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First Folio
by William Shakespearedirected by Michael Kahn
June 6 — July 30, 2006
Teacher Curriculum Guide
Love’s Labor’sLost
Table of Contents Page Number
A Brief History of the Audience……………………..1
About the PlaywrightOn William Shakespeare………………………...………3Elizabethan England……………………………...……….4Shakespeare’s Works…………………………………...….5Shakespeare’s Verse and Prose……………………..7A Timeline of Western World Events……...……9
About the PlaySynopsis of Love’s Labor’s Lost…...………………10The Commedia Connection.............................11A Very Fantastical Banquet………...……….….….13Duty vs. Desire…………….……………………..............15Playing within the Play…...………………..............16Everybody’s Looking for Something……..…..18
Classroom Connections• Before the Performance……………………………19 What Would You Give Up to Pursue a Goal? Write Your Own Sonnet Word / Play Getting Caught: Secret Crush/Love Notes Page to Stage: When Would You Set It?
• After the Performance………………………………20 What Does It Mean to Break an Oath? Create Your Own Nine Worthies Duty vs. Desire One Year Later “Wise and Loving” Wearing Masks
Suggested ReadingLove’s Labor’s Lost Resource List…………...…...21
Welcome to the Shakespeare TheatreCompany’s production of Love’s Labor’s Lostby William Shakespeare!
Each season, the Shakespeare Theatre Companypresents five plays by William Shakespeare andother classic playwrights. The EducationDepartment continues to work to deepenunderstanding, appreciation and connection toclassic theatre in learners of all ages. Oneapproach is the publication of First Folio: TeacherCurriculum Guides.
In the 200506 season, the EducationDepartment will publish First Folio: Teacher
Curriculum Guides for our productions of Othello,The Comedy of Errors, Don Juan, The Persiansand Love’s Labor’s Lost. The Guides provideinformation and activities to help students forma personal connection to the play beforeattending the production at the ShakespeareTheatre Company. First Folio guides are full ofmaterial about the playwrights, their world andthe plays they penned. Also included areapproaches to explore the plays andproductions in the classroom before and afterthe performance. First Folio is designed as aresource both for teachers and students.
The Shakespeare Theatre Company’s EducationDepartment provides an array of School,Community, Training and Audience Enrichmentprograms. A full listing of our programs isa v a i l a b l e o n o u r w e b s i t e a twww.ShakespeareTheatre.org or in ourEducation Programs Brochure. If you would likemore information on how you can participate inother Shakespeare Theatre Company programs,please call the Education Hotline at202.547.5688.
Enjoy the show!
First Folio Teacher Curriculum Guide
A Brief History of the AudienceI can take any empty space and call it a bare stage. A man walks across thisempty space whilst someone else is watching him, and this is all that isneeded for an act of theatre to be engaged. — Peter Brook, The Empty Space
ended with what the Christians called “morallyinappropriate” dancing mimes, violent spectator sportssuch as gladiator fights, and the public executions forwhich the Romans were famous. The Romans lovedviolence, and the audience was a lively crowd.Because theatre was free, it was enjoyed by people ofevery social class. They were vocal, enjoyed hissingbad actors off the stage, and loved to watch criminalsmeet large ferocious animals, and soon after, enjoyedwatching those same criminals meet their death.
The Far EastIn Asia, theatre developed in much the same way ithas elsewhere, through agricultural festivals andreligious worship. The Chinese and Japaneseaudiences have always been tireless, mainly becausetheir theatre forms, such as the Japanese “Kabuki” and“Noh” plays and Chinese operas, could last anywherebetween a full day, if not three days, beginningbetween six to nine in the morning! In China, theaudience was separated; the higher classes sat closerto the action of the play, and the lower classes,generally a louder, more talkative bunch, would beplaced in stalls at the back. The audience expected asuperior performance, and if it lacked in any way, theaudience could stop the production and insist on adifferent presentation. In Japan, theatre began withallday rice festivals and temple plays sponsored bypriests. These evolved into “street performances”where the performers led the audience on a tripthrough the village. In theatre houses, the upperclasses sat in constructed boxes, and women indisguise (it was not considered proper for arespectable woman to be seen at the theatre) andlower classes would stand below with the “inspector”standing on a high platform in the middle, keeping astrict eye on everyone.
A Couple of Hundred Years Without ArtTolerance took a holiday during the period ofEuropean history known as the Dark Ages. During thistime period culture of all kind went on hiatus—mostespecially that frivolous, godless display of lewd andlicentious behavior known as theatre. Fortunately it
The nature of the audience has changed throughout history, evolving from a participatory crowd to agroup of people sitting behind an imaginary line, silently observing the performers. The audience iscontinually growing and changing. There has always been a need for human beings to communicatetheir wants, needs, perceptions and disagreements to others. This need to communicate is thefoundation of art and the foundation of theatre’s relationship to its audience.
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In the BeginningTheatre began as ritual, with tribal dances andfestivals celebrating the harvest, marriages, gods, warand basically any other event that warranted a party.People all over the world congregated in villages. Itwas a participatory kind of theatre, the performerswould be joined by the villagers who believed thattheir lives depended on a successful celebration—theharvest had to be plentiful or the battle victorious, orsimply to be in good graces with their god or gods.Sometimes these festivals would last for days and thevillage proved tireless in their ability to celebrate.Many of these types of festivals survive today in thefolk history of areas such as Scandinavia, Asia, Greeceand other countries throughout Europe.
It’s Greek to MeThe first recorded plays come from the Greeks (fourthand fifth centuries BCE). Their form of theatre beganin much the same way as previous forms did. Itstemmed from the celebration of the wine harvestand the gods who brought citizens a fruitful harvest—specifically Dionysus, the god of wine. Spectators hada great deal of respect for their gods, and thousandswould flock to the theatre to experience a full day ofcelebration. The day of drama and song made for alively crowd. Staffbearers patrolled the aisles to keepthe rowdies under control. While theatre was free,your seat was determined by your station in life. Therich had cushioned seats at the front, while thepeasants, artisans and women were forced to takeseats at the back. In the later years, after a full day ofdrink, Greek audiences were not above showingdisapproval at a lessthanspectacular performance.Stones were thrown, as well as other sloppy objects,hissing was popular and loud groanings ofdiscontent could usher any actor into earlyretirement.
The Romans, or the inspiration for GladiatorThe Romans took the idea of “spectator” an inch or sofurther. Their theatre (first through third centuriesBCE) developed in much the same way as the Greeks;with comedy, tragedy and festivals, but unfortunately
reemerged, with some severe restrictions, during theMiddle Ages.
Pageant WagonsWestern theatre further developed from the Greekand Roman traditions through the Middle Ages with“Mystery Plays” sponsored by the church. Organizedtheatre was frowned upon, as it was a place forcongregation of the lower classes, encouragingdisease and immoral behavior. Church leaders wouldallow performances of bible scenes, however, for thepeople who could not read. These productionsmoved to different locations much like traveling the“stations of the cross.” To spread the good word tothe broadest section of the population, these playsleft the confines of the church building and began totravel on what were known as “pageant wagons.”These wagons held one entire location, and a seriesof wagons hooked together permitted a company totell an entire story just about anywhere. Troupes ofactors would roam the countryside setting up makeshift theatres in inns, pubs, public squares—prettymuch anywhere they could park.
Within This Wooden ODuring Shakespeare’s era—the Elizabethan period—theatre companies were awarded status andprivilege based on patronage from wealthylandholders or the royal family. With patronage camemoney so the companies began building theatres.The theatre of Shakespeare’s day was attended by all,was inexpensive, and was known to be an incrediblygood time. Surrounding the stage was the lower “pit”where the “groundlings” (or lower classes)congregated and above, octagonally surroundingthe pit, were the stalls reserved for the upper classes.If you were stationed in the pit, it was not uncommonto have a goblet of wine dumped on your head—orto be drooled or spat upon by the “more civilized”people above you. Elizabethan audiences did notknow what it meant to be quiet for a performanceand would talk back to the actors. Thought to beinvolved in spreading the “black plague,” the goodtime abruptly ended with the closing of the theatresin 1592.
Look at me, look at me...During the Restoration, theatre became a luxury. Forthe almost entirely upper class audience, the purposeof going to the theatre was “to see, and to be seen.”The stage was a rectangular area between a longhallway of boxes. The best seats in the house wereoften right on stage! The house lights were up full sothe audience could see each other better, not theaction on stage. The theatre of the Restorationconsisted mainly of light, fluffy comedies performedin an oratory style—actors posing, wearing BIGcostumes and practically screaming over the din of
the audience. Theatre companies still existed on thepatronage of the very wealthy and often performedplays exclusively in the salons of the rich, famous andpowerful. A few hundred years later, opera composerRichard Wagner figured out that to focus theaudience’s attention away from themselves and ontothe stage, the lights needed to be off—forcing theaudience to watch the performance. Since that timethe audience has taken its cue that the performance isabout to begin from the lights overhead beginning todim. This small adjustment in lighting effectivelyerected a permanent barrier between the actiononstage and the audience.
