Love's Labour's Lost

Berowne also takes on a protagonist role in the play. He shows his individual agency, outside of the King’s leadership, in the opening scene, objecting to the oath and expressing skepticism. This immediately sets him apart from both the King and the other two Lords, who follow this idealism without question.

Although the King is technically in charge, Berowne has a position of social leadership in their group. They all turn to him for guidance when they realize they’re all in love, and the King himself singles out Berowne, saying, “good Berowne, now prove / Our loving lawful” (4.3.304-5). He also takes the lead in trying to explain their actions to the women in 5.2. Shakespeare presents him as clever and confident: The ladies note that, like the other Lords, he has a reputation for being articulate and witty, showing the social emphasis placed on skillful use of The Complexities of Language. However, the women wonder if that is all there is to him. Maria remarks, “Not a word with him but a jest” (2.1.223), and Rosaline’s challenge to him at the end of the play asks him to prove that he can also display compassion and loyalty along with his wit. Shakespeare shows that complex language alone is empty—it must be used to communicate something meaningful.

Out of the Lords, Berowne is the most complex character. He is the only one to have true soliloquies in which he explores his thoughts in depth outside of the others’ formulaic presentations of their love poems, which he is secretly watching. His relationship with Rosaline is complex and supports her desire that he prove his compassion: In a soliloquy, he laments falling in love with her and puts her down, complaining, “among three [women], to love the worst of all” (3.1.205). Shakespeare offers a number of possible reasons for his attitude: She displays cutting wit in their verbal sparring in the previous scene, so his pride may be injured; he may be concerned that she does not live up to societal beauty standards, something he comments on; he may be projecting the frustration he feels at himself for breaking his oath, which he laments in the same passage. He contains contradictions, such as when in 4.3 he vehemently defends Rosaline to the other Lords, asserting her superiority over the other ladies. Shakespeare thus does not give a definitive answer, making Berowne a rounded, realistic character.

Rosaline is Berowne’s love interest. She mirrors his wit and verbal dexterity, as demonstrated by their frequent shared meter and rhyme as they trade banter, sometimes at each other’s expense. Shakespeare adds complexity to her character as she expresses her feelings to the other ladies, and he highlights the dichotomy between her proactive personality and the constraints of her social position as a courtly woman.

Rosaline has a monologue in which she tells the others what she would do if she could be sure of Berowne’s feelings, commenting that she would like him to be at her command (4.2.64-73). She cannot act on this in the way the men can: They send letters, visit the women, and invite them to dance, whereas the women are placed in a responsive role. However, she manages to assert her proactiveness within these limitations by encouraging Berowne into a confession of love in 5.2, then revealing that the ladies know about their disguises and steering the interaction to ensure she is not merely a passive object to be wooed.

She is an individual, rounded character compared to Maria and Katherine: Where they merely follow the Princess’s lead in telling their Lords to wait for a year, she sets Berowne a specific, meaningful task that shows insight into his character and reveals her concerns in a potential partner. She also takes on the Princess’s role easily when they trade identities, displaying her adaptability and self-assuredness as she steps outside her normal societal constraints. She shares many qualities with the famous “dark lady” depicted in Shakespeare’s sonnets (See: Background).

As with the King, the Princess of France is not named, indicating that she is defined by her social status and political role. She is both a political leader on a diplomatic mission and the leader of her group of women: Just as the King leads the men, she speaks the most in group scenes, and devises the ploy to swap identities.

Similarly to the King, her relationship with her ladies combines hierarchical and companionable elements: They tease each other about their admirers. She also has a maternalistic quality as she wonders if they are all in love, saying, “God bless my ladies” (2.1.78-80), embodying the Elizabethan positioning of a monarch as having a paternal role to their subjects. Her political position becomes particularly prominent at the end of the play, dictating her actions. Upon the death of her father, her budding relationship with the King of Navarre becomes a secondary concern.

Dumaine and Longaville are two characters who are comparatively flat: Although they take on a protagonist-like position in the plot, they are led by the King and Berowne. They are very similar, following the King’s lead in everything and articulating their love through the same gestures and literary conventions as the other Lords. However, they are both witty and articulate: The four all banter together, and go through beats of journey together.

Their inclusion illustrates Love’s Labour’s Lost’s interest in the conventions of a love story over an individual, personal drama: In creating a set of four pairs of lovers, they highlight the formulaic symmetry of the romances.

Maria and Katherine fulfill equivalent roles to Dumaine and Longaville, as their love interests. They are also witty and articulate, building Shakespeare’s presentation of charismatic French courtly culture embracing the complexity of language as a social currency. Like Dumaine and Longaville, they are led by the Princess—they go along with her schemes and follow her precedent in 5.2 in asking their lovers to wait a year before marriage.

