What happens when you fall in love? In Love's Labour's Lost, step #1 is writing a love letter. Writing is practically a prerequisite to being in love.
Once a character explores the art of love-writing that character must endure the humiliation of either: 1) someone reading your letter aloud to strangers, or 2) your best friends eavesdropping on you and mocking your most intimate confessions. Despite the embarrassment, however, love is a wise and inspirational teacher, whose influence can be most clearly seen in the student's writing.
Questions About Literature and Writing
- Why do the lovers in the play become poets?
- We see only the lords participating in literary exercises. Why don't the women in Love's Labour's Lost write poems?
- Who do you think wrote the best love letter? Why?
Chew on This
Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.
Reading letters aloud contributes to the atmosphere of romantic tension and influences the characters' actions in Love's Labour's Lost.