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Soliloquy
Act 4, Scene 2
Explanation and Analysis:
The style of Love’s Labor’s Lost falls largely in line with Shakespeare's typical style across his comic oeuvre, relying on wordplay, parody, and irony.
The play is full of quick dialogue and wordplay; not a scene goes by without a joke, a pun, or a ribbing exchange. While wit and wordplay is a trademark of Shakespeare’s work, Love’s Labor’s Lost has a unique relationship to this aspect of his style. The play's plot relies on the misunderstandings and confusions that stem from language.
The language in each scene is shaped toward producing misunderstandings between the characters. For example, at the beginning of Act 4, when Holofernes, Nathaniel and Dull discuss hunting, a miscommunication slips in:
NATHANIEL: [...] it was a buck of the first head.
HOLOFERNES: Sir Nathaniel, haud credo.
DULL: T’was not a haud credo, t’was a pricket.
Nathaniel claims the deer they shot was a buck with new antlers, but Holofernes replies in Latin that he doesn’t believe him (haud credo). Dull mishears and objects, thinking that Holofernes has described the buck as “an old gray doe.” Even very minor exchanges, then, are full of comic confusion, as something similar to this moment appears in nearly every scene.
The style and the plot of Love’s Labor’s Lost are hopelessly intertwined, as the plot relies on these miscommunications and confusions. Consider the intrigue that ensues from the swapping of one love letter for another, or the jokes and problems that follow Ferdinand and his men vowing their love to the wrong women in their Russian disguises. The style of Love’s Labor’s Lost upholds its key theme of the ambiguity, and possible futility, of language. Characters try and fail to express their love, their commitment, and their view of the world. Comically, every attempt at clarification only creates chaos.
The dialogue also relies heavily on similes and metaphors. People in the play are always comparing their feelings and the events of their lives to something else. It's as if the characters are always looking for an analogue to their experience to guide them through the messiness of human emotion. In this way, Shakespeare’s style also upholds the theme of love’s power. The characters grope for some way to make sense of what is happening inside of them by looking without.
Related Themes:
