56 pages • 1 hour read
William ShakespeareA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
In Love’s Labour’s Lost, William Shakespeare examines the value and legitimacy of the masculine pursuit of love. The initial oath sworn by the men devalues the pursuit of love compared to pious intellectual pursuit. However, Berowne argues against this, and later all four Lords commit to the notion that pursuing love should be their paramount aim. Berowne suggests that love is the most valuable type of knowledge, arguing that women “are the books, the arts, the academes / That show, contain, and nourish all the world” (4.3.346-47). Shakespeare leans into the romantic idea central to many of his works that love enriches and inspires.
The four Lords embody a masculine pursuit of love typical of the literary and theatrical conventions of the period: They write sonnets and gift the women tokens of their affection. They hyperbolize the beauty of the women they are pursuing, and the way this love has altered their lives. For example, in the sonnets they read in 4.3, Berowne highlights the absurdity of Dumaine and Longaville’s heightened language, describing a romantic ideal to which a real person could never live up: “This is the liver vein, which makes flesh a deity” (4.3.74-75). However, this is laden with dramatic
By William Shakespeare
All's Well That Ends Well
All's Well That Ends Well
William Shakespeare
A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream
William Shakespeare
Antony and Cleopatra
Antony and Cleopatra
William Shakespeare
As You Like It
As You Like It
William Shakespeare
Coriolanus
Coriolanus
William Shakespeare
Cymbeline
Cymbeline
William Shakespeare
Hamlet
Hamlet
William Shakespeare
Henry IV, Part 1
Henry IV, Part 1
William Shakespeare
Henry IV, Part 2
Henry IV, Part 2
William Shakespeare
Henry V
Henry V
William Shakespeare
Henry VIII
Henry VIII
William Shakespeare
Henry VI, Part 1
Henry VI, Part 1
William Shakespeare
Henry VI, Part 3
Henry VI, Part 3
William Shakespeare
Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar
William Shakespeare
King John
King John
William Shakespeare
King Lear
King Lear
William Shakespeare
Macbeth
Macbeth
William Shakespeare
Measure For Measure
Measure For Measure
William Shakespeare
Much Ado About Nothing
Much Ado About Nothing
William Shakespeare
Othello
Othello
William Shakespeare
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection