A 19th Century View of "Love's Labour's Lost"
Emily Bridget Cummings, '01

"Love's Labour's Lost," a comedy by William Shakespeare, was published in 1594. Some critics believe, "this is the earliest of Shakespeare's dramas, probably prior to the "Venus and Adonis," (Hawkes 108). Assumed to be one of the firsts of Shakespeare's plays, "Love's Labour's Lost" has become the object of much discussion among literary circles for the past four centuries. During the 19th century, several studies and critiques of the play were published. Among these, were studies by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Hazlitt, Walter Pater, and J.A. Heraud. The range of opinions concerning the quality of the play's content is apparent through each of the studies.

Heraud viewed "Love's Labour's Lost" as, "philosophical and critical, dependent rather on dialogue than the story," (Furness 360). Heraud appreciated the play for its worth in terms of its creative speech. He found that Shakespeare's writing style was highly entertaining to his audience. The entire play was composed in such a manner, that most of the lines had more than one interpretation. The lines could be taken in their most literal sense or they could be read into.

For example, in 1:2, Costard mentions that he would prefer "to pray a month with mutton and porridge," (line: 281). In this context, one of two meanings could be drawn from Costard's comment. First, we could interpret this to mean that Costard would prefer to actually be punished by praying for a month and surviving on mutton and porridge alone. Or, we could read into it that the slang term for prostitute is mutton and what Costard was really trying to say was he could survive his punishment with a prostitute, some prays, and some porridge. Heraud found that, "the whole play is, literally and exclusively, 'a play on words'," (Furness 360).

Like Heraud, Pater also focused his studies of "Love's Labour's Lost" on the use of Shakespeare's language in the play. Pater proposed that within his view of the play as a figurative tapestry, its "leading idea is the 'foppery of delicate language, this fashionable plaything of [Shakespeare's] time," (Eastman 161). Pater points out Shakespeare's vulgarity in Holoferenes speech, and the poetic charm in the words of Biron in the play. The following is an example of Holoferene's vulgarity in 4:2, :

"The deer was, as you know - saguis -in
blood ripe as the pomewater who know
hangeth like a jewel in the ear of caelo,
the sky, the welkin, the heaven, and anon
falleth like a crab on the face of terra, the
soil, the land, the earth," (lines: 3-6).

Unlike Heraud and Pater, critic William Hazlitt feels, "If we were to part with any of the author's comedies, it should be this," (David: xiii) Hazlitt, unlike the two previously mentioned critics, does not particularly care for this piece by Shakespeare. Many feel, including Hazlitt, that this is quite possibly Shakespeare's first drama. They look at this piece of work with a critical eye and see errors of an inexperienced writer. "Love's Labour's Lost," according to Hazlitt, doesn't show the personal style of Shakespeare. Rather, Hazlitt believes that Shakespeare took the particular style for this piece from the time period.

In Coleridge's seventh lecture, he shared his view of Shakespeare's play, "Love's Labour's Lost." Coleridge saw the play, "as the link between Shakespeare's character as a poet and a dramatist," (Foakes 75). Coleridge found Shakespeare's play full of poetic verse while are the same time finding evidence of his poetic abilities, Coleridge also saw a writer with "undiscovered germs of future excellence," (Foakes 75).

As Coleridge studied "Love's Labour's Lost," he discovered that this play's characters were the beginning of many of Shakespeare's other characters. "Costard was the ground-work of his Tapster in 'Measure for Measure,' and Dull his Dogberry; Biron, of Benedict in the 'Much Ado About Nothing,' and of Mercutio in 'Romeo and Juliet,'" (Hawkes 108).

Coleridge also examined in his study, the naturalness of the activity in the first scene of the play. Coleridge attributes the convincing manner of the characters in the first scene of the play to the, "whimsical determination on which the drama is founded," (Hawkes 109).

As had been mentioned earlier, "Love's Labour's Lost," clearly exhibits Shakespeare's poetic and philosophical approach to his writings. Biron's speech at the end of Act IV is an excellent example of his writing approach. "It is an excellent specimen of it," ( Hawkes 110). Shakespeare is able to "convey profound truths in the most lively images," (Hawkes 110).

When speaking of his study, Coleridge comments how, - "sometimes you see this youthful god of poetry connecting disparate thoughts purely by means of resemblances in the words expressing them," (Hawkes 111).

As Coleridge examined the style of narration in "Love's Labour's Lost," he discovered it possessed many of the same flaws and beauties of "Arcadia," a work of Sir Philip Sydney's. Perhaps Shakespeare drew guidance for his own work from Sir Sydney. Coleridge suggests that the subject content of the play has a direct connection to the recent pursuits of Shakespeare. Coleridge contends that this work is a product of Shakespeare's " first observations of life, drawn from the immediate employment of his youth and from images most deeply impressed on his mind in the situations in which these employments had placed him," (Hawkes 112).

Earlier in the paper, it had been mentioned that Hazlitt felt this particular play was worthless due to its author's inexperience as a writer at the time of composition. However, Coleridge believes the contrary. Coleridge argued that indeed Shakespeare was not "an ignorant man, and the former part of his life had been passes in scholastic pursuits, because when a man began to write, his first work will be a color or tincture of his past life," (Hawkes 112). That color or tincture, is what Coleridge sees in Shakespeare's "Love's Labour's Lost." Coleridge respects and appreciates the color of Shakespeare he sees in the play.

Having read the range of nineteenth century studies of the production, "Love's Labour's Lost," I agree with Samuel Taylor Coleridge's opinions surrounding the play. I found that the play was poetic and philosophical and exhibited Shakespeare's talents despite the fact that it was quite possibly his first written production. I found that Shakespeare's use of language and humor leave his audience balled up in fits of laughter. I dispute critic's who claim his play is clumsily crafted. I believe that "Love's Labour's Lost," is a creative comedy which will be enjoyed by thousands for years to come just as much of the rest of Shakespeare's collection is enjoyed.

Works Consulted:
Coleridge, Samuel T. "A Selection of the Essays, Notes and Lectures of Samuel Taylor Coleridge on the Poems of Shakespeare." Ed. Terence Hawkes. Coleridge's Writings on Shakespeare. New York: G.P. Putnam and Sons, 1959.

Coleridge, Samuel T. "The Text of the Lectures of 1811-1812." Ed. R.A. Foakes. Coleridge on Shakespeare. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1971.

Eastman, Arthur M. A Short History of Shakespearean Criticism. New York: Random House, 1968.

Hazlitt, William. "Character's Of Shakespeare's Plays (1817)." 3 pp. Online. Internet. 11/5/00. (http://utl2.library.utoronto.ca/www/utel/criticism/hazlittw_charsp/charsp_ch26.html)

Shakespeare, William. "Love's Labour's Lost." Ed. Walter Cohen et.al. The Norton Shakespeare Based on the Oxford Edition. London: W.W. Norton and Co., 1997.

Shakespeare, William. "Love's Labour's Lost." Ed. Richard David. London: Methuen and Co. LTD, 1951.

Shakespeare, William. "Love's Labour's Lost." Ed. Horace Howard Furness. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Co., 1904.

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