ABSTRACT

Masculinity was defined, as it had been in the middle ages, by military prowess, athletic ability, and courtesy; but, in the wake of humanism, it was increasingly associated with scholarly achievement, intellectual and arguably most important of all, honor. In contrast to early modern prescriptive and pedagogical tracts, which naturalize the hierarchical structure of male-female relationships, as well as ideals for masculine and feminine behavior, the stage imagines alternate possibilities as it overturns gendered conventions including schoolmaster/pupil, lover/beloved, and shows that both masculinity and femininity are constituted in performance. Masculinity is not inherent or automatic. Maturity and manhood in Love's Labor's Lost, like any unfamiliar task, are learned and must be practiced. Darryll Grantley identifies Love's Labor's Lost, with its satire of the pedantic and socially ambitious Holofernes. The play also rehearses the links between learning, maturity, and masculinity. Ferdinand's restrictions and prohibitions should be immediately telling as a negative example of masculinity.