Love's Labour's Consequences: The Detriment of Romance in Ma

             In both Othello and Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, the notion of doomed love or star crossed lovers is a theme that dominates the plays" climatic progress and protagonist development. Successful romance in these works then, is what drives the characters and brings joy to the gloom that ensues when apart from the object of one's affection. Two Shakespeare productions that veer from this common pursuit of love are Macbeth and Love's Labour's Lost, which focus not on the optimistic journeys to secure love, but rather the dark road paved from a mind clouded by love's thick disillusionment. Through the manipulation of stereotyped gender roles and the emphasis on romantic attachment in Macbeth and Love's Labour's Lost, Shakespeare clearly points to love as the root cause and instigator behind the deception and wicked results found in both plays.
             In Macbeth, love is the source for dark ambition and deadly motivation which leads ultimately to madness and destruction. Love in Love's Labour's Lost however, is directly opposite than that in Macbeth and is seen as a repressor of drive and determination, but also eventually causes lies and deception in a much less sinister fashion. The idea of love in both instances is represented by the female characters involved, with the male characters falling victim and carrying out the consequences of romantic alliances in the form of treacherous or disloyal actions.
             The fact that it is the male characters in both plays that ultimately bring about destruction and chaos is largely linked to Shakespeare's portrayal of men as the only active physical aggressors in both Macbeth and Love's Labour's. In Love Labour's, almost all of the dominant males are prominent, powerful figures, with the King of Navarre and three lords, Biron, Longueville, and Dumaine being the primary characters. These men are all scholars, in the pursuit of knowledge and strong enough to deny the distractions of earthly pleasures.