Freud...Tell Me About Your MotherWhile dimming the house lights has drasticallychanged the overall aesthetic of theatre, anothermodern movement has had even greater impact ontheatre in the 20th century. Psychoanalysis—id, ego,superego and subconscious desires—made theatremore introspective in its search for truth. As theatrebecame more psychological, more a representation ofreal life, the audience felt as if they wereeavesdropping. Twentieth century theatregoers spenda great deal of time and thought pondering thepsychological motivations of characters. There is nowan imaginary wall, called the “fourth wall,” separatingthe performers and the audience. It affects how weview the performance and how actors portraycharacters—we can observe the people onstage asthey relate their problems, fears and desires withoutthem noticing us at all.
Now the Options are EndlessToday, for the audience, just about anything goes.History has shared with us many types of theatre andwe, the spectators, bring our own experiences andhistories to the event, causing us to react differently todifferent productions. Unlike movies or television, theactoraudience relationship is a “live” relationship:each is in the other’s presence, in the same place atthe same time. It is the exchange between the twothat gives theatre its unique quality. As audiencemembers we have an obligation to be attentive,allowing the performers to fulfill their obligation—toentertain and enlighten us. There is always a dialoguebetween audience and performer, whether visual orvocal. All individuals participating in the theatricalevent, whether as audience or performer, bring to it apersonal background and experience that becomesvital to their response to the interaction. In the sameway, participants leave the performance enrichedboth by their own individual experience and that ofthe larger community to which they belong for a briefmoment within the confines of the theatre walls. Wemust listen to capture and understand what theperformers are trying to communicate, and at thesame time, they must listen to us.
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No man’s life has been the subject of more speculationthan William Shakespeare’s. For all his fame andcelebration, Shakespeare’s personal history remains amystery. There are two primary sources forinformation on the Bard—his works, and various legaland church documents that have survived fromElizabethan times. Unfortunately, there are many gapsin this information and much room for conjecture.
We know a man named William Shakespeare wasbaptized at StratforduponAvon on April 26, 1564,and was buried at Holy Trinity Church in Stratford onApril 25, 1616. Tradition holds that he was born threedays earlier, and that he died on his birthday—April23—but this is perhaps more romantic myth than fact.Young William was born of John Shakespeare, aglover and leather merchant, and Mary Arden, alanded heiress. William, according to the churchregister, was the third of eight children in theShakespeare household, three of whom died inchildhood. We assume that Shakespeare went togrammar school, since his father was first a member ofthe Stratford Council and later high bailiff (theequivalent of town mayor). A grammar schooleducation would have meant that Shakespeare wasexposed to the rudiments of Latin rhetoric, logic andliterature.
In 1575, John Shakespeare suddenly disappears fromStratford’s political records. Some believe that hisremoval from office necessitated his son’s quittingschool and taking a position as a butcher’s apprentice.Church records tell us that banns (announcements)were published for the marriage of a WilliamShakespeare to an Ann Whatley in 1582 (there are norecords indicating that this arrangement wassolemnized, however). On November 27 of the sameyear a marriage license was granted to 18yearoldWilliam and 26yearold Anne Hathaway. A daughter,Susanna, was born to the couple six months later. We
know that twins,Hamnet and Judith,were born soon afterand that the twinswere baptized. We alsoknow that Hamnetdied in childhood atthe age of 11, onAugust 11, 1596. Wedon’t know how theyoung Shakespearecame to travel toLondon or how he firstcame to the stage. Onetheory holds thatyoung Wil l wasarrested as a poacher(one who huntsillegally on someone
On William Shakespeare
else’s property) andescaped to London toavoid prosecution inStratford. Another holdsthat he left home towork in the city as aschool teacher. Neitheris corroborated bycontemporary testimonyor public record.Whatever the truth maybe, it is clear that in theyears between 1582and 1592, WilliamS h a k e s p e a r e d i dbecome involved in theLondon theatre scene asa principal actor andplaywright with one of several repertory companies.
By 1594, Shakespeare was listed as a shareholder inthe Lord Chamberlain’s Men, one of the most popularacting companies in London. He was a member of thiscompany for the rest of his career, which lasted untilapproximately 1611. When James I came to thethrone in 1603, he issued a royal license toShakespeare and his fellow players, inviting them tocall themselves the King’s Men. In 1608, the King’sMen leased the Blackfriar’s Theatre in London. Thistheatre, which had artificial lighting and was probablyheated, served as their winter playhouse. The famousGlobe Theatre was their summer performance space.
In 1616 Shakespeare’s daughter Judith marriedThomas Quiney, the son of a neighbor in Stratford.Her father revised his will six weeks later; within amonth he had died. The revised version of WilliamShakespeare’s will bequeathed his house and all thegoods therein to his daughter Susanna and herhusband Dr. John Hall, leaving Judith and Thomasonly a small sum of money; his wife, who survived him,received the couple’s second best bed.
In the years since Shakespeare’s death, he has risen tothe position of patron saint of English literature anddrama. In the 1800s especially, his plays were sopopular that many refused to believe that an actorfrom Stratford had written them. To this day somebelieve that Sir Francis Bacon was the real author ofthe plays; others choose to believe Edward DeVere,the Earl of Oxford, was the author. Still others wouldprefer to believe Walter Raleigh or ChristopherMarlowe penned the lines attributed to Shakespeare.While most people are content to believe that geniuscan spring up in any social class or rural setting, thegap between the known facts and the myths thatsurround Shakespeare’s life leaves ample room forspeculation.
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Portrait of Shakespeare engraved byMartin Droeshout, found on the titlepage of the First Folio edition ofShakespeare’s works, 1623.
The Chandos portrait of Shakespeare,which is the only one known to beproduced during his lifetime.
4
stood on the verge of collapse. Many businesses,including theatres, closed, in part to keep people fromspreading the disease and in part because of the laborshortage that resulted from such widespread illness anddeath. Once the epidemic subsided, the theatres reopened and quickly regained their former popularity.
This explosion of commerce and culture lastedthroughout Elizabeth’s reign and into that of hersuccessor, James I. James’ rule brought many changes toEnglish life; the two most pivotal were a bankrupteconomy and an intense dissatisfaction from a minorityreligious group—the Puritans. In September 1642, thePuritan Parliament issued an edict that forbade all stageplays and closed the theatres; an act that effectivelybrought to a close the Elizabethan Renaissance.Theatres rapidly fell into disrepair and neglect until theRestoration in 1660.
In writing his plays and sonnets, William Shakespearedrew ideas from many different sources. His keen eye fordetail and his sharp understanding of human natureenabled him to create some of the most enduring worksof drama and poetry ever produced. But his work alsoprovides an insightful commentary on 16thcenturyEnglish values, life, history and thought.
ELIZABETHAN ENGLAND
The age of Shakespeare was a great time in Englishhistory. During the reign of Elizabeth I (1558—1603),England emerged as the leading naval and commercialpower of the Western world, consolidating this positionwith the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588.Elizabeth I firmly established the Church of England(begun by her father Henry VIII after a dispute with thePope) during this time. London in the 16th centuryunderwent a dramatic transformation; the populationgrew 400% between 1500 and 1600, swelling to nearly200,000 people in the city proper and outlying regionby the time an emerging artist from Stratford came totown. A rising merchant middle class was carving out aproductive livelihood, and the economy was booming.
During Shakespeare's lifetime, England also experienceda tremendous cultural revival. This socalled EnglishRenaissance found expression in architecture, music,literature and drama. Shakespeare both drew inspirationfrom and enhanced high and popular culture of theEnglish Renaissance. Popular entertainment during the16th century tended to be boisterous and often violent.Many men, women and children attended publicexecutions of criminals that took place on a regularbasis, and persons of all social classes and gendersattended theatre performances. The trade of bookmaking flourished during the period as public educationfueled the appetite for great works in print.
During the years 15901593, England suffered from anoutbreak of terrible proportions; the bubonic plague or“Black Death” claimed so many lives that English society
Illustration of London,Wenceslaus Hollar, 1647.
The “Dewitt” sketch of the Swan Theatre is thought to be the onlycontemporary visual account of an Elizabethan playhouse.
Plays are also categorized in the First Folio as Histories,done so because these works chronicled the lives ofEnglish Kings. These plays tended toward tragedy(Richard II or Richard III, for instance) or comedy (theFalstaff subplots of both parts of Henry IV and thePistolFluellen encounters of Henry V.) Through theeffort to categorize Shakespeare’s plays in publication,we can see that his writing style mingled theantagonistic visions of comedy and tragedy in waysthat still seem novel and startling. The recognition ofthis has led scholars since the publication of the FirstFolio to add additional genres—problem plays,romances, tragicomedies—to help classify the works ofShakespeare. Still other scholars have augmentedthese genres by grouping the plays chronologically,separating by time periods.
