Original: No, my complete master: but to jig off a tune at the tongue’s end, canary to it with your feet, humour it with turning up your eyelids, sigh a note and sing a note, sometime through the throat, as if you swallowed love with singing love, sometime through the nose, as if you snuffed up love by smelling love;

Modern: No, my perfect teacher: but to hum a tune casually, dance to it with your feet, play along by rolling your eyes up, sigh musically and sing a note, sometimes from deep in your throat as if you’re swallowing love while singing about love, sometimes through your nose as if you’re breathing in love through your sense of smell;

Original: with your hat penthouse-like o’er the shop of your eyes; with your arms crossed on your thin-belly doublet like a rabbit on a spit; or your hands in your pocket like a man after the old painting;

Modern: with your hat tilted like a roof over your eyes; with your arms crossed over your tight jacket like a roasted rabbit; or with your hands in your pockets like those men in old paintings;

Original: and keep not too long in one tune, but a snip and away.

Modern: and don’t stick with one mood too long, but switch quickly from one thing to another.

Original: These are complements, these are humours; these betray nice wenches, that would be betrayed without these; and make them men of note–do you note me?–that most are affected to these.

Modern: These are fancy mannerisms, these are fashionable moods; these tricks seduce innocent girls who would fall for men anyway without these acts; and they make men famous–do you understand me?–because most people are drawn to these affected behaviors.

In Act III, Scene 1 of “Love’s Labour’s Lost,” Armado enters with Moth, lamenting his lovesick condition and seeking comfort from his young page. Armado reveals he is deeply infatuated with Jaquenetta, a country wench, despite his noble status and his previous vow of celibacy alongside the King and his companions. Moth, with characteristic wit and wordplay, attempts to counsel his master while simultaneously mocking his romantic predicament through clever verbal exchanges and puns. The scene establishes Armado’s internal conflict between his elevated social position and his base desires.

Costard then enters as a prisoner, having been caught breaking the King’s edict against consorting with women by being found with the same Jaquenetta. Armado, who himself desires Jaquenetta, must ironically serve as Costard’s guard and deliver him for punishment. The scene develops the comic triangle of both men pursuing the same woman while being bound by the same restrictive laws they have violated. Moth continues to provide commentary and jest throughout these interactions, highlighting the absurdity of the situation where both the noble Armado and the simple Costard find themselves equally compromised by their romantic entanglements with Jaquenetta.

“Love’s Labour’s Lost” opens with Ferdinand, the King of Navarre, and his three courtiers—Berowne, Longaville, and Dumain—taking a solemn oath to dedicate three years to scholarly pursuits while forswearing the company of women, fasting, and sleeping only three hours per night. Their noble intentions are immediately complicated by the arrival of the Princess of France and her three attending ladies—Rosaline, Maria, and Katharine—who come on a diplomatic mission regarding Aquitaine. Despite their vows, all four men quickly fall in love with the visiting ladies, though they initially attempt to hide their feelings from one another.

The romantic complications intensify when each man tries to secretly woo his chosen lady while believing himself to be the only oath-breaker. Comic relief is provided by a cast of eccentric characters including Don Armado, a bombastic Spanish knight who loves the country wench Jaquenetta; Costard, a simple clown; and the pedantic schoolmaster Holofernes. The ladies, aware of the men’s affections, decide to test their suitors’ sincerity by disguising themselves at a masque, leading to a delightful scene of mistaken identities where each man woos the wrong woman.

The play builds toward what seems like a conventional comic resolution with multiple betrothals, but Shakespeare subverts expectations in the final act. News arrives that the Princess’s father, the King of France, has died, casting a somber shadow over the festivities. The ladies impose a year-long trial on their suitors—the men must prove their love’s constancy through a period of good works and patient waiting. The play concludes unusually for a Shakespearean comedy, with promises of future union rather than immediate marriages, ending with the famous songs of Spring and Winter that celebrate the eternal cycle of seasons and human nature.