The play is obviously a comedy as it ends well and on a joyful note. This will be a nice breath of fresh air after Hamlet. The prevailing idea of the play seems to be the idea of love and its merits to mankind. The synopsis that I read describes the story as one of "head" versus "heart," or abstinence and learning versus love. Which is more valuable? Which is a more noble pursuit? A personal question of mine on this subject is why are these things mutually exclusive? Does intelligence and learning really require abstinence or the lack of love? Does love not provide some sort of learning in and of itself?
Nevertheless, I do think that this play will be rather enjoyable. I like the idea of love as a protagonist represented by women with men representing the antagonist, the pursuit of knowledge and abstinence. It seems to be a wonderful setup for some good humor. I anticipate a light and colorful play that serves to undermine what the men in the play consider to be true intelligence.
Finally, I did a brief search for some images of materials advertising performances of the play. Here are a couple that were intriguing:
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| Movie poster, via trailershut.org. |
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| Love's Labour's Lost, via hilocommunityplayers.org. |
I believe I will look more at the second of these two in another post, after I have read more of the play. The use of Fragonard on the poster is very interesting. I am excited to explore that further.
This play should be interesting in light of our class discussion on Shakespeare's social mores. I wonder whether Shakespeare will declare the head or the heart to be more important, or whether he will simply choose to jest at those who insist on choosing one or the other.
ReplyDeleteI think that Justin's right in that Shakespeare will choose to poke fun at everyone for trying to solve this predicament. However, Austin, you do bring up a great point about the women vs. the men and the heart vs. the head. It makes me wonder about the history and of all the political ideas from the time. This is when they had a lot of monks and nuns who would choose abstinence for a proclaimed better and higher way of learning. Yet, the women who choose the heart seem to out-do the men in the first scene. Is Shakespeare saying something about learning here?
ReplyDeleteSo, when I said I didn't like this in class I meant the poster for the theater production, not the post. I really don't like that painting. "The Swing" by Fragonard. Mostly for reasons I already said in class. The painting was commissioned to have a lady on a swing kicking her shoes off (a symbol of lost virginity) on a swing and the patron would be hiding in the bushes where he would be able to see up the skirt of the lady. Ironically enough only a bishop was supposed to be pushing the swing but the artist made it the husband, who is in the shadows unaware of what's going on. This painting makes me mad. I also hate the Rococo style.
ReplyDeleteMason: Don't worry, I knew you were talking about the painting. I didn't know about the symbol of lost virginity, though I think the nuance was there even when I didn't realize the symbolism. I wonder if those who created this poster knew of these symbols? Also, while I understand your dislike of the Rococo style, I have to say I enjoy it for what it is.
ReplyDeleteAngela: I think he might be. I have personally only been married two months, but I have to say, I have learned much more in those two months than I realized that I would—and not just things about marriage itself. Rather, the circumstances I now find myself in gives me a much different perspective than I have previously had and am able to recognize and understand things in an entirely new way. Honestly, I think I now better understand much of the world around me. I think love absolutely affects learning. Is this why the women out-do the men? Because they represent the heart?
I honestly don't know if Shakespeare was trying to say something here purposefully or not. I think he didn't ever clarify these things to make it more like a parable. You can look at his plays several different ways and get new things out of it the deeper you look.
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