The first period, pre1594 including Richard III and TheComedy of Errors, has its roots in Roman and medievaldrama—the construction of the plays, while good, isobvious and shows the author's hand more so thanhis later works. The second period, 15941600including Henry V and A Midsummer Night’s Dream,shows more growth in style and a lesslaboredconstruction. The histories of this period areconsidered Shakespeare's best, portraying the lives ofroyalty in human terms. He also begins theinterweaving of genres that would become one of hisstylistic signatures. His comedies mature in this period,developing deeper characterization and subjects thanpreviously seen in his work.
ShakeWilliam Shakespeare, in terms of both his life and bodyof work, is the most writtenabout author in thehistory of Western civilization. His canon includes 38plays, 154 sonnets and two epic narrative poems.During his lifetime, many of his plays were publishedin what are known as Quarto editions, frequentlywithout receiving the playwright’s permission. TheQuartos are mostly flawed versions containing addedmaterial or missing entire passages from the originalworks. The first collected edition of Shakespeare’sworks is called the First Folio and was published afterthe playwright’s death in 1623 by two members of hisacting company, John Heminges and Henry Condell.Since then the works of Shakespeare have beenstudied, analyzed, translated and enjoyed the worldover as some of the finest masterpieces of the Englishlanguage.
Establishing the chronology of Shakespeare's plays is afrustrating and difficult task. It is impossible to know inwhat order the plays were written because there is norecord of the first production date of any of his works.However, scholars have decided upon a specific playchronology based on the following sources ofinformation: 1) several historical events and allusionsto those events in the plays; 2) the records ofperformances of the plays, taken from such places asthe diaries of other Shakespeare contemporaries; 3)the publication dates of sources; and 4) the dates thatthe plays appear in print (remembering that a playwas produced immediately after it was written in theElizabethan age, but may not have been published foryears following the first production). Despite the factthat we have an accepted play chronology, we mustkeep in mind that the dating is conjectural, and thereare many who disagree with the order of plays listedon the next page.
Drawing distinctions between Shakespeare’s plays andcategorizing his works has been a focus of scholars forhundreds of years, and the criteria used todifferentiate the plays into types or genres haschanged over time.
The distinction between tragedy and comedy becameparticularly important during Shakespeare's life.During that time writers of tragedy conformed toAristotle’s definition, relating the tale of a great man orwoman brought down through hubris or fate.Comedy in this time, much like in our own, descendedfrom the Roman "New Comedy" of Plautus andTerence, which kept away from politics and focusedon love, domestic troubles and family affairs.
In the First Folio, some of Shakespeare’s plays aredivided by their theatrical genre—either Tragedies orComedies—however, some of the tragedies’protagonists or heroes, like Romeo, Timon or Macbeth,do not easily accommodate Aristotle's definition.
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The third period, 16001608 including Macbeth andKing Lear, includes the great tragedies—the principalworks that would earn Shakespeare his fame in latercenturies. The comedies of this period showShakespeare at a literary crossroads—they are oftendarker and without the clear comic resolution ofprevious comedies—hence the term "problem plays" todescribe them. The fourth period, post1608 includingThe Winter’s Tale and The Tempest, encompasseswhat have been referred to as the romances ortragicomedies. Shakespeare at the end of his careerseemed preoccupied with themes of redemption. Thewriting is more serious yet more lyrical, and the playsshow Shakespeare at his most symbolic. Scholarsargue whether this period owes more toShakespeare's maturity as a playwright or merelysignifies a changing trend in Elizabethan theatre.
It is important for scholars, teachers and students tokeep in mind that these “genre” classifications werenot determined by Shakespeare during the writing ofeach play but imposed after his death to help readersbetter understand his work.
Shakespeare’s Plays
FirstPerformed Title159091 Henry VI, Part II159091 Henry VI, Part III159192 Henry VI, Part I159293 Richard III159293 The Comedy of Errors159394 Titus Andronicus159394 The Taming of the Shrew159495 The Two Gentlemen of Verona159495 Love's Labour's Lost159495 Romeo and Juliet159596 Richard II159596 A Midsummer Night's Dream159697 King John159697 The Merchant of Venice159798 Henry IV, Part I159798 Henry IV, Part II159899 Much Ado About Nothing159899 Henry V15991600 Julius Caesar15991600 As You Like It15991600 Twelfth Night160001 Hamlet160001 The Merry Wives of Windsor160102 Troilus and Cressida160203 All's Well That Ends Well160405 Measure for Measure160405 Othello160506 King Lear160506 Macbeth160607 Antony and Cleopatra160708 Coriolanus160708 Timon of Athens160809 Pericles160910 Cymbeline161011 The Winter's Tale161112 The Tempest161213 Henry VIII161213 The Two Noble Kinsmen*
*The Two Noble Kinsmen is listed although afew scholars do not believe it is an originalShakespeare work. The majority of the playwas probably written by John Fletcher,Shakespeare's close friend who succeeded himas foremost dramatist for the King's Men.
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First Folio title page of Hamlet.
Shakespeare’s
When we scan a piece of text (marking it with afor the unstressed and / for stressed), we simply tapout the rhythm of the line, based on dee DUM deeDUM dee DUM dee DUM dee DUM, to see if the line isstructured in iambic pentameter:
Embracing the rules of this new verse, Shakespeare’searly writing operated almost entirely within strictiambic pentameter.
Prose in Shakespeare’s work is not in iambicpentameter and relies more heavily on other literarydevices for its speed and rhythm. These devicesinclude: antithesis (setting opposite words againsteach other), lists (series of actions or descriptive wordsthat build to a climax) and puns (the use or misuse of aword to mean another word). Shakespeare used proseto express conversation between the lower classes,like the Mechanicals in A Midsummer Night’s Dream,or familiar or intimate scenes, as with Henry andKatherine at the end of Henry V. He also utilizedprose to express madness or vulgarity, as in thenunnery scene of Hamlet. The exact meaning of a shiftfrom verse to prose is not constant, but it alwayssignals a change in the situation, characters or tone ofa scene. Only Much Ado About Nothing and TheMerry Wives of Windsor rely almost entirely on prose.
In the following passage from The Merry Wives ofWindsor, note antithesis in Ford’s comparison ofhimself with Page and of other men’s possessions withMistress Ford, see the list of things Ford would rathertrust others with than his “wife with herself” andobserve the pun on “effect”:
FordPage is an ass, a secure ass; he will trust his wife, he will notbe jealous. I will rather trust a Fleming with my butter,Parson Hugh the Welshman with my cheese, an Irishmanwith my aquavitae bottle, or a thief to walk my amblinggelding, than my wife with herself. Then she plots, then sheruminates, then she devises; and what they think in theirhearts they may effect, they will break their hearts but theywill effect. God be praised for my jealousy!
(II.ii.300314)
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Verse & ProseDuring the Elizabethan period, “English” was arelatively young language (only about 160 years old)combining Latin, French and AngloSaxon. There wasno dictionary or standardized literacy education.People in Shakespeare’s London spoke much morethan they read, causing the rules of grammar andspelling to be quite fluid. Writers created new wordsdaily and poets expressed themselves in a new formof writing known as blank verse, first appearing in1557 in Certain Bokes of Virgiles Aenis by the Earl ofSurrey:
They whistled all, with fixed face attentWhen Prince Aeneas from the royal seatThus gan to speak, O Queene, it is thy will,I should renew a woe can not be told:
(Book II, 14)
That the verse was “blank” simply meant that thepoetry did not rhyme, allowing rhymeless poets suchas Virgil and Ovid to be translated and Elizabethanplaywrights to emulate the natural rhythms ofEnglish speech within iambic pentameter.
A typical line of verse from this time contains fiveunits of meter or feet. Each foot contains twosyllables. When the first syllable is unstressed and thesecond syllable is stressed (dee DUM), it is an iamb(iambic meaning push, persistency or determination).The prefix penta means five, as in the fivesidedshape—a pentagon. Iambic pentameter is thereforeone line of poetry consisting of five forwardmovingfeet.
It was this new tradition of blank verse in iambicpentameter that Shakespeare inherited as heembarked on his career as playwright and poet.Similar to the human heartbeat, a horse gallop or thebeat of a piece of music, iambic pentameter drivesand supports Shakespeare’s verse, moving thelanguage along in a forward flow that emulates thenatural speech and rhythms of life. Here is a standardline of verse in iambic pentameter from Romeo andJuliet.
