Love’s Labour’s Lost · Chapter
Scene II explained
Armado and Moth engage in witty banter about melancholy and love.
What happens
Armado and Moth engage in witty banter about melancholy and love. Armado confesses his love for Jaquenetta, the country girl, and orders Moth to sing. Dull arrives with Costard and Jaquenetta, instructing Armado to keep Costard safe and fast him three days a week, while Jaquenetta is assigned to the park. Armado declares his love to Jaquenetta, who responds with mockery. After they leave, Armado laments his forsworn love, citing Samson, Solomon, and Hercules as precedents, and resolves to write sonnets.
Themes in this chapter
Love vs. Oath
Armado struggles with his oath to study for three years while falling in love with Jaquenetta, feeling forsworn.
Wit and Language
The scene is filled with puns, wordplay, and rhetorical exchanges between Armado and Moth, highlighting the power of language.
Deception and Disguise
Armado's blushing and self-deception about love, and Moth's ironic commentary, reveal layers of pretense.
Characters to notice
- Don Adriano de Armado
Confesses his love for Jaquenetta, laments being forsworn, and cites heroic precedents for love.
- Moth
Engages in witty wordplay with Armado, defines melancholy, and recites a rhyme about white and red.
- Jaquenetta
Mockingly responds to Armado's declarations of love and is assigned as day-woman at the park.
- Costard
Brought in by Dull, sentenced to fast three days a week, and taken to prison by Moth.
- Anthony Dull
Delivers the duke's orders regarding Costard and Jaquenetta.
Key passages
“I do affect the very ground, which is base, where her shoe, which is baser, guided by her foot, which is basest, doth tread.”
I love even the lowly ground beneath her shoe, because her foot guides it.
Armado expresses his exaggerated devotion to Jaquenetta.
“Love is a familiar; Love is a devil: there is no evil angel but Love.”
Love is like a demon or an evil angel; it is nothing but trouble.
Armado personifies Love as a devilish force.
“Yet was Samson so tempted, and he had an excellent strength; yet was Solomon so seduced, and he had a very good wit.”
Even strong Samson and wise Solomon were overcome by love.
Armado justifies his own weakness by citing biblical figures.