Love's Labour's Lost

William ShakespeareProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.9

Word count: 125K words
Chapters: 13

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Love's Labour's Lost by William ShakespeareAuthor: Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Jul 1, 2000

Editor's review

Love's Labour's Lost is a Shakespeare comedy built on wordplay and witty dialogue, its plot turning on a few nobles who swear off love only to have their oaths broken by it—light in structure and full of verbal fencing. Its strength lies not in a complex plot but in dense puns, slang, and rhetoric, and in an ending that unexpectedly departs from the conventional comic reunion, which is why it is often regarded as one of Shakespeare's most language-rich works. The Project Gutenberg edition is a public-domain English eBook, well suited to looking up unfamiliar words on screen and comparing different versions. As for reading situations, it works both as an advanced choice after one has read some Shakespeare and as preparation for lines before a stage production. Note that many puns depend on Elizabethan language background, so first-time readers may stumble on the jokes; reading with an annotated edition or introductory material is recommended, and there is no need to grasp everything in one pass.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who have read one or two Shakespeare plays and want to expand into the comedies
English learners interested in English rhetoric and puns
Theater enthusiasts preparing to watch or stage the play who need to preview the lines
Readers who enjoy light comic structure and can accept highly language-dense texts

Not a good fit for

Readers new to Shakespeare who need strongly plot-driven works
Casual readers who want to finish the story quickly and prefer not to deal with annotations
Self-learners wholly unfamiliar with Elizabethan language background and without supporting materials

Reading tips

Choose an annotated edition first; read the notes before returning to the jokes in the text.
Read act by act and scene by scene, and after each scene retell the character relationships and misunderstandings in your own words.
Read the best dialogue aloud to feel the rhythm and the sound effects of the puns.
Watch a plot summary or a production video first, then return to a close reading of the text.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Can I read this directly if I have never read Shakespeare?

You can try, but the book is dense with wordplay and first-time readers may struggle. It is advisable to learn the plot summary first and use an annotated edition, or start with a comedy with a clearer plot, such as A Midsummer Night's Dream, as a transition.

Why is the play's ending often discussed?

It does not use the typical all-ends-happily closure; instead, unexpected news interrupts the wedding arrangements, leaving a lingering sense of waiting and the test of time, which is why it is often seen as one of Shakespeare's comedies with a rather unusual structure.

Is the Project Gutenberg edition suitable for close reading?

It is suitable for searching and comparison but usually does not include detailed annotations. For close reading, pair it with a scholarly annotated edition or introduction; when you encounter puns and allusions, verify them first and then continue, to avoid misreading.

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About the author

William Shakespeare Author · English · 1564–1616

William Shakespeare (1564–1616) was the greatest playwright, poet and actor of the English Renaissance. Born in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, he is known as the "Bard of Avon." He wrote roughly thirty-seven to thirty-nine plays, one hundred and fifty-four sonnets and narrative poems. His representative works include Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet. His works span tragedy, comedy and history play, distinguished by rich, poetic language and profound characterization. His explorations of human nature, power, love and fate have had a lasting influence, and his works have been translated into many languages and circulated widely around the world.