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    The Complete Love’S Labors Lost: An Annotated Edition of the Shakespeare Play
    The Complete Love’S Labors Lost: An Annotated Edition of the Shakespeare Play
    The Complete Love’S Labors Lost: An Annotated Edition of the Shakespeare Play
    Ebook339 pages2 hours

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

    By Donald J. Richardson

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    About this ebook

    Loves Labors Lost is widely considered Shakespeares most intellectually challenging comedy (Bate, back cover). From its extensive wordplay to the plot machinations, a reader (viewer) is continuously challenged. The recurrent bawdy is another factor that 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 mens view of the women and the womens view of the men should stimulate one to examine whether there is depth to the comedy or whether it is all for fun.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAuthorHouse
    Release dateSep 17, 2015
    ISBN9781504948821
    The Complete Love’S Labors Lost: An Annotated Edition of the Shakespeare Play
    Author

    Donald J. Richardson

    Although he has long been eligible to retire, Donald J. Richardson continues to (try to) teach English Composition at Phoenix College in Arizona. He defines his life through his teaching, his singing, his volunteering, and his grandchildren.

    Read more from Donald J. Richardson

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      Book preview

      The Complete Love’S Labors Lost - Donald J. Richardson

      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.

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