Editing Love's Labour's Lost (section)

===Themes===

====Masculine desire====
Masculine desire structures the play and helps to shape its action. The men's sexual appetite manifests in their desire for fame and honour; the notion of women as dangerous to masculinity and intellect is established early on. The King and his Lords' desires for their idealized women are deferred, confused, and ridiculed throughout the play. As the play comes to a close, their desire is deferred yet again, resulting in an increased exaltation of the women.<ref name=Breitenberg>{{cite journal|last=Breitenberg|first=Mark|title=The Anatomy of Masculine Desire in ''Love's Labor's Lost''|journal=[[Shakespeare Quarterly]]|year=1992|volume=43|issue=4|pages=430–449|doi=10.2307/2870863|jstor=2870863}}</ref>

Critic Mark Breitenberg commented that the use of idealistic poetry, popularized by [[Petrarch]], effectively becomes the textualized form of the male gaze.<ref name=Breitenberg/> In describing and idealizing the ladies, the King and his Lords exercise a form of control over women they love. Don Armado also represents masculine desire through his relentless pursuit of Jacquenetta. The theme of desire is heightened by the concern of increasing female sexuality throughout the [[Renaissance]] period and the consequent threat of [[cuckoldry]]. Politics of love, marriage, and power are equally forceful in shaping the thread of masculine desire that drives the plot.<ref name=Breitenberg/>

====Reckoning and rationalization====
The term 'reckoning' is used in its multiple meanings throughout the Shakespeare canon.<ref name=Lewis>{{cite journal|last=Lewis|first=Cynthia|title='We Know What We Know': Reckoning in Love's Labor's Lost|journal=Studies in Philology|year=2008| volume=105| issue=2| pages=245–264| doi=10.1353/sip.2008.0008|s2cid=159766371}}</ref> In ''Love's Labour's Lost'' in particular, it is often used to signify a moral judgement; most notably, the idea of a final reckoning as it relates to death. Though the play entwines fantasy and reality, the arrival of the messenger to announce the death of the Princess's father ultimately brings this notion to a head. Scholar Cynthia Lewis suggested that the appearance of the final reckoning is necessary in reminding the lovers of the seriousness of marriage.<ref name=Lewis/> The need to settle the disagreement between Navarre and France likewise suggests an instance of reckoning, though this particular reckoning is settled offstage. This is presented in stark contrast to the final scene, in which the act of reckoning cannot be avoided.  In acknowledging the consequences of his actions, Don Armado is the only one to deal with his reckoning in a noble manner. The Lords and the King effectively pass judgement on themselves, revealing their true moral character when mocking the players during the representation of the Nine Worthies.<ref name=Lewis/>

Similar to reckoning is the notion of rationalization, which provides the basis for the swift change in the ladies' feelings for the men. The ladies are able to talk themselves into falling in love with the men due to the rationalization of the men's purported flaws. Lewis concluded that "the proclivity to rationalize a position, a like, or a dislike, is linked in ''Love's Labour's Lost'' with the difficulty of reckoning absolute value, whose slipperiness is indicated throughout the play."<ref name=Lewis/>

====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/>