Players, Cheats, and Games of Wit in Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost

Abstract

This paper aims at exploring the different playful uses of games, especially games of wit, in Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost and their meaning. My argument is that through the many occurrences of cheating and “foul play” which pervade the text, Love’s Labour’s Lost depicts a satire of early modern courtly games. The sophisticated games of wit and sports propounded by courtesy books of the time – such as Baldassare Castiglione’s Book of The Courtier or Stefano Guazzo’s Civil Conversation for instance – are repeatedly turned into bawdy banter and less dignified distractions. They are also opposed to the greater simplicity of children’s games throughout the play. This satire draws our attention to the undercurrent of violence pervading courtly forms of play. It also paves the way for a deeper reflexion on the relation between playing and time in which pastimes are construed as a way to evade the thought of death eventually embodied on stage by the arrival of Marcadé in the final act. In this perspective, Love’s Labour’s Lost may also be read as a form of theatrical memento mori reminding its characters as well as its audience of the inherent sterility of the games they play.