But soft! What light through yonder window breaks?(II.ii.2)
If we were to say the rhythm and not the words, itwould sound like this:
dee DUM dee DUM dee DUM dee DUM dee DUM
But soft! What light through yonder window breaks?(II.ii.2)
Eventually, in Othello, King Lear and Macbeth,Shakespeare became a master of building, breakingand reinventing rhythms and language to create anentire tone or world for a play. Continuouslyexperimenting and exploring the combination of form,meaning and language, he used short and sharedlines between characters more and more, as inMacbeth, allowing the speed and rhythm ofcharacters’ thoughts to meet and collide.
Lady Macbeth I heard the owl scream and the crickets cry. Did not you speak?
Macbeth When?Lady Macbeth Now.Macbeth As I descended?
(II.ii.1519)
By the time Shakespeare gives his final farewell in TheTempest, believed by many to be his last play, his verseis so varied and specific to character and situation thatit is extremely difficult to scan. Shakespeare broke,rebuilt and reinvented the verse form so many timesthat he plays the equivalent of jazz in the rhythms ofCymbeline, The Winter’s Tale and The Tempest. At theend of The Tempest, in Prospero’s powerfully simpleepilogue, Shakespeare brings his work full circle byreturning to the simplicity of regular verse. Havingcreated almost 1,700 words, timeless characters andthe greatest poetry in the history of the Englishlanguage, Shakespeare “buries his art” and returns tothe form with which he began.
As his writing skill level increased, Shakespearegradually employed alliteration (the repetition of avowel or consonant in two or more words in aphrase), assonance (resembling vowel sounds in aline) and onomatopoeia (words with soundsimitating their meaning) to create deeply poetic,vibrant images on stage for the characters and hisaudience. Examples of these three literary devices arefound in the following four lines:
ChorusFrom camp to camp through the foul womb of nightThe hum of either army stilly sounds,That the fixed sentinels almost receiveThe secret whispers of each other's watch.
(Henry V, IV.47)
The hard “C” is repeated in the first line (alliteration),the “O” is heard in “through”, “foul” and“womb” (assonance) and the word “whispers” in thelast line imitates the sound whispers produce(onomatopoeia).
By the time Shakespeare wrote Hamlet, he sometimesallowed a character’s thoughts to overflow theirusual pentameter lines with an extra beat, oftenending with a soft or feminine ending. He alsoutilized more and more enjambed or runon lines,allowing thoughts to continue from line to line,rather than finishing a thought per line. He grew toexpress the inner life of his characters and the size oftheir thoughts within the structure and the scansionof the text. In this famous passage from Hamlet,notice the overflow in the first line of Hamlet’s hugethought beyond the regular pentameter, forming afeminine ending:
With this overflow, Shakespeare expresses theenormity of Hamlet’s thought, his situation and theuneasy exploration of this argument. (It is importantto remember, however, scanning is subjective andmust be decided by the individual actor or reader.)This line might also be scanned:
This creates a trochee, or an iamb of reversed stress—DEE dum.
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An artist’s rendition of the inside of an Elizabethantheatre.
To be, or not to be: that is the question:(III.i.55)
To be, or not to be: that is the question:(III.i.55)
1564 William Shakespeare born to John andMary Shakespeare in StratfordUponAvon.
1570 John Shakespeare first applies for afamily coat of arms. His application isdenied.
1582 William Shakespeare marries AnneHathaway.
1583 Shakespeare’s daughter Susanna born.1585 Shakespeare’s twins Judith and Hamnet
born.1587 Shakespeare goes to London to pursue
life in the theatre.
1593 Shakespeare writes Venus and Adonis.Also begins writing the Sonnets.
1594 Shakespeare becomes a foundingmember of the Lord Chamberlain’sMen.
1596 Hamnet Shakespeare dies at age 11.1597 Shakespeare purchases New Place in
Stratford.1599 Shakespeare’s family is granted a coat
of arms.1601 Shakespeare’s father dies.
1603 The Lord Chamberlain’s Men arerenamed the King’s Men. They performat the Court of King James I more thanany other company.
1605 Shakespeare purchases more land inStratford.
1608 The King’s Men begin playing at theBlackfriars Theatre, a prominent indoortheatre.
1609 Shakespeare’s Sonnets published.
1616 In March, Shakespeare, apparently ill,revises his will. On April 23rd he diesand is buried at Holy Trinity Church,Stratford.
1623 Shakespeare’s First Folio published.
1558 Queen Elizabeth I takes the throne.
1562 A series of civil wars between Catholicsand Protestants, known as the Wars ofReligion, begin in France.
1564 John Calvin, an influential Protestantleader during the Reformation, dies.An outbreak of the plague devastatesLondon.
1568 A revolt of the SpanishruledNetherlands against Philip II, King ofSpain, begins the Eighty Years War.
1580 Sir Frances Drake circumnavigates theEarth.
1586 Mary Queen of Scots is tried for treasonand executed by beheading.
1588 The British Navy defeats the SpanishArmada, avoiding a long war betweenEngland and Spain.
1589 The Wars of Religion end when Henryof Navarre ascends to the throne tobecome King Henry IV of France.
1598 Philip II of Spain dies.The French Protestants are permittedto freely practice their religion by theEdict of Nantes.
1601 The Earl of Essex attempts to rebelagainst Queen Elizabeth, fails and isexecuted.
1603 Sir Walter Raleigh is arrested, tried andimprisoned for disobeying the Queenby secretly marrying one of her maids ofhonor.Queen Elizabeth dies. King James VI ofScotland, son of Mary Queen of Scots,becomes King James I of England. Theplague once again ravages London.
1604 England establishes a peace treaty withSpain.
1607 Jamestown, one of the first Englishcolonies in the Americas, is founded.
1610 King Henry IV of France is murdered.He is succeeded by his son, Louis XIII.
1618 The Protestant German princes and theirforeign supporters begin their struggleagainst the Holy Roman Empire. Thismarks the start of the Thirty Years War.
1540 Michelangelo finishes painting The LastJudgment.
1543 Copernicus’ heliocentric theory, claimingthe sun is the center of the universe, isfirst published.
1564 Christopher “Kit” Marlowe born.1565 Arthur Golding translates Ovid’s
Metamorphoses. The text later influencedShakespeare’s work.
1567 Richard Burbage, a tragedian whoportrayed many of Shakespeare’scharacters, born.
1572 Poet John Donne born.Playwright Ben Jonson born.
1576 The first permanent theatre in England,The Theatre, is built.
1577 Raphael Holinshed publishes TheChronicles of England, Scotland andIreland, which becomes Shakespeare’sprimary source for the history plays.
1580 Thomas Middleton, a playwright whocollaboratively wrote many plays, born.
1588 Marlowe’s play Dr. Faustus first produced.1590 Marlowe’s play The Jew of Malta first
produced; it influenced Shakespeare’sThe Merchant of Venice.
1592 Thomas Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy firstproduced. It influenced Shakespeare’sHamlet.
1597 The Theatre permanently closes due tothe expiration of its lease.
1599 The Globe Theatre is built on Banksidefrom the timbers of The Theatre.
1603 The “Scientific Revolution” begins withJohann Kepler’s recordings of planetarymovements and Galileo Galilei’sperfection of the telescope.
1606 Ben Jonson’s play Volpone is written.
1607 Burbage leases the Blackfriars Theatrefor indoor performances.
1611 The King James Bible first published.
1616 Ben Jonson’s Workes published in folio.
A of Western World Events
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Timeline
Shakespeare’s Life and Works Events in Western History Events in Western Art, Science& Culture
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Synopsis of Love’s Labor’s LostK ing Ferdinand of Navarre and his lords Berowne,
Longaville and Dumaine have sworn an oath tolive and study together for three years. In the
interest of scholarly pursuits, the men vow to fast, tosleep only three hours a night and, most importantly, toabstain from the company of women. Berowne questionsthe severity of the oath but signs the contract despite hisreservations. Constable Dull, the local officer, arrives withhis prisoner Costard. Costard has been apprehended forconsorting with the country maid Jaquenetta, therebybreaking the new law against socializing with women.King Ferdinand orders that Costard be put in the custodyof Don Adriano de Armado, a Spaniard known for hisboasting.
As Don Armado confesses to his servant Moth that he isin love with Jaquenetta, Constable Dull arrives withCostard and Jaquenetta. He delivers Costard to Armado’scustody and leaves to take Jaquenetta to the park whereshe will be employed as a dairymaid. Before Jaquenetta isled out, Armado makes plans to meet her at her lodge.Moth takes Costard away to prison.
The Princess of France arrives with her ladies, Rosaline,Katherine and Maria. King Ferdinand greets them but willnot allow them inside his court. The Princess tells the Kingthat she has come on behalf of her father to collect therepayment of a loan. The King denies receiving themoney, and the Princess calls for her servant Boyet toretrieve the receipt. Boyet informs the Princess that theywill not be able to get the receipt until the next day. Inthe meantime, the ladies set up tents in the field and KingFerdinand assures them they will be well treated.Berowne and Rosaline share a few words, whileLongaville and Dumaine show interest in Maria andKatherine. After the King and his lords leave, Boyetremarks on how the King seemed to be taken with thePrincess.
