ABSTRACT
The idea, the topical reference, doubtless preceded the invention or organizatwn of the plot. No precise literary source has been found for the story of the courtiers' oath, its breach, and the punishment inflicted by the ladies. Maybe none was needed, for Shakespeare (here and in A Midsummer Night's Dream) may have created his own plot out of miscellaneous reading and memories. In the controversy between commonsense practicality and pure theory, active life and scholarship, he usually took the popular side, as in The Taming qf the Shrew, where Tranio counsels his master:
For Love's Labour's Lost he may draw on a play or tale with a French setting such as is found in the Acadlmie Fran;aise of P. de la Primaudaye (1577), one of the most popular ethical treatises of the time, translated into English in 1586. The Dedication (to Henry III of France) and the first pages of this book [Text I] show that the idea of a studious withdrawal of
youngmenfromtheworldofaffairsandwomenwasnotnew.l DeIaPrimaudayedescribesthenatureandconductofhis Academy,andinsiststhatstudymustbefollowedinmoderation,thatthecourtiermustlearntohandlearms.Heshowsthe worldintrudingharshlyintothequietofthehermitagewhen CivilWarbreaksoutandtheyoungmenmustgoofftofight, returningonlywhenpeacehascome.Shakespeare's'academe' isanextremeinstanceofthissortofthing,maybebecausehe wishedtomockattheEarlofNorthumberlandandRaleigh, maybealsobecauseEssexhimselfwouldplaythehermiton occasion,whenindisgracewithfortuneandtheQueen,and Shakespearewantedtolaughhimoutofsuchmoods.
