The San Francisco call., 1899-10-23
II. LOVES LABoR'S LOST.
(Continued.)
Study Points to Be Noted

| traSt. 1t is Shakespeare'S poorest play
| 1t evokes little interest either when read
! or when played. It is of little account
as a study of character. 1t possesses
scarcely any dramatic merit 1t has few
! passages, indeed, almost none at all, that
! have value as poetry. Its one saving salt
| is its humor.
1t seems difficult to believe that the
same pen that indited "As You Like 1t, !"
Much Ado About Nothing" Measure for
Measure" and THE Merchant Of Venice
should also have indited this play. And
| yet, weak as 1T is, Loves Labor's Lost Is
play that no dramatist of Shakespeare $
time, save Shakespeare himself, could
! have written. Its faults are those or
| freshness and ineXperience. Its de-
| iciencies are those natural to an early
/ stage OF mental development. 1t Is the
work of a young man. 1t is one OF
| Shakespeare's earliest plays, if not his
very earliest. 1t must have been COM
posed in about his twentyffth or twenty
sixth year, when he had been in London
and connected with theatrical affairs only
| some three or four years.
! 1t is more than probable that in writ
/ ing it Shakespeare's main thought was
/ satire. He had two ends in view. lie
wanted to make game of the pedantry
! and pointlesSneSS of John Lyly S plays, at
that time lne most popular plays upon
| the stage He also wanted to hold up
! to ridicule the silly affectations of the
"euphuists," the young court dandies or
| the time whose elaborate artlnclallty OF
! speech, with it's cloying smoothness, It's
wearisome indirectness, its monotonous
! if ingenious elegance was so OPP
posite to everything which snake
speare would deem proper and be-
| coming in the speech of men. In
Holofernes and Sir Nathaniel (the latter
we must remember, was but a hedge
PRESTO we have pedantry exposed In Don
| Adriano de Armada and the KING ana
| his courtiers we have euphuism exposed.
1t is probable that Shakespeare had a
! third end In view-namely, 10 laugh
! good -humoredly" at the clumsy mel
| fectiveness of the pageants Whlch the
| country folk of the day were accustomed
| to present "at the houses and In the
! gardens of the nobility and at village
| fairs and festivals" This end, however
must have been but a minor one with
him. for the main stress of the play Is
! directed toward the other ends.
The one effective piece of characterize.
! tion in Loves Labor's Lost is that Oh
| the courtier Berowne. 1t Is his character'
both as it is understood py ms en-"
.dramatis personae' and as II is oe-
veloped in the play, that gives to the play
| the noint. the zest the dramatic interest
| ii has.
The female characters of the play are
mere outlines Their portraiture Is Wnolly
external 1t will be noticed that sood
deal Of sport is made of Rosallne COM
plexion This is described Nof course III
ridicule) as being ''as black as eoohy'
Even her lover, Berowne, JOINS IN tne
General denrecation of her looks; for she
is brunette. 81 am toiling in a pltch'
he saws. referring to Rosaline's dark com
nIexion. All this was in accord with the
! fashion of the time which obsequlousIy
and extrayagantly gave preference 10 the
| "fair" (the truth is, red collpIeAioA
| and hair of Queen Elizabeth.
There are two other points respecting
this plav that require explanation. one
Is the strained and artificial style Oh IAN
guage that is put into the mouths OIL
speakers who are intended 10 De present
cd naturally, as, for example, that OF the
nrincess in act V, sc. 2. The reason for
| This no doubt is that Shakespeare wrote
+o nlease his audience. The play was per-
formed at court and we are told that 1t
gained the favor of the Queen. we must
remember that this very ultra-laborious
| and ultra-artifcial style of language was
| inst the sort of language queen Eliza
| beth deIehted In The same sort OF thing
Is noticeable Though to less extent) In
| another play a play also written In
fuD years, and also, so 1t is supposed,
performed at court, "A Midsummer
| Nights Dream.
The other point is the coarseness of the
language that occasionally in this play Is
nut into the mouths of the female char
! acters. even those the most refined, as,
for example. the princess and her three
| beautiful companions. The explanation
again is that Shakespeare wrote to please
his audience. Female characters In
| Shakespeare's days were not taken by
women and girls, but by men and boys
It was a stage custom then, bad one
! and one that Shakespeare afterward
dropped to make these feminine actors"
utter words and sentiments that derived
| a coarse sort of humor from the fact that
they were not appropriate to the parts the
| actors represented, but were more or less
| appropriate to the actors themselves in
their own proper persons.
| The novice in Shakespeare study must
| expect to find In Loves Labor's Lost"
| as In all other of the plays, many words
used In senses that no longer attach to
! the words. For example in act II, sc. /,
line So Competitors" is used in the sense
| of associates or "confederates." But
a little study of the context will always
enable the careful student to make diff
culties of this sort vanish.
But there are dl1ncultleS OF dffTerent
sort not so easily to be got over. For
example, in act V. Sc l, lines 344-345:
And when Love speaks the voice Of all the gods
Make heaven drowsy with the harmony.
And in act V, sc. 2. lines 51S-519:
Where zeal strives to content and the contents
| Die in the zeal OF that which 1t presents.
The meanings that the poet intends are
not at all clear. Nor do they become
! clear even after considerable study. In
deed, learned commentators differ very
much as TO the meanings of these pass
ages, and also as to hundreds Of other
passages that might be instanced in
| Shakespeare's plays.
! Our advice to the ordinary student in
such cases as these is this: Try con-
scientiously to get at the meaning of the
passage by a fair study Of the text and
context. If it's meaning does not come to
you after this fair study mark the pas
sage for easy reference in the future and
go on with your enjoyment of the plav.
1t will often be found that a meaning
once obscure becomes quite intelligible
after one has had little Shakespearean n
experience But in almost every play of
! Shakespeare's there will be found some
| passages that will battle a student to the
| last N--0