Boyet is an attendant courtier to the Princess of France. He offers humorous commentary on events, and plays a role in the plot through his service to the Princess. He acts as a messenger to the King when they arrive, and he informs the ladies about the Lords’ disguises. He is presented as a friend and ally to the women. He is privy to their discussions and tricks and participates in flirtatious banter with them, but is not presented as a real love interest.

The Princess knows she can depend on Boyet’s practical support in 5.2: On hearing of her father’s death, she immediately asks him to prepare for departure, ignoring the King’s continued attempts to woo her to address Boyet instead. Boyet’s character reveals a dark side of Berowne: He takes a strong dislike to Boyet, calling him unoriginal and sycophantic, but Shakespeare suggests that this comes from resentment of his friendship with the women and his role as their ally in the battleground of love (5.2.507-12).

Costard is named after an English variety of apple, reflecting his agricultural background. He is described as a swain, meaning a country youth and implying a lack of formal education. In some editions, he is referred to as “The Clown” in the dramatis personae, reflecting his comedic role. In keeping with the clown archetype in Elizabethan theatre, he is foolish in some ways, but also embodies a down-to-earth wisdom. For example, he does not understand many of Armado and Holofernes’s references, but rather than internalizing their treatment of him as inferior, he recognizes their pomposity. He and Mote ridicule their demonstrative, affected use of complex language as a tool to show off at the expense of actual communication.

In the performance of the Worthies, Costard lacks pretension, but is self-assured, saying afterwards, “I hope I was / perfect” (5.2.620-21). He is the opposite of Holofernes and Nathaniel, who aspire to grandeur but are easily mocked. Costard, in contrast, states, “For mine own part, I know not the / degree of the Worthy” (5.2.556-57), showing that unlike everyone else in the play, he is not trying to assert a certainty about his own or anyone else’s character.

Armado’s name is a reference to the Spanish Armada, a grand naval attack on England in 1588 that represented a military anti-climax and easy victory for England, largely due to a series of chance weather events, in particular strong winds blowing the invading fleet off-course. The name represents Armado’s Spanish background, but also encapsulates his pretensions at grandeur and his empty bluster. In some editions, he is referred to as “Braggart Armado” in the stage directions, pointing at his arrogance.

Armado fits into the archetype of the buffoon, a self-important character whose lack of self-awareness is a source of comedy. He mirrors the Lords’ masculine pursuit of love in his attraction to Jaquenetta, pastiching their formalized courtship. Despite his pretensions to nobility, the love letter he writes her is bombastic and slightly threatening; he considers her beneath him, and ultimately behaves dishonorably by getting her pregnant and then refusing to marry her. He offers a darkly comic exposure of the reality that may exist in place of a romantic narrative.

Jaquenetta is a woman of low socio-economic status. She is called “wench” in some editions and in the text, a word that meant “woman” but had connotations of youth or a servant role with sexualized undertones. Her character reflects the preconceptions of the time; she is a flat archetype, flirting with Costard and Armado, and respectful toward Holofernes’s paternalistic instructions.

Jaquenetta is largely present as a narrative device: Armado’s pursuit of her creates the mix up of letters, and enables her and Costard to act as messengers between various scenes. Her ending offers a dark comment on the consequences of the masculine pursuit of love: She is pregnant, putting her in a socially and economically vulnerable position. Armado vows to “hold the / plow for her sweet love three year” (5.2.957-58), showing that he sees taking care of her as a temporary yoke to bear, and does not consider marrying her to be an option, given her social class. Given his clownish character, this does not imply a good future for Jaquenetta.

Dull is also referred to as the Constable. He is a flat character who serves a function within the plot due to his office, accompanying characters and conveying messengers. He has a comedic function, too: As reflected in his name, he is unable to engage with the complexity of language that many of the other characters are obsessed with, offering a humorous counterpoint to Holofernes’s and Armado’s verbosity. Shakespeare develops this into a recurring joke: He is silent throughout the bulk of two scenes, his presence forgotten, only to be noticed again at the end as noted by Holofernes (5.1.10).

Mote is a servant to Armado. He appears as Mote, Moth, or the Boy in different editions due to ambiguous variation in surviving prints. In this edition, characters onstage refer to him as Mote, a name that encapsulates his diminutive size. The use of Moth too has connotations of smallness (like the insect). He serves a plot function, conveying messages and fetching characters, and also contributes to the comedy of the subplot, outwitting Armado and providing witty commentary on the buffoonery of the other characters.