Tim's Reviews > Love's Labour's Lost

One interesting thing about reading Shakespeare's plays chronologically is you can trace how he developed his themes. It was apparent in The Two Gentleman of Verona that he had begun to think more deeply about his female characters. In this play too his women are both wiser and have more integrity of feeling than his men. Essentially, it's a play about courtship in which women reject the advances of men. Love for men is depicted as an experience of the eye and a work of imagination. The women set about showing how superficial and self-induced is erotic feeling in the men. when they wear masks they become interchangeable to the men. The sexual conflict dramatized is thrillingly modern with its feminist undertow. Plays upon words, an evolving delight for Shakespeare, become ever more gymnastic. I'm thinking this might be his most underrated play since it's never mentioned when lists are compiled of his masterpieces.