English 304: Shakespeare: Major Plays (Prof. Boyer)

The best beginning procedure is always to familiarize yourself with the cast of characters and then to read the play (or at least an act or a scene) all the way through so that you know what's happening. The notes can help if you're stuck, but try to get the big picture of a scene before getting bogged down in details. Read through, then go back and clear up details. Then you're ready to think about the questions.

A note on spellings: The Norton Shakespeare uses The Oxford Shakespeare's British spelling "labour" in the play's title. The name of the character here called Biron is usually spelled Berowne. The name of the character Mote is usually spelled Moth (the two words would have been pronounced the same). In a play so concerned with language as this one is, it is probably also relevant that the French word mot means "word."

Act 1
Act 2
Act 3
Act 4
Act 5
Return to list of English 304 reading questions 

ACT 1

1.1
1.	What have the King, Biron, Longueville, and Dumaine promised to do and for how long? (See 1.1.15-18.) What objections does Biron have to the "statutes" (1.1.33-48)? What would he prefer to study? (See 1.1.59-93 and note 9 for the intellectual basis for what he is arguing.) Does Biron expect to keep his oath (1.1.114)?
2.	What is the problem with enforcing the two laws given in 1.1.119-120 and 128-130? How serious is Biron's charge against the first one in 1.1.127? (This idea will return at later in the play.)
3.	Why is the French Princess coming to visit? (See 1.1.132-136.)
4.	What will be the sources of entertainment during the three years of time in the academy? (See 1.1.160-178.) Will these people know that they are providing humor to the King and his followers?
5.	Why has Dull apprehended Costard and brought him before the King? (See the entire portion of the scene, 1.1.179-282, and especially 197-205, 237-238, 246-251, 266.) How effectively does Dull use the language? (See 1.1.179-185.) What kind of language is Costard using in 1.1.297-208? How effective is Armado as a writer? (See his letter as read by the King, 1.1.213-261.)
6.	What sentence does the King give to Costard (1.1.279-282)?
7.	What is Biron's response as the King and his followers leave to begin fulfilling their oaths? (See 1.1.284-287)?
8.	How does the incident with Dull and Costard reflect on what the King and his followers have sworn to do? How successful do you think they will be?
1.2
1.	What sense of Armado and Mote do you get from their opening conversation (1.2.1-33)? What has Armado promised to do (1.2.34)? Does he know why the King has made him part of the academy? (Compare 1.1.177-178.)
2.	What does Armado confess (1.2.53)? With whom is he in love (1.2.104-106)? What is the implication of Mote's response in line 107? How romantic is their encounter in 1.2.118-130? Does Jaquenetta seems to share Armado's love?
3.	How does Armado react to being in love (1.2.149-164)? In Armado we have a stock braggart soldier. Keep watch for other soldiers turned lovers in the course.

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ACT 2

2.1
1.	How does the Princess respond to Boyet's flattery (2.1.1-19)? How does she respond to the King's vows (2.1.20-34)?
2.	How do the ladies describe the lords (2.1.37-76)? (Note the textual confusion here and elsewhere about which woman is which--see note 5 and the Textual Note, pp. 738-740.) What does the Princess determine from the descriptions (2.1.77-79)?
3.	When the King and the lords arrive, how does the Princess treat their oaths? (See 2.1.90-107, especially 104-105.)
4.	What happens in the conversation between Biron and Rosaline in 2.1.113-126? (Remember the textual confusion.)
5.	How does the King understand the disagreement with the King of France? (See 2.1.127-147 and note 3.) What would settle it for the King (2.1.148-151)?
6.	How does the Princess respond, and how will the matter be settled (2.1.152-166)? What will happen in the meantime (2.1.167-177)?
7.	After one more conversation between Biron and Rosaline (2.1.178-192), what do the three Lords learn from Boyet (2.1.193-213)?
8.	Notice the war imagery in 2.1.217 and the related term in line 225.
9.	How does Boyet explain the King's response to the Princess, and what does he suggest she can do as a result? (See 2.1.227-257.) What does she mean when she calls him "an old love-monger" (253)? Pandarus is such a person more fully developed in Troilus and Cressida.

