Editing Love's Labour's Lost (section)

====Reality versus fantasy====
[[File:Princess of France (Love's Labour's Lost).jpg|thumb|Princess of France (from an 1850 edition)]]
Critic Joseph Westlund wrote that ''Love's Labour's Lost'' functions as a "prelude to the more extensive commentary on imagination in ''[[A Midsummer Night's Dream]]''."<ref name=Westlund>{{cite journal|last=Westlund|first=Joseph|title=Fancy and Achievement in ''Love's Labor's Lost''|journal=[[Shakespeare Quarterly]]|year=1967|volume=18|issue=1|pages=37–46|doi=10.2307/2868061|jstor=2868061}}</ref> There are several plot points driven by fantasy and imagination throughout the play. The Lords and the King's declaration of abstinence is a fancy that falls short of achievement. This fantasy rests on the men's idea that the resulting fame will allow them to circumvent death and oblivion, a fantastical notion itself. Within moments of swearing their oath, it becomes clear that their fantastical goal is unachievable given the reality of the world, the unnatural state of abstinence itself, and the arrival of the Princess and her ladies. This juxtaposition ultimately lends itself to the irony and humour in the play.<ref name=Westlund/>

The commoners represent the theme of reality and achievement versus fantasy via their production regarding the Nine Worthies. Like the men's fantastical pursuit of fame, the play within a play represents the commoners' concern with fame. The relationship between the fantasy of love and the reality of worthwhile achievement, a popular Renaissance topic, is also utilized throughout the play. Don Armado attempts to reconcile these opposite desires using Worthies who fell in love as model examples.<ref name=Westlund/> Time is suspended throughout the play and is of little substance to the plot. The Princess, though originally "craving quick dispatch," quickly falls under the spell of love and abandons her urgent business. This suggests that the majority of the action takes place within a fantasy world. Only with the news of the Princess's father's death are time and reality reawakened.<ref name=Westlund/>