Don Armado frees Costard from prison in exchange fordelivering a love letter to Jaquenetta. As Costard is aboutto leave he runs into Berowne who asks him to deliver aletter to Rosaline. Costard leaves to deliver the letters, andBerowne confesses his love for Rosaline. Costard finds thePrincess and her ladies hunting and mistakenly gives theletter from Armado to the ladies.
The pretentious schoolmaster Holofernes, the churchcleric Nathaniel and Constable Dull are discussing thedeer shot by the Princess when Costard and Jaquenettaarrive. Jaquenetta asks Holofernes to read the letter sentby Don Armado. As Holofernes reads, he discovers it isthe letter from Berowne meant for Rosaline. Holofernestells them to deliver the letter to King Ferdinand.
Berowne is composing another sonnet to Rosaline whenhe sees the King and decides to eavesdrop on him. TheKing is reading a letter that he has composed to thePrincess when he overhears Longaville entering. TheKing hides as Longaville professes his love for Maria;Longaville, in turn, hides and overhears Dumaine
profess his love for Katherine. One by one, the men comeforward to scold those they have overheard. Berowne isthe last to step out and rebuke the men for their betrayal.As he is admonishing them, Costard enters with theletter. Berowne’s own love is found out, and he admitshis guilt to the others. Berowne then convinces the menthat they must give up their oaths in order to truly findthemselves, and the lords set off to woo the ladies withdances, masques and entertainment. The King ordersArmado to provide entertainment. Armado consults withHolofernes who suggests a pageant of the NineWorthies.
The ladies are showing each other the presents sent tothem by the lords when Boyet enters to tell them that theKing and his men are coming disguised as Russians tocourt the ladies. The Princess decides to foil their plan byhaving each lady wear a mask and exchange the giftssent to them. Each lady will wear another’s gift so thatthe King and his lords will mistake their love for another.The men arrive and entertain and dance with the ladies,and then one by one they break off to woo theirrespective loves. Once the men leave, the women discusswhat the men said and determine to ridicule them fortheir mistakes when they return. The King and his menreturn and are mocked by the ladies. Costard enters andintroduces the pageant of the Nine Worthies.
The pageant is interrupted by Costard’s announcementthat Jaquenetta is pregnant by Armado. Armadochallenges Costard to a duel but is interrupted by themessenger, Mercade, bringing news of the King ofFrance’s death. The Princess must leave that same night.The King tries to continue wooing and proposesmarriage, but he is reprimanded by the Princess forbreaking his first oath. The Princess states that if he willspend a full year in a remote hermitage, away fromworldly pleasures, she will have him. Each woman in turngives similar ultimatums, to which the men agree. Theperformers return to sing a final song after whicheveryone goes their separate ways.
Alene Dawson, Libby Christophersen, Enid Graham andMelissa Bowen in the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s199495 production of Love’s Labor’s Lost.
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Throughout history, writers have based some oftheir finest works on stories that have alreadybeen written or performed. William
Shakespeare was no exception. Shakespeare often“borrowed” story lines from other authors asinspiration for his plays. Shakespeare used manypopular stories to fuel his plot lines, including Romanplays by Terence, Ovid’s Metamorphoses andHolinshed’s Chronicles, and he even soughtinspiration from the Bible. Another important sourcefrom which he may have derived his characters istales from the rich Italian tradition of commedia dell’arte.
Commedia dell’ arte began as Italian street theatre,and its origins can be traced back as far as the 14thcentury. Commedia plays were presented by troupesof actors traveling together from town to townperforming in public spaces, squares, fields ormarkets. Unlike Shakespeare’s plays, commedia playswere improvised around an outline with stockcharacters and comic bits called lazzi. Plot lines andcharacters from commedia can be found in manypopular forms of entertainment even today. Stockcharacters in commedia included servants, masters,lovers and merchants. These characters are the heart
again in different story lines. Most commediaperformances included 8 to 10 stock characters.
One example of a commedia stock character found inLove’s Labor’s Lost is the Innamorati, or the Lovers.The Lovers in commedia plays are wealthy nobles whowill do anything, no matter how silly or ridiculous, towin the affections of their love interest. In commedia,the Lovers do not wear masks like most of the othercharacters. They are true leading men and ladies,wearing the most fashionable clothing of the day andspeaking in flowery poetry. In Love’s Labor’s Lost wefind not one but four sets of lovers fitting into thiscommedia stock character description. Lovers incommedia often express their love for one anotherthrough letters and poems. The Lovers in Love’sLabor’s Lost do the same, which creates somewonderful comic moments.
There are also some middle class stock characters incommedia who appear in Love’s Labor’s Lost,including Il Dottore and Il Capitano. These characterscare about their own social advancement above allelse. They will often do anything to make money orcreate the façade that they are smarter or braver thanthey really are. Il Capitano, or the Captain, is best
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The Commedia Connection
Mandy Olsen as Jacquenetta and Eric Hoffmann as Don Adriano de Armado in Love’s Labor’s Lost at The Shakespeare Theatreof New Jersey. Jacquenetta and Don Armado are based on commedia stock characters.
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described as a cowardly soldier. He often pretendsthat he is a very brave man who has fought innumerous battles; in reality, he is a coward andwould probably run in fear if he were ever forced toactually fight someone. Il Capitano often speaks in aSpanish dialect, wears a striped tunic with goldenbuttons and a feathered hat, and he carries a longsword. He is also usually unmasked. The Captaincommonly pursues beautiful women who are totallyout of his league and would never return hisaffections. Don Armado is a classic Il Capitanocharacter in nearly everything he says and does.Armado sees himself as a great warrior yet gives noevidence to support this image. He pretends to be agreat man and a great soldier and pursues thebeautiful Jaquenetta with reckless abandon. She, ofcourse, has no interest in him and his dreams ofwooing her go unfulfilled. Much like Il Capitano,Armado is seen as a big joke and a fool to everyonearound him and serves as a great source for laughs.
Il Dottore, or the Doctor, is another stock characterthat appears in Love’s Labor’s Lost. Il Dottore can be amedical doctor, lawyer or professor, who isunbearably pompous and loves to hear himself talk.He quotes Latin, usually incorrectly, but speaks withthe utmost confidence despite his flubs. The Doctor isusually obese and wears a white collar, a black coatand a black halfmask with a long warty nose. InLove’s Labors Lost, Holofernes is a typical Il Dottorecharacter, although Il Dottore’s role is usually a fatherto one of the Lovers, which Holofernes is not.Holofernes serves as an educational figure to thePrincess of France and her ladies in waiting.Holofernes purports to be a teacher and an expert onall subjects when, in reality, he knows very little. Andmuch like Il Dottore, Holofernes drones on and onabout subjects that are of no interest to the ladies.Holofernes makes endless lists in his speeches, usingupwards of 10 adjectives in a single monologue to
describe something.This too is acharacteristic of IlDottore’s speech.
Finally there are thecharacters of thes e r v a n t c l a s s ,including Arlecchino,P e d r o l i n o a n dColombina whosetypes are found inLove’s Labor’s Lost.T h e s e r v a n tc h a r a c t e r s i ncommedia are oftenmischievous andcause problems fortheir masters. InLove’s Labor’s Lost,
Costard is a classiccopy of the Arlecchinocharacter—a wittyservant who alsoserves as an errandboy for his wealthymaster. He is veryintelligent and wittybut can always becounted on to makelittle mistakes thatcreate chaos, such assending a love note tothe wrong person. Incommedia, Arlecchino(also called Harlequin)wears a multicoloredpatchwork costumeand a snubnosedmask. The classicArlecchino character isoften hungry and willdo anything to get abite to eat.
Jaquenetta resembles a character known asColombina, a female equivalent to Arlecchino. She isoften very beautiful and the subject of love and lustfrom several characters in the story. Colombina wearsa patched, multicolored dress much like Arlecchino’scostume. She is either unmasked or wears a smallblack mask that just covers her eyes. Arlecchino andColombina are often each other’s love interest in acommedia play, which reflects Costard andJaquenetta’s relationship in Love’s Labor’s Lost.
Finally, Moth, Don Armando’s faithful servant, bearssimilarities to a character called Pedrolino. Thischaracter is similar to Arlecchino and Colombina butoften lacks their wit and bold courage. Usually,Pedrolino is the lesscapable servant to Il Capitano,which is the exact relationship between Moth andDon Armado. Pedrolino is usually youthful and cute,the subject of mockery by the other charactersbecause of his size. Pedrolino has a white powderedface instead of a mask and wears baggy whiteclothing that is clearly too big for him. In Love’s Labor’sLost, the characters decide to cast the smallstaturedMoth as Hercules in the pageant of the Nine Worthies,much to the amusement of the audience.
