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Love's Labour's Lost (Dover Thrift Editions: Plays)

William Shakespeare

$3.00 $1.50

This product is not returnable.

Publication Date: November 9th, 2001

Publisher:

Dover Publications

ISBN:

9780486419299

Pages:

Otto Bookstore

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Description

In this charming comedy of manners, one of Shakespeare's earliest efforts in the genre, a well-intentioned king vows to forego all fleshly delights, setting the stage for romantic hijinks. Ferdinand, the king of Navarre, insists that his court join him in a pledge to undertake a strict regimen of study and celibacy. The grudging compliance of three noblemen is sorely tested -- as is the king's own resolve -- with the arrival of a French princess and a trio of comedy attendants.
First performed in 1594, Love's Labour's Lost features such typical Shakespearean elements as lovers in disguise, a witty clown, and an abundance of sparkling repartee. The play's role as a formative work (the plot is thought to be entirely of Shakespeare's invention) makes it of particular interest to students and scholars, and its merry doings and high spirts recommend it to all.

About the Author

"He was not of an age, but for all time," declared Ben Jonson of his contemporary William Shakespeare (1564-1616). Jonson's praise is especially prescient, since at the turn of the 17th century Shakespeare was but one of many popular London playwrights and none of his dramas were printed in his lifetime. The reason so many of his works survive is because two of his actor friends, with the assistance of Jonson, assembled and published the First Folio edition of 1623.