscure the truth. She highlights the absurdity of his hyperbole by juxtaposing the idea of a “goddess” with the earthly “ground.”

“ROSALINE. …O, that your face were not so full of O’s!

PRINCESS. A pox of that jest!”

The ladies tease each other about their use of make-up to enhance their appearance, which is one of the ways that the play implies the constant presence of Fantasy Versus Reality. Rosaline connects language and appearance through her use of “O” as an exclamation, and then as a description for smallpox scars, comparing them to the physical shape of the letter “O.” This connects the fantasy of makeup to the fantasy offered by language, such as in the romanticized, inaccurate descriptions of beauty in the Lords’ sonnets.

“Tapers they are, with your sweet breaths puffed

out.”

Boyet’s analogy compares the strength of the Lords’ wit unfavorably to the women’s, suggesting they easily win their verbal battles, and demonstrating his role as an ally to the women. However, his imagery has broader connotations of the fragility and flimsiness of human nature. This questions the seriousness of their promises to the women, but also evokes human mortality, foreshadowing the end of the play.

“[V]irtue’s office never breaks men’s troth.

[…] A world of torments though I should endure,

I would not yield to be your house’s guest.”

Through discussing her own behavior, the Princess implicitly castigates the Lords for breaking their oath, and rejects the idea that she can be held responsible because of her beauty, as the King has tried to claim. Despite his repeated attempts to invite her into the court, she doubles down and says she would rather endure “torments” than be complicit in anyone breaking an oath—in contrast to the men, who did not experience any hardship when they broke theirs. The King has just described her as “virtuous”; she echoes his words back to him, allowing her to foreground her own moral compass and non-involvement in their behavior.

“BEROWNE. Our states are forfeit. Seek not to undo us.

ROSALINE. It is not so, for how can this be true,

That you stand forfeit, being those that sue?”

Berowne suggests that the Lords’ fate lies in the women’s hands, using the word “states” to promise that their physical estates as well as their selves are the women’s, promising marriage. However, after marriage, the woman’s property actually became the husband’s in Elizabethan England. Rosaline hints at this with her next line, in which she dismisses Berowne’s assertions that the men are all putting everything on the line. She points out that the Lords are asking something of the women, not vice versa, in The Masculine Pursuit of Love—they have less to lose.

“DUMAINE. A gilt nutmeg.

BEROWNE. A lemon.

LONGAVILLE. Stuck with cloves.”

The Lords lampoon Armado’s presentation of Hector onstage. Armado describes Mars giving Hector a gift, and they heckle him by suggesting mundane items that counter the grand expectations of a gift from a god, drawing attention to his inadequacies compared to the character he presents. This recalls their own idealized projections of fame and nobility coming from their oath, as well as their romanticized depictions of the women in their sonnets, reflecting Fantasy Versus Reality.

“ARMADO. The naked truth of it is, I have no shirt. I go woolward for penance.

BOYET. True, and it was enjoined him in Rome for want of linen.”

Armado claims that he cannot do combat because he can’t take off his doublet to fight: He has no undershirt because he is doing penance. This refers to the practice of wearing coarse hair garments (often horsehair) against the skin as an act of worship, associated with sects and individuals who championed extreme asceticism. Shakespeare queries the value of this through the comical contrast of asceticism with Armado’s proud, flamboyant character: Armado is either lying in cowardice, or is actually not wearing a shirt due to laziness or money, undermining his gentlemanly status and invoking Fantasy Versus Reality.

“Prepare, I say.—I thank you, gracious lords,

For all your fair endeavors.”

These lines encapsulate the Princess’s shift in tone and behavior after hearing of her father’s death. She calmly and clearly instructs Boyet for their departure: Despite the King’s entreaties, she does not contemplate any other course of action. She immediately takes the Lords seriously, dropping the wordplay that has characterized all her interactions so far and instead speaking politely and formally. This shows her skill and preparedness for dealing with her father’s death; it also shows the new constraints and obligations she is under, as she must prioritize this over the King’s courtship.

“A time, methinks, too short      

To make a world-without-end bargain in.”

The Princess’s description of marriage as a bargain shows the practical, business element that was a central part of most marriages in the Elizabethan era. Her phrasing shows the enormity of marriage, especially for a woman: It is a choice that will define her whole world. In this scene, the light-hearted romance of The Masculine Pursuit of Love is placed into the context of its long-term, serious consequences for women.

“Your oath I will not trust […]

If this austere insociable life

Change not your offer made in heat of blood.”

The Princess speaks directly, in contrast to The Complexities of Language she uses elsewhere, subverting the genre expectations with an injection of reality, as throughout the play, the King’s actions have not proved him solid in character. She challenges him to an oath that echoes the one he broke during the play, though only for a year rather than three, showing a greater realism. She uses the word “trial,” which refers to the idea popular in medieval romantic literature of a trial performed for chivalric love—a task or challenge to complete in the lady’s honor. Shakespeare suggests that the King must support his words with actions, and show that he is capable of enacting the noble ideals embodied in his oath.

“A jest’s prosperity lies in the ear

Of him that hears it, never in the tongue

Of him that makes it.”

Rosaline notes the subjective nature of humor, just as the Princess earlier in the play notes the subjective nature of beauty—“Beauty is bought by judgment of the eye” (2.1.15)—suggesting the subjective nature of reality more broadly. Shakespeare comments on the imperfections of language: Whatever words are used, the meaning conveyed depends on how the other person takes it. However, in this speech, Rosaline encourages Berowne to attempt her task nonetheless; she suggests that people can control their own intentions and effort in using language, even if they must accept its limitations.