Foul play Why Should I Care

Why Should I Care?

In the world of Love's Labour's Lost, where men and women are kept apart, seduction takes the form of language. Instead of a plume of red feathers, the men have their wits, and little else. Intellectual conversations and witty banter are mating rituals indulged by nearly all characters that we meet in the play. Prolonged volleys of wits establish sexual chemistry between two potential partners. Intelligence is also powerful, establishing status between characters. If you're not actual royalty, you've got to be the wittiest to stay on top.

So when Berowne tells us that the ladies played unfair with their oaths (read: language), it's a big deal. This means the ladies corrupted their most important system of communicating in their society. If language tells them who's a winner, then messing around with language is a big no-no. It's tantamount to cheating.

Most of us don't have word wars with our friends. (Although if you, please invite Shmoop. We would totally love to spectate.) But we do know what it's like to have someone mess around with something we think is important. We know how bad we felt when people made fun of something that we think is really cool. So we can relate to Berowne in this scene, even if language isn't our idea of a good time, because we know what it's like to be mocked or teased.

We'd say that's a bit of foul play, wouldn't you?