ABSTRACT

This chapter discusses a similar sense of mindfulness of the gods and urge us to assess where we stand with respect to those same powers in terms of the values for which they once were held to have stood. The chiastic markers are augmented and enriched by three tangible memorials involving the written word, which are to be taken as memory images in their own right. Each is reinforced by being read aloud and glossed on stage, thereby providing a sense of continuity through the dramatic symmetry of the riddle, the scroll, and the monument. Love's Labor's Lost deserves special attention, owing to the chiastic way in which sets of three are played out as well as the intrusive, if only allusively emblematic, presence of Diana. It lends itself to being seen as a case study of the paradigm, and serves as a fitting conclusion to the argument about Shakespearean triads, whether early or late.