Love's Labor's Lost: Act 3, Scene 1 Summary & Analysis

Armado tells his page Mote to free Costard and bring him so that Armado can have him take a love letter to Jacquenetta for him. Mote asks if Armado is going to try to woo Jacquenetta with song and dance, saying that such a strategy has seduced many women. Mote sings a line from a song about a “hobby horse,” and Armado angrily asks if Mote called Jacquenetta a hobby horse. Mote jokes that perhaps she is a “hackney” (a horse for hire, but also a term for a prostitute).

Mote says that Armado loves Jacquenetta “by, in, and without” his heart: his heart cannot come by her, his heart is in love with her, and he is out of heart that he doesn’t have her. Armado sends Mote to get Costard, and Mote says he will go “as swift as lead.” Armado is confused and says that lead is a slow, heavy metal, but Mote reasons that lead shot from cannons and guns is fast, and Armado is delighted with his cleverness.

Mote leaves, and Armado compliments his “acute” wit. Mote returns with Costard and Armado greets him with the Latin greeting “salve,” which Costard confuses with “l’envoi,” a French term for parting words or an ending to a speech. The two disagree over these terms and try to remember a fable as an example of the usage of the terms.

Costard tells Armado that he fell over a threshold and broke his shin. Armado tells him to stop talking about his shin and informs him that he has been freed only on the condition that he delivers a letter from Armado to Jacquenetta. He gives Costard “remuneration” in the form of a coin for the favor, and then leaves with Mote. Costard examines the coin and thinks that “remuneration” is “a fairer name than ‘French crown.’”

Berowne enters and Costard asks him how much a “remuneration” is worth (as if remuneration were the name of a kind of coin). Berowne asks Costard to do him a favor, and Costard agrees. Berowne says he hasn’t even told him what the favor is yet. He tells Costard about Rosaline and asks him to deliver her a letter.

Berowne gives Costard some money, calling it a “guerdon” (reward). Costard mishears this as “gardon,” and exclaims that a “gardon” is worth even more than a “remuneration.” He leaves excitedly. Alone on stage, Berowne remarks on how he, who used to be entirely against love, is now in love and under the control of Cupid.

Berowne asks if he is now to be “a corporal” in Cupid’s army. He refers to his love as a plague that Cupid is punishing him with, and then resigns himself to his feelings, saying, “I will love, write, sigh, pray, sue, groan.”