Rosaline

Play

Love's Labour's Lost

Summary

Rosaline is the Princess's most sharp-tongued lady and Berowne's love interest. Described as dark-complexioned and bright-eyed, she is often linked to the "dark lady" figure who appears in the Sonnets — and indeed her name anticipates the Rosaline of Romeo and Juliet. She more than matches Berowne in wit, sees through the lords' Muscovite masquerade immediately, and at the play's end imposes on him a year of visiting hospitals and sick rooms to test whether his wit can serve compassion as well as comedy.

Notable Quotations

"That same Berowne I'll torture ere I go. / O that I knew he were but in by th' week! / How I would make him fawn, and beg, and seek, / And wait the season, and observe the times." *(5.2)*

Cross-references

• Love's Labour's Lost — the play
• Comedies
• character_berowne — her sparring partner and suitor
• character_princess_lll — her mistress
• character_boyet — fellow attendant in the Princess's party