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Mass Market Paperback Love's Labor's Lost Book

ISBN: 0743484924

ISBN13: 9780743484923

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Format: Mass Market Paperback

Condition: Very Good

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Book Overview

At first glance, Shakespeare's early comedy Love's Labor's Lost simply entertains and amuses. Four young men (one of them a king) withdraw from the world for three years, taking an oath that they will have nothing to do with women. The King of Navarre soon learns, however, that the Princess of France and her ladies are about to arrive. Although he lodges them outside of his court, all four men fall in love with the ladies, abandoning their oaths and setting out to win their hands.

The laughter triggered by this story is augmented by subplots involving a braggart soldier, a clever page, illiterate servants, a parson, a schoolmaster, and a constable so dull that he is named Dull. Letters and poems are misdelivered, confessions are overheard, entertainments are presented, and language is played with, and misused, by the ignorant and learned alike.

At a deeper level, Love's Labor's Lost also teases the mind. The men begin with the premise that women either are seductresses or goddesses. The play soon makes it clear, however, that the reality of male-female relations is different. That women are not identical to men's images of them is a common theme in Shakespeare's plays. In Love's Labor's Lost it receives one of its most pressing examinations.

The authoritative edition of Love's Labor's Lost from The Folger Shakespeare Library, the trusted and widely used Shakespeare series for students and general readers, includes:

-Freshly edited text based on the best early printed version of the play
-Full explanatory notes conveniently placed on pages facing the text of the play
-Scene-by-scene plot summaries
-A key to the play's famous lines and phrases
-An introduction to reading Shakespeare's language
-An essay by a leading Shakespeare scholar providing a modern perspective on the play
-Fresh images from the Folger Shakespeare Library's vast holdings of rare books
-An annotated guide to further reading

Essay by William C. Carroll

The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC, is home to the world's largest collection of Shakespeare's printed works, and a magnet for Shakespeare scholars from around the globe. In addition to exhibitions open to the public throughout the year, the Folger offers a full calendar of performances and programs. For more information, visit Folger.edu.

Customer Reviews

5 customer ratings | 5 reviews

Rated 5 stars
Simply superb

This recording is simply superb. Derek Jacobi as the King of Navarre and Jeremy Brett as Berowne have exquisite voices, and the lively and sweet interactions of all the cast make this special. Berowne gives several speeches on love and life and learning which are soaringly beautiful.

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Rated 5 stars
Very Likely inside Jokes

Love's Labour's Lost by William Shakespeare is in all probability composed of many inside jokes and the cast of characters may have had attributes or characteristics and maybe even been burlesqued in the play as caricatures of the very people who were viewing it. People like the Earl of Southampton and John Florio, among others. The Spaniard's name "Armado" is likely a jest on the recently sunk Spanish "Armada" and Asimov...

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Rated 4 stars
A Light Comedy; A Timely Message; A Heavy Hand

The Folger Library editions are absolutely the best for scholarship, due to their extensive notation. My preference for Love's Labor's Lost is for the Pelican Books version, with sufficient but abreviated notation. The lighter notation gives wings to Shakespeare's most ponderous romantic comedy. This is the story of three gentlemen who pledge themselves to three years of intellectual rigor in the court of the King of...

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Rated 4 stars
a fun early comedy

One of Shakespeare's earlier comedies, "Love's Labour's Lost" does not even hold a candle to some of the Bard's greatest comedic works (A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Tempest, The Winter's Tale). Yet, for all its lack of blazing greatness, the play is indeed a joyful diversion.The plot is that of a philosopher's paradise being invaded by the most nefarious of things...love. Shakespeare means many things when he speaks of love:...

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Rated 4 stars
Difficult, But A Worthy Study.

Be forewarned. Even if you have read a lot of Shakespeare's plays, this one is difficult and demands much effort to follow. But, if you can push yourself into reading this, it is well worth the time. Shakespeare himself performed the role of Berowne. While this is a comedy, the humour relies on irony as opposed to funny events. Also, unlike his other comedies, this one does not end in utter happieness. The interaction...

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