Reading Adler's List

Four men who vow not to be distracted from their studies by love end up getting distracted. They all fall in love. Not to the same woman, but to four different women. It all seems somewhat lacking in drama and conflict.

Instead, Love’s Labour Lost indulges in wordplay. Stichomythic conversations flit by seemingly obtuse to the weight of puns and references burdening them. There’s no doubt that Shakespeare can be difficult to read for the modern reader but even academics acknowledge that Shakespeare’s contemporary general audience would have had problems with this play. For those who can appreciate literary form and verbal acrobatics done in Early Middle English, this is probably an erudite pleasure. Unfortunately, I’m not one of those people. For me, I had to rely mostly on the plot for entertainment of which there is very little. Even in terms of character development or just a story arc. To get the most satisfaction, the reader has to approach this as it was most likely intended- a play celebrating wordplay.