The beauty of stock characters is that they containuniversal qualities or stereotypes that nearly everyonecan recognize—and are often borrowed by writers insubsequent time periods. Therefore it makes sensethat Shakespeare would use stock characters like theones found in commedia dell’arte to tell helpilluminate the ideas and themes of his plays.
Watercolor of Il Dottore by MauriceSand, 1862.
Watercolor of Il Capitano by MauriceSand, 1862.
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In Much Ado about Nothing, Benedick speaks of Claudio falling in love,complaining he “was wont to speak plain and to the purpose, like anhonest man and a soldier, and now is he turn’d orthography—his
words are a very fantastical banquet, just so many strangedishes” (2.3.1821). Men falling in love and losing their skills of elocution isnot a new story to any audience, and in Love's Labor's Lost Shakespeareuses this plot device repeatedly. One of the funniest moments of this playis Moth’s observation, “They have been at a great feast of languages, andstol’n the scraps” (5.1.3637). Nearly all of the men in the play have theirhearts stolen and consequently become extravagantly poetical. Love has
taught them “to rhyme and be melancholy” (4.3.14). Scholars and audiences oftencomment that the language of Love’s Labor’s Lost is difficult to understand due to theexcess of puns, dated jokes and verbal acrobatics. However, when you remove thelanguage and comic devices, you are left with a straightforward plot with little dramatictension. The play seems to be about language itself, and the plot and characters there togive it voice. Russ MacDonald writes in Shakespeare and the Arts of Language,“Shakespeare devotes virtually every scene of this play to an exploration, much of itconducted ironically, of the problem of appropriate expression.” The dramatic tension, andtherefore the comedy, comes from each person’s struggle to express themselves well. Themen first use language to avoid love and then as their means to advance it. The clownsemploy puns and wordplay to communicate the concrete and everyday objects of thephysical world rather than abstract feelings. For Holofernes and Armado, the “thinking”men, words are both the means and the end. They revel in their use of language, and tothat end abuse it. The women are the standardbearers of language in the play, fully incommand of their words and mocking everyone else’s use or misuse. With all of theselanguage styles converging in one play, one could easily dismiss this play as “overwritten,”but reviewing the many comic dishes at this “feast of languages,” the audience is “stuffed”full with laughter.
The lovers occupy most of the play with overthetop, excessively flowery dialogue.Scholars agree that Shakespeare was most likely parodying the artificial elegance ofEuphuism, an Elizabethan style of writing first started by John Lyly that used excessivepoetic devices.
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Language in Love’s Labor’s Lost —
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BFantastical
Elocution:Power of speech; art ofpublic speaking.
Euphuism:Highly elaborate andartificial writing style,named after John Lyly’sEuphues. It was verypopular in England inthe 1580s, whenShakespeare was firstbeginning to write hisplays.
John Lyly:(born c.1554, died1606) English author;known chiefly forwordy romances,including Euphues, theAnatomy of Wit andEuphues and HisEngland, both inaffected style.
Title page of Love’s Labor’s Lost,1598 revision.
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Here is an example of the “elegant” language from Euphues: TheAnatomy of Wit by John Lyly:
The sun shineth upon the dunghill and is not corrupted, the diamond lieth in thefire and is not consumed, the crystal toucheth the toad and is not poisoned, thebird Trochilus liveth by the mouth of the crocodile and is not spoiled, a perfectwit is never bewitched with lewdness, neither enticed with lasciviousness. Is itnot common that the holm tree spingeth amidst the beech? That the ivyspreadeth upon the hard stones? That the soft featherbed breaketh the hardblade? If experience have not taught you this you have lived long and learnedlittle; or if your moist brain have forgot it you have learned much and profitednothing. But it may be that you measure my affections by your own fancies, andknowing yourself either too simple to raise the siege by policy or too weak toresist the assault by prowess, you deem me of as little wit as yourself or of lessforce, either of small capacity or of no courage.
Kenneth Branagh, Matthew Lillard, Alessandro Nivola and Adrian Lester as the four lords in the filmLove’s Labor’s Lost (2000).
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Berowne himself admits they speak with “taffetaphrases, silken terms precise, /Three pil’d hyperboles,”that only work to put off the ladies further. Each ofthe men decides to write a sonnet to his love in orderto express his true feelings. A sonnet is a poemconsisting of 14 lines in iambic pentameter. Englishsonnets rhyme according to this scheme: abab cdcdefef gg, while the rhyme scheme for Italian sonnets isslightly different, though still strict. Dumaine has thehardest time conforming to the form:
On a day, alack the day!Love, whose month is ever May,Spied a blossom passing fairPlaying in the wanton air:Through the velvet leaves the wind,All unseen, ’gan passage find;That the lover, sick to death,Wish’d himself the heaven’s breath.Air, quoth he, thy cheeks may blow;Air, would I might triumph so!But alack! my hand is swornNe’er to pluck thee from thy thorn:Vow, alack! for youth unmeet,Youth so apt to pluck a sweet.Do not call it sin in me,That I am forsworn for thee;Thou for whom e’en Jove would swearJuno but an Ethiop were;And deny himself for Jove,Turning mortal for thy love. (IV.iii.99118)
The comedy arises from these feeble attempts atpoetry. Shakespeare alludes to his own sonnetwriting and that of the great Renaissance sonneteerPetrarch, who wrote romantic poems to a mysterywoman in the mid1300s. The gentlemen must learnthat love is not won by their “taffeta phrases” as theprincess explains early in the play. By the end of theplay the men learn to use language responsibly,
losing the need to woo with wordy poetry. The ladieshave taught them not to “trust to speeches penn’d, /Nor to the motion of a schoolboy’s tongue, / …Norwoo in rhyme, like a blind harper’s song!” (5.2.4025)
One of Shakespeare’s favorite comedic techniques isthe pun, and, while almost all of the characters trytheir hand at them, the clowns have the most successusing puns to entertain. One place where puns tendto work best is in the masterservant relationship ofArmado and Moth. With so many outdatedreferences, a reader or audience member could spendmore time in the footnotes trying to figure out whateverything means. Experience tells us that explaining ajoke is rarely funny. Samuel Johnson later wrote thatShakespeare’s love of the pun was “the fatal Cleopatrafor which he lost the world, and was content to loseit.”
The most comedy in the play is mined from thesimplest of characters. Amidst the verbal cacophony,the small moments of Dull and Costard are whataudiences connect with the most. At the end of theNine Worthies rehearsal, Holofernes says “Via,Goodman Dull! thou hast spoken no word all thiswhile.” Dull responds, “Nor understood none neither,sir” (5.1.14951). This seems, however, to beShakespeare’s intention. Silence is also the lesson thelovers must learn. They are so busy making linguisticfools of themselves, they very nearly lose the love theyare after. Love’s labor is lost in all of the noise. Finally,the play ends not with a joyous quadruple weddingbut a somber promise of devotion and silence asBerowne is ordered to care for the “speechless sick.”So must they all fast after gorging on the banquet ofwords.
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In Love’s Labor’s Lost, the four lords begin the play byswearing an oath to each other. They committhemselves to a life of study, vowing to sacrifice
worldly pleasures in pursuit of academic glory and fame.They promise to study day and night, eat little, sleep lessand see no women for three years. With the arrival offour ladies to the court, the men quickly forget theirpromised sacrifice. Their desire for the womenoverwhelms their desire for study, and they devotethemselves entirely to the pursuit of their loves. At theend of the play, when tragedy brings a dark shadowover the young couples, the men are again forced tomake an oath of sacrifice. They promise to prove theirlove by living a life of service for a year, while thewomen mourn the King of France’s death. As the oathsincrease in seriousness from the beginning of the play tothe end, the men learn about the importance of makingpromises and the consequences of breaking them.
What is an oath? What does it mean to break it, both inShakespeare’s time and our own? Most of us have feltthe conflict between our duty to keep a promise and thedesires that make us break it. Whether it’s a promise tofinish a homework assignment before going out withfriends, or a promise to take care of a pet everyday, weall make commitments to ourselves and others that wemay be tempted to break. Despite the four lords’commitment to their studies and their duty to eachother, they each let their desire for the women makethem break faith.
Breaking an oath, or falsely swearing, is called “beingforsworn.” An oath is a sacred promise, made with Godor another holy or revered being as a witness. Breakingan oath has more severe consequences than breakingan everyday promise. Today, people take sacred oaths,often as part of their profession. Doctors take theHippocratic Oath, swearing to do everything they can tohelp a patient. The President and other officials take anOath of Office, promising to serve the people of their
country. Witnesses in court swear to tell the truth, thewhole truth and nothing but the truth. Breaking an oathhas serious consequences. Lying under oath is calledperjury, and doctors and public service officials can bestripped of their titles if they break their sacred oaths. InShakespeare’s time, breaking an oath made with God asa witness was a serious matter—being forsworn wouldseverely damage a gentleman’s honor. In Love’s Labor’sLost, even though the four lords solemnize their first oathof study by signing their names in an official book, theydo not take their formal bond seriously. When they breaktheir oaths, they look to Berowne to provide them with away to excuse themselves from this breach of promise.Berowne convinces them that study without passion ismeaningless—and that therefore they must pursue thewomen. With that reasoning, the men throw off theirduty in pursuit of their desire.
