Love’s Labour’s Lost · Chapter
Scene I explained
The King of Navarre and his lords, Biron, Longaville, and Dumain, swear an oath to dedicate themselves to study, fasting, and avoiding women for three years.
What happens
The King of Navarre and his lords, Biron, Longaville, and Dumain, swear an oath to dedicate themselves to study, fasting, and avoiding women for three years. Biron wittily argues against the strictures, but ultimately signs. The king introduces Armado as a source of entertainment. Costard is brought in under arrest for being found with Jaquenetta, and Armado's elaborate letter is read aloud, detailing the offense.
Themes in this chapter
Folly of Learning
Biron argues that study can be vain and that too much knowledge leads to nothing but fame, while the king promotes academic rigor.
Love vs. Oath
The oath to avoid women is immediately challenged by the arrival of the princess, setting up the central conflict between sworn duty and romantic desire.
Wit and Language
Biron's clever wordplay and Armado's ornate letter highlight the play's emphasis on linguistic dexterity and rhetorical flourish.
Characters to notice
- King of Navarre
Proposes the oath of study and abstinence, reads Armado's letter, and dispenses with the decree to accommodate the princess's arrival.
- Biron
Wittily critiques the oath and the nature of study, but ultimately signs; he points out the inevitable breach due to the princess's embassy.
- Longaville
Agrees to the oath and proposes the penalty of losing a tongue for women who come near the court.
- Dumain
Expresses his mortification and commitment to philosophy, joining the oath.
- Costard
Brought in under arrest for being with Jaquenetta; he humorously confesses and quibbles over the proclamation.
- Don Adriano de Armado
Referenced as a refined traveler and writer of the letter that accuses Costard; his ornate language is mocked.
- Anthony Dull
Delivers Armado's letter and identifies himself as the officer.
Key passages
“Let fame, that all hunt after in their lives, Live register'd upon our brazen tombs And then grace us in the disgrace of death; When, spite of cormorant devouring Time, The endeavour of this present breath may buy That honour which shall bate his scythe's keen edge And make us heirs of all eternity.”
Let the fame everyone pursues be engraved on our tombs, so that even in death we are honored; our efforts now can buy an honor that will blunt Time's scythe and make us immortal.
The king's opening speech sets the idealistic goal of achieving eternal fame through scholarly discipline.
“Study is like the heaven's glorious sun That will not be deep-search'd with saucy looks: Small have continual plodders ever won Save base authority from others' books.”
Study is like the sun, which cannot be stared at directly; persistent plodders gain little except borrowed authority from books.
Biron critiques the value of study, suggesting it yields only superficial knowledge.
“Necessity will make us all forsworn Three thousand times within this three years' space; For every man with his affects is born, Not by might master'd but by special grace.”
Necessity will cause us to break our oaths thousands of times in three years, because everyone is born with desires that can only be mastered by divine grace, not force.
Biron predicts the inevitable failure of the oath due to human nature.
