The Complete Love’S Labors Lost: An Annotated Edition of the Shakespeare Play

Contents

ACT I

ACT II

ACT III

ACT IV

ACT V

Works Cited

Other Books by Donald J. Richardson

Dust in the Wind, 2001

Rails to Light, 2005

Song of Fools, 2006

Words of Truth, 2007

The Meditation of My Heart, 2008

The Days of Darkness, 2009

The Dying of the Light, 2010

Between the Darkness and the Light, 2011

The Days of Thy Youth, 2012

Those Who Sit in Darkness¸ 2013

Just a Song at Twilight, 2014

Covered with Darkness, 2015

The Complete Hamlet, 2012

The Complete Macbeth, 2013

The Complete Romeo and Juliet, 2013

The Complete King Lear, 2013

The Complete Julius Caesar, 2013

The Complete Merchant of Venice, 2013

The Complete Midsummer Night’s Dream, 2013

The Complete Much Ado About Nothing, 2013

The Complete Twelfth Night, 2014

The Complete Taming of the Shrew, 2014

The Complete Tempest, 2014

The Complete Othello, 2014

The Complete Henry IV, Part One, 2014

The Complete Antony and Cleopatra, 2014

The Complete Comedy of Errors, 2014

The Complete Henry IV, Part Two, 2014

The Complete Henry V, 2014

The Tragedy of Richard the Third, 2015

The Complete Two Gentlemen of Verona, 2015

The Complete Richard the Second, 2015

Covered with Darkness, 2015

The Complete Coriolanus, 2015

The Complete As You Like It, 2015

The Complete All’s Well That Ends Well, 2015

About the Book

Love’s Labors Lost is widely considered Shakespeare’s most intellectually challenging comedy (Bate, back cover). From the extensive word play to the plot machinations, a reader (viewer) is continuously challenged. The recurrent bawdy is another factor which forces one to pay close attention. Thus, the play can be quite satisfying. However, it can become tiresome, too, especially considering the high-flown rhetoric of Holofernes. Finally the discrepancy between the men’s view of the women and the women’s view of the men should stimulate one to examine whether there is depth to the comedy or whether it is all for fun.

About the Author

Donald J. Richardson is still trying to teach English Composition at Phoenix College.

LOVE’S LABORS LOST

ACT I

SCENE I. The king of Navarre’s park.

Enter FERDINAND king of Navarre, BEROWNE, LONGAVILLE and DUMAINE

FERDINAND

1 Let fame, that all hunt after in their lives,

Fame: renown (Bate, 4)

2 Live register’d upon our brazen tombs

Register’d: recorded (Bevington); brazen: brass-plated, enduring (plays on sense of ‘shameless’) (Bate, 4)

3 And then grace us in the disgrace of death;

Grace: honor; the disgrace of death: (1) the taking away of the grace of life by death (2) the overthrowing of death by proper fame (Bevington) [The Bevington edition is unpaginated.]; deterioration" (Harbage, 29)

4 When, spite of cormorant devouring Time,

Spite of: in spite of; cormorant: ravenous, rapacious. (The cormorant is a large, voracious seabird.) (Bevington)

5 The endeavor of this present breath may buy

Breath: breathing-space, i.e. brief earthly life (Riverside, 213)

6 That honor which shall bate his scythe’s keen edge

Bate: dull (Riverside, 213); his … edge: Time is represented here as a mower with a sharp scythe, cutting down the living. (Mowat, 6)

7 And make us heirs of all eternity.

8 Therefore, brave conquerors—for so you are,

9 That war against your own affections

Affections: passions (Riverside, 213)

10 And the huge army of the world’s desires—

11 Our late edict shall strongly stand in force:

Late: recent (Bevington); in force: i.e. be binding (Bate, 4)

12 Navarre shall be the wonder of the world;

Navarre: the place/the king (Bate, 4)

13 Our court shall be a little academe,

Academe: academy. (From the name of the grove near Athens where Plato and his followers gathered.) (Bevington)

14 Still and contemplative in living art.

Still: constant; living art: "(1) the art of living (an idea probably derived from the ars vivendi of the Roman Stoics) (2) infusing learning (art) with vitality" (Bevington); contemplative in: meditating on; living art: the art of living/vitality within scholarship (Bate, 4)

15 You three, Berowne, Dumaine, and Longaville,

16 Have sworn for three years’ term to live with me

Term: period of time (Bate, 4)

17 My fellow-scholars, and to keep those statutes

Keep: observe (Bate, 4)

18 That are recorded in this schedule here:

Schedule: document (Riverside, 213)

19 Your oaths are pass’d; and now subscribe your names,

Pass’d: pledged (Riverside, 213); spoken (Mowat, 8); subscribe: sign (Bate, 4)

20 That his own hand may strike his honor down

Hand: (1) armed hand of a warrior (2) handwriting (Bevington)

21 That violates the smallest branch herein:

Branch: i.e., clause (Bevington); subdivision, by-law (Harbage, 30)

