What Shakespeare is complete without a play within a play? Love's Labor's Lost is no different. When the lords and ladies must be entertained out come the players. However in the case of this play the actors are mocked to such a high degree that they are unable to get more than a few lines out. The begin to present themselves as the nine worthies. In the Middle Ages this was a masque or a pageant in which three Jews, three Pagans, and three Christians were presented. While Shakespeare doesn't portray the typical nine worthies, real shocker there, there is enough presented to show the audience what is supposed to be happening. And like the play itself, the nine worthies production has no proper ending.
For a complete list of the worthies:
ORO Nine Worthies
No comments:
Post a Comment