Finished: Love's Labour's Lost (Shakespeare) Eh, not my favorite of Shakespeare's, and I love Shakespeare! He just spent so much time one-upping himself and double-entendre'ing with practically every phrase that the play, with its humorous premise, could have flowed effortlessly, but instead was very confusing to me at times...but maybe I'm just too dense, lol. King Ferdinand of Navarre has proclaimed in his kingdom that all men shall remain celibate for a year in order to further themselves with intellectual studies. His three lords, Berowne, Longaville and Dumaine all lament this decree but sign the oath with their king. Meanwhile, the Princess of France arrives as a spokesperson for her father to handle business with the king. With her are her three ladies, Rosaline, Maria and Katharine. King Ferdinand tells the princess that she must encamp outside the walls of his palace due to his recent decree....yet he unwittingly falls head over heals with the princess. And, each of his three lords falls head over heals in love with one of the maids. Secret, lovelorn sonnets are written by the men, and then the three lords AND the king all find out about each other's longings. I couldn't really understand how the king got around his decree, except that the king and the three lords dressed up as Muscovites and went to woo the princess and the ladies. The princess and the ladies, however, saw through their disguises. As they were all making merriment about their feelings, the princess got a message that her own father had just died. The princess hurriedly packs up to leave, while the king proclaims his love and begs her to stay. The princess tells the king that if he will truly stay celibate for a one year mourning period, that she will hold his love in her heart and marry him then. The three ladies all tell the three lords the same thing, and they all agree, though begrudgingly. Of course, as in most of the comedies of Shakespeare, there are some characters meant to infuse slap-stickish humor into the story, and this one is no exception. Costard, Moth and Don Armado just seemed more out of place in this one. Anyway....I think this was my first true disappointment in the Shakespeare works. I'll keep reading him though. :-)