22 If you are arm’d to do as sworn to do,

Arm’d: prepared (for the combat; cf. the martial imagery of lines 8-10) (Riverside, 213); resolved (Arthos, 38)

23 Subscribe to your deep oaths, and keep it too.

Deep: solemn; it: i.e., what you subscribe to (Mowat, 8)

LONGAVILLE

24 I am resolved; ‘tis but a three years’ fast:

25 The mind shall banquet, though the body pine:

Pine: languish, waste away (Bevington)

26 Fat paunches have lean pates, and dainty bits

Pates: literally, heads, but here, by metonymy, referring to the brains (Mowat, 8); dainty bits: delicate morsels (Bevington)

27 Make rich the ribs, but bankrout quite the wits.

Bankrout: bankrupt (a variant form) (Riverside, 213)

DUMAINE

28 My loving lord, Dumaine is mortified:

Mortified: dead to worldly pleasures (Riverside, 213)

29 The grosser manner of these world’s delights

Grosser: coarser, earthier (Bate, 5); manner: kind (Mowat, 8)

30 He throws upon the gross world’s baser slaves:

Throws upon: leaves to; baser slaves: i.e., slaves to passion and pleasure (Bevington); gross: whole/coarse (Bate, 5)

31 To love, to wealth, to pomp, I pine and die;

32 With all these living in philosophy.

With … living: i.e. finding a substitute for love, wealth, and pomp (?) or living with these companions (?) (Riverside, 213); in: according to the tenets of/by the study of (Bate, 5)

BEROWNE

33 I can but say their protestation over;

Say … over: repeat their solemn declarations (Arthos, 38)

34 So much, dear liege, I have already sworn,

Liege: sovereign (Riverside, 213)

35 That is, to live and study here three years.

36 But there are other strict observances;

Observances: requirements (Bate, 5)

37 As, not to see a woman in that term,

As: such as (Bate, 5); not … woman: Forbidding scholars in academies to associate with women was traced by sixteenth-century writers to Plato’s academy in Athens. (Mowat, 8)

38 Which I hope well is not enrolled there;

Well: fervently; enrolled; written; there: i.e. on the document detailing the oaths (Bevington)

39 And one day in a week to touch no food

In a: of each (Bevington)

40 And but one meal on every day beside,

But: only; on: in (Bevington)

41 The which I hope is not enrolled there;

42 And then, to sleep but three hours in the night,

43 And not be seen to wink of all the day—

Wink of: close the eyes during (Riverside, 213)

44 When I was wont to think no harm all night

Wont: accustomed (Bevington); think no harm: i.e. sleep soundly (Riverside, 214)

45 And make a dark night too of half the day—

46 Which I hope well is not enrolled there:

47 O, these are barren tasks, too hard to keep,

Barren: dull, fruitless (Riverside, 214)

48 Not to see ladies, study, fast, not sleep!

FERDINAND

49 Your oath is pass’d to pass away from these.

Pass away from: renounce (Bate, 5)

BEROWNE

50 Let me say no, my liege, and if you please:

And if: if (Riverside, 214)

51 I only swore to study with your grace

52 And stay here in your court for three years’ space.

Space: time (Bevington)

LONGAVILLE

53 You swore to that, Berowne, and to the rest.

BEROWNE

54 By yea and nay, sir, then I swore in jest.

By … nay: (1) most earnestly (a common meaning, derived from Matthew 5:33-37); (2) equivocally, ambiguously (Riverside, 214)

55 What is the end of study, let me know.

End: goal (Bevington)

FERDINAND

56 Why, that to know, which else we should not know.

BEROWNE

57 Things hid and barr’d (you mean) from common sense?

Common sense: ordinary perception (Riverside, 215)

FERDINAND

58 Ay, that is study’s godlike recompense.

Recompense: compensation, payment (Bevington)

BEROWNE

59 Com’ on, then; I will swear to study so,

Com’ on: "This, the quarto spelling, stresses the pun on common sense (line 57)." (Riverside, 214)

60 To know the thing I am forbid to know:

61 As thus—to study where I well may dine,

Study: think about intently (Mowat, 10)

62 When I to feast expressly am forbid;

63 Or study where to meet some mistress fine,

64 When mistresses from common sense are hid;

65 Or, having sworn too hard a keeping oath,

Too … oath: an oath too hard to keep (Bevington)

66 Study to break it and not break my troth.

Study; set out, endeavor; troth: pledge, oath (Mowat, 10)

67 If study’s gain be thus and this be so,

68 Study knows that which yet it doth not know:

69 Swear me to this, and I will ne’er say no.

FERDINAND

70 These be the stops that hinder study quite

Stops: obstacles (Riverside, 214); quite: completely (Bate, 6)

71 And train our intellects to vain delight.

Train: allure, entice (Riverside, 214); vain: ‘(1) foolish (2) overly proud" (Bevington)

BEROWNE

72 Why, all delights are vain; but that most vain,

73 Which with pain purchas’d doth inherit pain:

Pain: (1) labor; (2) suffering; purchas’d: obtained (Riverside, 214); inherit: bring about more (Bate, 6)

