Love's Labour's Lost Essay Questions

What is the significance of the play's title?

The title of the play helps comment on the central conflict that exists within the mind of the King. He perceives that by swearing off women, food, and sleep, he can devote more time to the intellectual labor of scholarship. As the play continues however, it becomes clear that the experience of love is itself an act of labor, one that requires careful attention and meaningful communication. That these labors are "lost" by the end of the play – as the Princess defers the marriages for a year – suggests that love is also something delicate that requires care and attention.

What effect does the absence of an antagonist have on the play's overall structure?

Love's Labour's Lost contains no discernible antagonist; there is no "villain" who attempts to derail the plans of the protagonists, and nobody seeking sabotage against anyone else. This is unique for a Shakespeare play, as even his comedies tend to include at least one challenging character in the cast. In this play, however, the antagonism is not external; rather, the conflict that exists is within the King and the lords, who struggle to reconcile their desire for scholarship with their impulse toward love and desire.

Why can the events of Act Four be considered the climax of the play?

A play's climax typically occurs in the Act Five, the final act, in which characters learn new information and finally begin to reconcile toward a resolution (or, in the case of tragedy, begin to kill each other). In this play, however, the climax occurs in Act Four, when the King and his lords all discover that they are each in love with a different member of the Princess's entourage. This moment thrusts the internal conflict out into the open and allows the men to speak freely about their desire for love and marriage, ultimately ushering in their resolution – albeit a whimsical and unsuccessful one – to woo the women in disguise.

Why did the play fall out of favor after its original performances?

One can only speculate as to why Love's Labour's Lost was not a popular Shakespeare play: perhaps it was because it is saturated in wordplay and complex dialogue the audience could not understand, or perhaps it was because of the relatively small narrative stakes. More likely, however, is that the play was written for a specific audience at a specific time, performed for the court of Queen Elizabeth I in the early to mid-1590s. Thus, knowledge of historical context was integral to understanding and enjoying the performance. As this historical knowledge drifted from public consciousness, so too did the popularity of the play.

Who is the main character in the play?

While the play focuses on the court of the King of Navarre, one could easily argue that the King is not the central protagonist in the narrative. Instead, Biron appears to play a more important role as the original skeptic to the oath who also asserted his distaste for the idea of love, only to fall in love with Rosaline shortly after these proclamations. It is Biron who receives the most eloquent soliloquies as he ponders the nature of love, and Biron who expresses the most "Shakespearean" ideas that would reappear again and again in Shakespeare's later drama.