Now you may or may not be aware, but there may or may not have been a sequel to Love's Labour's Lost... It would be fitting. The final act ended pretty lamely. The whole love story aspect of it kind of failed, and there wasn't even a real fight between Armado and Costard over Jacquenette. The Princess' father's death reminded me of the Greek deus ex machina, which was essentially some outside source swooping in to save the day when it looks like the plot won't be able to resolve itself. Because no audience would be okay with girls who made fools of the boys all pairing up with hecklers and living happily ever after, there had to be some good reason for the french ladies to go their way, leaving the men with a year to put their nose in the corner and think about what they've done.
So the question is, was Shakespeare okay with this unresolved ending? Or did he write a sequel which somehow didn't survive the years? I first came across the theory of there being a sequel in an episode of Doctor Who. The time-traveling humanoid alien takes his human companion Martha Jones back to Shakespeare's day at the Globe Theatre. At the end of a Love's Labour's Lost performance William himself takes the stage and promises a sequel the very next day. Somewhere along the way he hits on Martha, someone gets killed via voodoo doll, and an alien in the form of a witch tampers with the script of the sequel in an attempt to, go figure, free her alien family and take over the world. You can read more about it here, but the point is that at the end the only transcript of the Love's Labour's Won is lost and Shakespeare decides to move on to bigger and better things.
I remembered that episode of Doctor Who as I was reading Love's Labour's Lost and decided to see if BBC did their research. It turns out, there is a very good possibility that there WAS a sequel, titled Love's Labour's Won, in which the King and his lords return after a year and get a second chance at a happy ending with the French Princess and her ladies. There have been references to the play title found in written documents, and lots of other reasons for scholars to believe in the existence of the play that I don't really want to get into here. You can read the wiki page linked above if you're interested. Also, there's a facebook page, so it must be true. Facebook never lies. The real question is, do you think the plot needs a sequel? I do.. And if there was a sequel, what kinds of themes or plot lines would you like to have been continued? Should there be a happy ending between the sassy ladies and immature boys? I'd love to hear your thoughts.
amdhow | October 14, 2011 at 10:57 AM
Ok, let me start out by saying that I am a HUGE Doctor Who fan. I love that show. So good. And the Shakespeare episode is fantastic.
I did always wonder if that bit about the possible sequel was true too. That's pretty cool. Although, I wasn't the biggest fan of the "first" play, so I'm not sure how much I would have enjoyed the second.
I don't think that the "love" between the men and women in the play was real. I think it was just one of those EFY type situations where someone is your flavor of the week, even if your young heart might think it's love, it most likely isn't. I think the men fall prey to this especially, because they have been depriving themselves of women, and once they come in contact with the opposite sex again, their hormones go crazy. I seriously doubt that they would have still been in "love" after a year of being apart. I think they might have sighed and been sad for a couple weeks at most, but then they would have moved on.
Martina S. | October 14, 2011 at 2:02 PM
So you don't think a sequel would have been any good?
That's interesting.. I like the thought of an EFY type infatuation, where there is almost peer pressure to hurry up and like someone in your group that week. It starts out silly, but I do know people who met at EFY and ended up getting married. Although that's the exception. So maybe the king and his lords would have gotten over it after a year, but maybe not..
Martina S. | October 14, 2011 at 2:03 PM
And ever since we started blogging I have been itching to throw in a Doctor Who reference, because it's amazing. So this post makes me happy:)