The men then swear their undying love to the ladies—butthe ladies, knowing of the lords’ lax attitude toward theirprevious oath, cannot take them seriously. The ladiesmake fun of the lords by disguising themselves andtricking the lords into swearing their love to the wrongladies. The lords are doubly forsworn, having previouslybroken their oaths of duty and now having made oathsof love to the wrong women.
At the end of the play, the ladies force the lords to taketheir oaths more seriously. Even though the lords havebeen unable to keep their oaths throughout the eventsof the play, they each make an immediate offer ofmarriage—the most solemn vow of love. Instead ofaccepting their offers of marriage right away, the ladiesask the lords to take more time to think about theconsequences before jumping into another oath. Thelords promise to live a year of service and sacrifice toprove their love. This time, we hope the lords can upholdtheir end of the agreement—living a year of duty toachieve their life’s desires.
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DUTY VS. DESIRE
Jason Patrick Bowcutt, Dallas Roberts, Sean Pratt and Michael Medico swear an oath as the four lords in the ShakespeareTheatre Company’s 199495 production of Love’s Labor’s Lost.
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The “playwithinaplay” is a theatrical device oftenused to parody, highlight or examine charactersand themes of the greater play. The first example
of a play within a play was Thomas Kyd’s The SpanishTragedy written in 1587, preceding Love’s Labor’s Lostby about 10 years. This device was used byShakespeare in several plays: Hamlet uses the play atthe Danish court to reveal his uncle’s guilt; in AMidsummer Night’s Dream, Duke Theseus andHippolyta’s marriage is celebrated with a performanceof Pyramus and Thisbe by the rude mechanicals; andthe betrothal of Miranda and Ferdinand is celebrated inThe Tempest with a pageant of the muses. In Love’sLabor’s Lost, the playwithinaplay is the pageant of theNine Worthies. The performers, like the rude
mechanicals of Midsummer, are men of a lower station:schoolmaster, curate, swain, page and attendant. Theiraudience is the King of Navarre, the Princess of Franceand the lords and ladies who attend them.
The Nine Worthies were first written of together in the14thcentury French epic poem Voeux du Paon (Vowsof the Peacock) by Jean de Longuyon. They were ninehistorical or legendary figures meant to represent theembodiment of the ideal, chivalrous warrior. Three ofthe Worthies came from the Ancient Era: Hector ofTroy, Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar. Threecame from the Old Testament: David, Joshua and JudasMaccabeus, and the final three from the Christian Era:King Arthur, Charlemagne and Godfrey of Bouillon.
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Playing Within
The Worthies from the Ancient Era:
The Worthies from the Old Testament:
Mosaic of Alexander the Great, military conqueror ofAncient Greece (356328 BCE).
The death of Greek mythological hero Hector of Troy,painted by Peter Paul Rubens.
Bust of Julius Caesar, militaryand political leader of AncientRome (10044 BCE).
Biblical illustration of Joshua, successor to Moses, who ledthe Israelites into Canaan in the Old Testament.
Judas Maccabeus, who led theJews in a revolt against the SeleucidEmpire in 165 BCE. This event isremembered in the celebration ofHanukkah.
Michaelangelo’s David, themost famous image of theBiblical defeater of Goliath.
the Play
The Worthies were a popular subject for Renaissanceplays and poetry. The Parlement of the Three Ages isthe most famous example, though it was writtenanonymously. The Worthies were conqueringheroes, mostly of royal birth.
In the pageant of the Nine Worthies, the performershave large shoes to fill. They are the clowns in theplay, attempting to portray history’s great warriorsand heroes. While the performers are gravely seriousabout their roles, their blunders are a great source ofcomedy for both audiences: the King, Princess andtheir attendants, as well as the larger audience of theplay Love’s Labor’s Lost. Within the play, the nobleaudience is not willing to give them a chance toperform. The players can barely get a sentence outbefore the heckling begins. Shakespeare, as aplaywright, was constantly examining his own craftin his plays. The device of the playwithintheplaymay give us an example of what Shakespeare’scompany and other actors had to endure 400 yearsago.
The Worthies from the Christian Era:
While playswithintheplay in other comedies aresuccessful celebrations of marriage, the pageant ofthe Nine Worthies proves to be a somewhatawkward choice. In addition to receiving severeheckling from the nobles, the pageant of the NineWorthies is never completed. It is first interrupted bythe announcement that Jacquenetta is pregnant andthen by the news of the King of France’s death.Perhaps the execution of the playwithinthe play inLove’s Labor’s Lost reflects the awkward romance ofthe lovers. Like the pageant, the lovers’ courtship isinterrupted. The players conclude their piece withtwo songs: a dialogue between Spring and Winter,representing both life and death, happiness andsadness. Perhaps Shakespeare interrupted thepageant of the Nine Worthies to heighten the senseof incompleteness at the end of Love’s Labor’s Lost, aplay that he chooses to end without the happyresolution of a traditional comedy.
Portrait of Charlemagne, whobrought Christianity to Europe,painted by Albrecht Durer in 1512CE.
Godfrey of Bouillon, who led theFirst Crusade to Jerusalem in 1096CE.
King Arthur, the legendary Englishideal of kingship in war and peace.
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Photo credits: Caesar, xenohistorian.faithweb.com; Alexander, www.bbc.co.uk/history; Hector, litmuse.maconstate.edu; Joshua, www.ironorchid.com; Judas,www.haggadasrus.com; Charlemagne, www.wga.hu; Godfrey, encarta.msn.com; King Arthur, www.legends.dm.net/kingarthur.
In Love’s Labor’s Lost, the King of Navarre and hismale companions, Berowne, Longaville andDumaine, undertake a radical quest for
knowledge. In order to concentrate on selfimprovement through rigorous study, the four menvow that for three years, they will not see, speak to orbe with a woman, will fast once per week and sleeponly three hours per night. Although they all agree tothese conditions, Berowne predicts that they all willbreak their vows. Several modern productions of theplay (including this Shakespeare Theatre Companyproduction) have compared the men to the oncetrendy devotees of Transcendental Meditation andspiritual leaders of the East.
The Maharishi was an Indian teacher of mysticismand spiritual knowledge. In 1957, he began sharinghis practice of Transcendental Meditation, a way forthe conscious mind to fathom the whole range of itsexistence. His practices were not a set of beliefs, aphilosophy, a lifestyle or a religion. It was developedas a mental technique, practiced to achieve a state ofbliss and higher wisdom. The Maharishi and hispractice became famous in the 1960s and paved theway for today’s American popularity of health food,yoga and mindbody awareness.
In the play, the king and his men attempt to cutthemselves off from the world to study. They vow tostay away from women (to avoid the temptations ofthe flesh), to fast (to avoid gluttony) and to stayawake (in order to be smarter, better, more consciousand more whole). Certainly there is much to begained from reading, writing and the pursuit ofknowledge. But what is knowledge withoutexperience? Knowledge can be transformed into
wisdom only when combined with experience.Shakespeare seems to challenge his audience throughhis protagonists’ search to find a balance betweenthinking and feeling. The four men start their quest insearch of knowledge; they set out to develop theintellect by abandoning romantic pursuits and thepoisons of the flesh. Of course, one by one they fallprey to their desires. Their experience of women andof love alters their course. While the end of the playturns to tragedy and loss, it sends the men on the pathto wisdom.
As humanity continues to make advancements inscience, health and technology, the individual isallowed more opportunity to reflect. The worldcertainly offers a wealth of knowledge, but is itenough? What do the quick fix fads promise? Why isthere is no shortage of selfhelp material in thebookstores? People want to be happy. They seeksuccessful relationships and meaningful lives. The fadsand the selfhelp books promise balance and wellbeing. But the “wisdom” is often offered as The SevenRules of This or The 12 Steps to That. Reading andattending a workshop is mental and intellectual. It ishalf of the key. Exercising, experimenting andconnecting to other people is the other half. Perhapsthe point of the play is that social interaction validatesand augments one’s education. Self awareness and aconnection to the world at large through personalrelationships and contemplative study together makethe key that opens the door to wisdom and ameaningful life. The King of Navarre makes a mistakein avoiding women to find deep meaning in his life. Itis the attraction to a woman that sets him on the pathto wisdom.
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Everybody’s Looking Something
"My mission in the world is spiritualregeneration—to regenerate every maneverywhere into the values of the spirit.
