Summary
The Princess of France arrives in Navarre with her three ladies-in-waiting: Rosaline, Maria, and Katherine.
The Princess sends her attendant, Boyet, to the King's court to announce their arrival because she has heard of the King's oath to avoid women. The ladies-in-waiting discuss the other lords that have joined the King in his oath.
Boyet returns and informs the Princess that the King is refusing to bring her and her ladies to court, in an attempt to uphold his oath.
The King arrives with the lords and explains himself to the Princess, detailing the stipulations of their oath that will not allow him to welcome the ladies at court.
The Princess, in turn, hands the King a piece of paper. The two of them discuss payment for the control of Aquitaine, and the King announces that he will visit the Princess and her ladies the next day.
Before departing, the lords ask Boyet to tell them the names of the three women who have accompanied the Princess.
When the King and his lords have departed, Boyet tells the Princess that he believes Navarre has become "infected." When the Princess asks him to clarify, he tells her that he thinks King Ferdinand is in love with her.
Analysis
Act Two of the play begins to fulfill the conflict that the first act foreshadowed – that is, the arrival of the Princess and her ladies immediately poses a challenge to the King's commitment to temperance, particularly time spent among women.
While the King and his lords technically remain beholden to their oath in Act Two, audiences can see their figurative defenses start to crumble in the presence of the French Princess and her ladies. First, the lords Dumaine, Biron, and Longaville inquire to Boyet about the names of the ladies-in-waiting, each lord having particular interest in a different lady.
Then, Boyet tells the Princess that the country of Navarre – as embodied by the King himself – in "infected" with love. This is the first time in the play that a character refers to love as a type of infectious disease, but it will become a recurring motif as the play continues. Such a categorization of love was not uncommon on the early modern stage or in early modern literature more generally; the notion that love "infects" is a figurative one that suggests its power to overtake someone entirely. As such, Boyet's comments foreshadow even more clearly the eventual disintegration of the King's plan.
Also notable in Act Two is the short-lived diplomacy that happens between the Princess and the King. The Princess, allegedly in Navarre on political business, responds to the King's explanation of his oath by handing him a piece of paper. That piece of paper inspires a diplomatic but very brief discussion of the territory of Aquitaine, a region of southwestern France.
This inclusion of diplomacy could be another instance in which Shakespeare gestures toward his audience – Queen Elizabeth I and her court – but it could also be an example of how things like political discussion become less important when challenged by natural impulses of love and desire. After this moment, political discourse disappears from the play entirely, a dramatization of how concerns for real-world problems become peripheral when faced with the "infectious" power of love and attraction.
