Clever, Shakespeare, Clever...

                                             "Did thoust leave thy iron onst?"  
   
   Love's Labour's Lost is, in short, a comedy about four guys who aren't suppose to fall in love... but they do... with four beautiful maidens.   However, Shakespeare had an idea of what he was doing.  After all, he invented the five-act structure that is used by writers all over the world.  It starts with a little something like this:

•  A situation with tensions or implicit conflict (Exposition)
• Implicit conflict is developed (Rising Action)
• Conflict reaches height; frequently an impasse (Turning Point)
• Things begin to clear up (Falling Action)
• Problem is resolved, knots untied (Conclusion) (http://cla.calpoly.edu/~dschwart/engl339/comedy.html)

 And, to top it all off, Spakespeare's romantic comedies went this way:

1. The main action is about love.
2. The would-be lovers must overcome obstacles and misunderstandings before being united in harmonious union. The ending frequently involves a parade of couples to the altar and a festive mood or actual celebration (expressed in dance, song, feast, etc.) A Midsummer Night's Dream has four such couples (not counting Pyramus and Thisbe!); As You Like It has four; Twelfth Night has three; etc.
3. Frequently (but not always), it contains elements of the improbable, the fantastic, the supernatural, or the miraculous, e.g. unbelievable coincidences, improbable scenes of recognition/lack of recognition, willful disregard of the social order (nobles marrying commoners, beggars changed to lords), instantaneous conversions (the wicked repent), enchanted or idealized settings, supernatural beings (witches, fairies, Gods and Goddesses). The happy ending may be brought about through supernatural or divine intervention (comparable to the deus ex machina in classical comedy, where a God appears to resolve the conflict) or may merely involve improbable turns of events.
4. In the best of the mature comedies, there is frequently a philosophical aspect involving weightier issues and themes: personal identity; the importance of love in human existence; the power of language to help or hinder communication; the transforming power of poetry and art; the disjunction between appearance and reality; the power of dreams and illusions).(http://cla.calpoly.edu/~dschwart/engl339/comedy.html)

    This comedy of Shakespeare isn't that funny (I thought it was a little bit funny).  I mean, its a great play, well written and all (I love a good play or two and I'm a sap for romantic ones)... but when you talk about it being "humorous" now... it's considered dry and many don't get it.  If people were given a resource and could get past "Middle English", than the Love's Labour's Lost would be maleficent (You know, to those who try...)!  Although it may of left people in the 1500's in stitches, it makes average citizens in today's audiences silent as the grave.

                                                   "*Cricket* *Cricket*"