74 As, painfully to pore upon a book

As: such as (Mowat, 10); painfully: laboriously; upon: over (Bevington)

75 To seek the light of truth; while truth the while

The while: at that same time (Bevington)

76 Doth falsely blind the eyesight of his look:

Falsely: treacherously; his look: its power to see (Riverside, 214)

77 Light seeking light doth light of light beguile:

Light : i.e. eyes, thought to produce the beams of light by which they saw; light: intellectual enlightenment; light … beguile: the eyes are cheated out of enlightenment (by excessive study) (Bate, 6)

78 So, ere you find where light in darkness lies,

Ere: before; darkness: intellectual obscurity (Bate, 7)

79 Your light grows dark by losing of your eyes.

Light: sight (Harbage, 32); eyes: sight (Bevington)

80 Study me how to please the eye indeed

Study me: let me learn (Bate, 7)

81 By fixing it upon a fairer eye,

Fairer: more beautiful (plays on sense of ‘lighter’) (Bate, 7); fairer: i.e. of a fair lady (Bevington)

82 Who dazzling so, that eye shall be his heed

Who dazzling so: i.e. the man (who has fixed his eye ‘upon a fairer eye’) being thus dazzled; heed: guard, protection (Riverside, 214); dazzling: blinding (my eyes); that eye: "i.e. of the fairer woman" (Bate, 7)

83 And give him light that it was blinded by.

It: i.e. his eye (Riverside, 214)

84 Study is like the heaven’s glorious sun

Study … looks: proverbial: ‘He that gazes upon the sun shall at last be blind.’ (Mowat, 12)

85 That will not be deep-search’d with saucy looks:

Deep search’d: scrutinized; saucy: presumptuous, insolent (Bevington)

86 Small have continual plodders ever won

Small: little (Riverside, 214)

87 Save base authority from others’ books

Save: except (Bevington); base: commonplace (because secondhand) (Riverside, 214)

88 These earthly godfathers of heaven’s lights

Earthly godfathers: i.e. astronomers, who give names to stars as godparents give names to children at baptism (Riverside, 214)

89 That give a name to every fixed star

Fixed star: The ‘fixed stars’ were those that appeared to hold fixed positions in the sky relative to each other (in contrast to the planets, or ‘wandering stars’). (Mowat, 12)

90 Have no more profit of their shining nights

Of: i.e., from (Mowat, 12); shining: i.e. starlit (Bevington)

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

Wot: know (Riverside, 214); they: the stars/the walkers (Bate, 7)

92 Too much to know is to know nought but fame;

Too … fame: an excess of knowledge brings only a vainglorious reputation (Bate, 7); know nought: experience nothing (Harbage, 32); fame: hearsay, secondhand information (Riverside, 214); report (Arthos, 40)

93 And every godfather can give a name.

Every … name: i.e. anyone, acting as godparent, can do as much as astronomers (Bevington)

FERDINAND

94 How well he’s read, to reason against reading!

Read … reading: studied … studying (Harbage, 32)

DUMAINE

95 Proceeded well, to stop all good proceeding!

Proceeded: advanced in a course of study (an academic term) (Riverside, 214); proceeding: intellectual advancement (Bate, 7)

LONGAVILLE

96 He weeds the corn and still lets grow the weeding.

He … weeding: He pulls up the young wheat and leaves the weeds. (Riverside, 214)

BEROWNE

97 The spring is near when green geese are a-breeding.

Green geese: young geese, ready for sale about Whitsuntide; here, simpletons, young fools (Riverside, 214); geese fed on grass (Bate, 7)

DUMAINE

98 How follows that?

BEROWNE

99 Fit in his place and time.

Fit in his: appropriate to its (Bevington)

DUMAINE

100 In reason nothing.

In reason nothing: i.e., it doesn’t follow at all logically (Bevington)

BEROWNE

101 Something then in rhyme.

Rhyme: Berowne caps Dumaine’s statement with a quibbling reference to the proverbial ‘neither rhyme nor reason.’ (Riverside, 214); "i.e. the opposite of reason" (Bate, 7)

FERDINAND

102 Berowne is like an envious sneaping frost,

Envious: malicious; sneaping: nipping (Riverside, 214); frost: "Navarre plays on Berowne’s rhyme in the sense of ‘rime’ or frost." (Mowat, 14)

103 That bites the first-born infants of the spring.

First-born infants: i.e. early buds (Harbage, 33)

BEROWNE

104 Well, say I am; why should proud summer boast

Why … sing; i.e., why should summer appear unseasonably (Harbage, 33); proud: splendid (Riverside, 214); glorious/arrogant (Bate, 8)

105 Before the birds have any cause to sing?

106 Why should I joy in any abortive birth?

Abortive: monstrous, unnatural (Bevington); premature (Mowat, 14)

107 At Christmas I no more desire a rose

108 Than wish a snow in May’s new-fangled shows;

May’s … grows: i.e., the display of spring flower Bevington)

109 But like of each thing that in season grows.