Costard

Play

Love's Labour's Lost

Summary

Costard is the country clown of Love's Labour's Lost — earthy, literal-minded, and cheerfully impervious to the verbal games of the learned. His name is a variety of apple, and he is as natural and appetitive as the lords are artificial and intellectual. He is caught dallying with Jaquenetta (in violation of the King's oath), serves as a letter-carrier between the various parties, and plays Pompey the Great in the Pageant of the Nine Worthies with unconscious comic dignity.

Notable Quotations

"Such is the simplicity of man to hearken after the flesh." *(1.1)*

"O, sir, the contempts thereof are as touching me." *(1.1)*

Cross-references

• Love's Labour's Lost — the play
• Comedies
• character_armado — his rival for Jaquenetta
• character_holofernes — with whom he appears in the pageant
• character_berowne — whose wit contrasts with his earthiness