The values of the wholeness of life arepure consciousness, absolute bliss,
absolute bliss consciousness, which isthe reservoir of all wisdom, the ocean of
happiness, eternal life." — Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
Maharishi Maresh Yogi, spiritual leader.
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Word / Play
Shakespeare shows his love of language in Love’sLabor’s Lost, which is full of wordplay and verbal artistry.The longest word in Shakespeare’s canon,“honorificabilitudinitatibus,” is found in this play. Inaddition, Shakespeare invented some 1,700 words in hislifetime, including "manager," "assassin," "gentle" and"pale." There was no dictionary to standardize languagein Shakespeare’s time, and he freely created new andoriginal words to express the images he wanted tocapture in his plays. However, without a dictionary, howcan we know the meaning of a word we have neverheard before? When watching one of Shakespeare'splays, we can get clues to a word's meaning by payingattention to the actors' movements. Students canengage in this process by using original sounds andmovements to express their own images. Ask studentsto focus on an image in their minds, then have themcreate a new word for it. Next, each student shoulddevelop a movement that physically expresses theirword. Have students share their words and movementswith the class and let classmates try to guess themeaning of each new word.
Classroom Connections Before the performance...
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What Would You Give Up to Pursue a Goal?
At the beginning of the play, the four lords make a pactto pursue academics for three years. Ask students whatthey would be willing to give up to pursue a goal. Askstudents to journal about any conflict they experience intheir own lives between professional, academic orathletic goals and their family, love or personal lives. Askstudents to share their journal entries and discuss theiropinions about their life’s priorities. Do students believethat the four lords in Love’s Labor’s Lost should staycommitted to their goal, or should they give up their oathto pursue their “true love?”
Getting Caught: Secret Crush/Love Notes
In Love’s Labor’s Lost, the King of Navarre, Berowne,Longaville and Dumaine are only able to communicatewith their love interests by sending them secret notes andpoems. Ask students to write their names down on stripsof paper, place those strips of paper in a box and drawone name out of the box. Then, over the course of threeweeks, ask each student to write three poems about theperson they selected. Each poem should be at least twolines in length and can be in any style they wish. Afterwriting each poem (one per week), the students shouldfind either a messenger or another way of sending thispoem to the person they selected in secret. After thestudents have received their three poems, ask them toguess the identity of their secret author. If guessedcorrectly, discuss what about the style, content or deliverymethod of the poem indicated who was the author.
Page to Stage: When Would You Set It?
After reading the play or reviewing the synopsis, ask theclass to summarize what happens in the play. Thesummary should be as concise as possible, but includethe key events of the plot. After the summary, begin adiscussion about what the play is about. What isinteresting or meaningful about the play? What themesor issues are important to the students? Note that when acontemporary director approaches a production ofShakespeare, he or she has two primary responsibilities:to the playwright and to the audience. The directorneeds to make the production relevant for acontemporary audience while remaining true to theintentions of the playwright. Based on what the studentssaid was interesting or meaningful, ask students todevelop an idea for the setting of Love’s Labor’s Lost.Students can focus on a specific time period, location orworld event. How does the design of a play helpcommunicate the meaning of the play?
Write Your Own Sonnet
Shakespeare’s sonnets are poems of 14 lines in iambicpentameter consisting of three quatrains and a couplet.The rhyme scheme goes: abab cdcd efef gg. Ask yourclass to come up with seven pairs of rhyming wordstogether. Then ask everyone to write their own sonnetusing the same rhymes and see what kinds of differentsonnets are created!
Classroom Connections …After the performance
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What Does It Mean to Break an Oath?
“What fool is not so wise / To lose an oath to win aparadise?” (Act 4, Scene 3)
Love’s Labor’s Lost begins with the main charactersswearing an oath to study together for three years whilefasting and refusing the company of women. Within aday, all the men have broken this oath. By the end of theplay, all the men desire to take the oath of marriage, butthis play does not have a typical happy ending weddingscene. Instead, the men are forced into another oath ofwaiting a year for their beloveds. Do you think they willbe able to keep this oath? Have the men changed fromthe beginning of the play? What sort of oaths do we taketoday? What are the consequences when we breakthem?
Duty vs. Desire
In Love’s Labor’s Lost, several characters are forced tomake difficult decisions between giving in to their desiresand fulfilling important obligations. For example, the Kingof Navarre, Berowne, Longaville and Dumaine are facedwith a choice between fulfilling their oaths to study andabstaining from the company of women or giving in totheir love for the Princess and her attendants. Askstudents to write about a time in their own lives whenthey had to decide between doing something theywanted to do versus doing something they wererequired or obligated to do. In the end, what did theychoose to do? What were the consequences of thechoice that they made? If they had the chance to relivethe situation, would they make the same decision? Whyor why not?
“Wise and Loving”
Henry David Thoreau was a 19thcentury author andphilosopher who wrote the following quote:
“Man is continually saying to woman, ‘Why willyou not be more wise?’ Woman is continuallysaying to man, ‘Why will you not be moreloving?’ It is not in their wills to be wise or to beloving; but, unless each is both wise and loving,there can be neither wisdom nor love.”
Ask the students to explain what the quote means tothem. Ask students to discuss how Thoreau’s quoterelates to Love’s Labor’s Lost.
Wearing Masks
When the king and his men pay a visit to the ladiesdisguised as Russians, the ladies turn the tables on themwith disguises of their own—they all wear masks toconfuse the men and mock them for their game. Whenthe men return as themselves, the women continue tobait them with their own words, delighting in the men'sconfusion. The men were wooing in earnest, hoping towin the hearts of the ladies. The ladies thought the menwere merely having fun. Why did the men feel the needto visit the ladies disguised? How would the story changeif the men had not come disguised but as themselves?
One Year Later
Love’s Labor’s Lost does not end like a traditionalcomedy. The lords and ladies are forced to part ways andmust delay their marriage prospects for a year. Askstudents to brainstorm ideas for a sequel to Love’s Labor’sLost that takes place one year after the play ends.Students can put together a treatment for a Hollywoodscript. Is the sequel a romantic comedy? Is it a seriousdrama? A reality show? Their plotline should answer thequestions: What happened during the year when thelovers were separated? Do they reunite? What happensnext? Students should title their script and present theirpitch to the class.
Create Your Own Nine Worthies
At the end of Love’s Labor’s Lost, several of the charactersperform a play about the Nine Worthies. The Worthieswere heroes who excelled in wars and were chivalrous totheir fellow man. Who would you consider to be a“Worthy” today? Divide the class into small groups. Askeach group to brainstorm modernday heroes and decideon their own Nine Worthies. They should then create aplay, pageant or song to honor them.
Love’s Labor’s LostBooks or Essays on Love’s Labor’s Lost• Carroll, William. The Great Feast of Language: A Reading of Love’s Labour’s Lost. Princeton
University Press, 1976.
• Charney, Maurice. Shakespearean Comedy. New York Literary Forum, 1980.
• Londre, Felicia Hardison. Love’s Labor’s Lost: Critical Essays. Garland Publishing, 1997.
• Montrose, Louis Adrian. “Curiousknotted Garden”: The Form, Themes and Contexts ofShakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost. University of Salzburg, 1977.
• Muir, Kenneth, ed. Shakespeare: The Comedies. Prentice Hall, 1965.
• Rudlin, John. Commedia dell’Arte: An Actor’s Handbook. Routledge, 1994.
Books on Shakespeare and Teaching Shakespeare• Asimov, Isaac. Asimov’s Guide to Shakespeare. Doubleday, 1978.
• Epstein, Norrie. The Friendly Shakespeare. Penguin Books, 1993.
• Gibson, Janet and Rex Gibson. Discovering Shakespeare’s Language. Cambridge University Press,1999.
• Gibson, Rex. Teaching Shakespeare. Cambridge University Press, 1998.
• Kermode, Frank. Shakespeare’s Language. Allen Lane, The Penguin Press, 2000.
• Linklater, Kristin. Freeing Shakespeare’s Voice. Theatre Communications Group, 1992.
• Pritchard, R. E. Shakespeare’s England. Sutton Publishing Limited, 1999.
• Papp, Joseph and Elizabeth Kirkland. Shakespeare Alive. Bantam Books, 1988.
• Reynolds, P. Teaching Shakespeare. Oxford University Press, 1992.
Websites• daphne.palomar.edu/shakespeare—Mr. William Shakespeare and the Internet.
• www.bardweb.net—The Shakespeare Resource Center.
• www.sgc.umd.edu—Shakespeare’s Globe Center USA.
• hrsbstaff.ednet.ns.ca/engramja/Svtour.html—Shakespeare: A Virtual Field Trip.
• renaissance.dm.net/compendium/home.html—Life in Elizabethan England.
• www.shakespeare.org.uk—Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.
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Resource List