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ACT 3

3.1
1.	Why does Armado free Costard and send him to Jaquenetta? (See 3.1.3-5 and 117-119.)
2.	How does Costard define "remuneration" and "guerdon"? (See 3.1.120-137 and 155-158.)
3.	How does Biron respond to being in love? (See 3.1.159-190.) What does he say about the woman he is in love with? (See 3.1.179-184.) What is he accusing her of? How romantic is his outlook?
4.	In 2.1.190, "my lady" is a generic term for an aristocratic woman, not a reference to a specific woman. Compare this to Joan, a commoner. A Joan appears as "greasy Joan" in the closing song (5.2.894).
5.	Notice the awkward act divisions in the play: we are at the end of act 3 and yet we are only about a third of the way through the play. The act divisions first appear in the First Folio of 1623 and are not Shakespeare's. Shakespeare probably wrote the play in nine scenes with no act divisions.

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ACT 4

4.1
1.	How does the Princess respond to being the one to kill the deer (4.1.1-40)?
2.	What happens when Costard brings the letter to Rosaline? (See 4.1.41-103.) Who is the letter really from and for? How do the Ladies and Boyet respond to the letter?
3.	What do Boyet and the Ladies talk about after the Princess leaves? (See 4.1.104-135.) What is Boyet saying about Rosaline in lines 107-109? How seriously should we take this discussion?
4.	What does Costard think his role in the discussion has been? (See 4.1.136-144.) Is he correct?
4.2
1.	What sort of people are Holofernes and Nathaniel? What contribution do they seem to make to the play's discussion of language?
2.	How does Holofernes's poem (4.2.53-58) compare to the sonnets and other poems we have heard from the court figures?
3.	Why does Jaquenetta come to see them at 4.2.75? Whom does she think the letter is from? Who actually sent it?
4.	What seems to happen when Nathaniel reads the poem? (See what Holofernes says at 4.2.112-113.) Note that the poem is a sonnet in hexameters, perhaps influenced by several poems in Sir Philip Sidney's Astrophil and Stella., published in 1593. How well does Holofernes like the poem?
5.	What will they do with the letter? (See 4.2.129-131.)
6.	Where will Holofernes, Nathaniel, and Dull eat dinner (4.2.141-150)? What is the tone of lines 151-152?
4.3
1.	How does Biron react to being in love (4.3.1-17)?
2.	What happens as the King, Longueville, and Dumaine enter (4.3.18-122)? What do the others do as each person enters? What does each person reveal? Are we surprised? Note that this is one of many multiple eavesdropping scenes in Shakespeare, and, with four levels of overhearing, it is one of the most complex.
3.	What happens then as Longueville and then the King come forward (4.3.123-146)? How does Biron treat them all when he comes forward (4.3.147-184)? How wise is it for him to take this attitude toward the other three? What do we know that he doesn't know?
4.	What happens when Costard and Jaquenetta enter at 4.3.185? How does Biron respond to the letter (4.3.185-209)?
5.	Once the four agree they are all lovers, what is the nature of the discussion they have about Rosaline (4.3.210-277)?
6.	How do the four get out of their argument (4.3.278-285)? What do they ask Biron to do for them?
7.	How effective is Biron's argument that they are justified in going against their oaths? (See 4.3.286-339; for the indented lines after line 291, see note 4 and the Textual Note on pp. 738-740.) What is the effect of the Biblical echoes in his speech?
8.	What is the plan for wooing (4.3.340-360)?

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ACT 5

5.1
1.	What does Holofernes not like about Armado (5.1.1-27)? How does Holofernes want English to be pronounced?
2.	How do Mote and Costard respond to the use of language by Holofernes, Nathaniel, and Armado (5.1.34-40)? Are you sympathetic to their responses?
3.	What does Armado say in lines 74-76? What is their plan for the entertainment (5.1.99-125)?
4.	What means does Mote suggest "to make an offence gracious" (lines 115-118)? Is this good advice?
5.	How comfortable does Dull feel with them (5.1.126-128)? What role will he play in the entertainment (5.1.129-132)?
5.2
1.	This long scene, the longest single scene in any of Shakespeare's plays, is 35% of the entire play (the same percentage as Acts 1-3 combined). Although there are several different "bits" in the scene, it is a single scene because there is no point at which all the characters leave the stage.
2.	In the first part of the scene (5.2.1-78), what have the ladies received from the lords? How do the ladies respond? In connection with the play's emphasis on language, notice the references to specific letters of the alphabet in lines 42-45. What do the ladies think of the lords' wisdom (5.2.58-78)? Are these ladies in love with the lords? Yet there are more serious issues here, too, as in lines 13-18, a motif that gets picked up in Twelfth Night
.3.	In the next part of the scene (5.2.79-155), what do the ladies learn from Boyet? (Note another example of overhearing someone.) How will the ladies respond? How do they justify treating the lords in this way?
4.	What happens during the Muscovite portion of the scene (5.2.156-264)? How do the ladies treat the disguised lords? Is this fair to the lords? Note that this is a masking, similar to the one in Romeo and Juliet that brought Romeo and his friends to the Capulet party. Notice that in addition to the lords disguised as Muscovites, there are also "blackamoor" musicians on stage, and see the discussion on p. 737 of the introduction to the play.
5.	In the next portion of the scene (5.2.265-309), what does Boyet say will happen next? How will the ladies respond?
6.	Note that only Boyet remains onstage between lines 309 and 310. The exit of the ladies marks the end of the first major segment of the scene.
7.	Most of the next section (5.2.310-336) is devoted to Biron's description of Boyet. What sort of person is Boyet, according to Biron?
8.	In the next section (5.2.337-483) the lords and ladies again meet. What do the ladies accuse the lords of doing? What happens when the lords realize that it was a trick? Note the "turn" in the scene at line 390. Biron then makes one last try at speaking for the four of them. Read his speech carefully (lines 394-423). What is he saying? Notice expecially his comments about language in lines 402, 406-409 (but what is he doing now?), and 412-413. What is the poetic form of his speech?
9.	How effective is Biron's change of styles? (See what Rosaline says in line 416 and his response in lines 416-423.)
10.	How does Biron respond, and whom does he blame (5.2.459-483)?
11.	The next major section of the play (5.2.484-698) is the Pageant of the Nine Worthies. How good is the pageant as a performance? How do the lords and ladies respond to it? Is this the response one would expect? How do the performers respond to the criticism? (See lines 566-575, 617, and 647-649.)
12.	What happens during the last part of the pageant (lines 658-698)? What two characters almost come to a duel, and what are they fighting over? (You can piece together the story from lines 659-667.) Why won't Armado fight in his shirt (lines 683-698)? What other reason might there be for Armado's not having a shirt?
13.	What interrupts the scene and begins the last major segment (5.2.699-904)? How does Mercadé's arrival change the tone of the play? What message does he bring? (See lines 699-703.) What change does that mean for the Princess? (Note what the King calls her in line 708 and her new speech prefix in line 709.)
14.	Has the Queen achieved what she came to Navarre for? (See line 721.) Is it wise to enter into negotiations with a person one is head-over-heels in love with but who does not seem to share that feeling?
15.	Do the lords know when to give up? Or do they realize that this is their last chance? How does Biron justify their continued wooing (5.2.735-758)? Did the ladies see their wooing as serious (5.2.759-768)?
16.	How does the Queen respond to the King's last attempt (5.2.769-771)? What does she say the King must do if he is to win her love, and why? (See 5.2.772-794.) Does the King say he will do it (lines 705-708)? Will he?
17.	What do Catherine and Maria tell Dumaine and Longueville (lines 709-814)? What does Biron ask of Rosaline (lines 814-817)? What does she tell him to do, and why does she give him this task (lines 818-848)? How does Biron relate all this to the play itself (lines 851-855)?
18.	There is one more vow and one more penance. What has Armado promised (lines 860-861)? And why has he come back on stage (lines 861-864)?
19.	What is the effect of ending the play (almost) with the paired songs of Spring and Winter (lines 869-902)? How good are these songs? Have you met them before? (They appear quite frequently in poetry anthologies.)
20.	What is the effect of the last two lines of the play? What is the effect of having Armado speak them?
21.	Can these romances work? Will the lords and ladies eventually get together? Will there be a sequel? See the note on Love's Labor's Won by the Oxford editors, page 803 for some possibilities.

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