Love's Labour's Lost

Hunting a deer was a popular literary analogy for The Masculine Pursuit of Love, containing a number of symbols within the imagery connected with love and sex. The word “hart,” meaning a deer, associated this animal with the heart; bows and arrows were associated with Cupid. The horn, as found on male deer, also had sexual connotations. It was a phallic symbol, but was also associated with cuckoldry, or a woman’s infidelity toward her male lover: The cuckold was thus portrayed wearing horns on his head as an object of ridicule. These images reoccur throughout the play, reflecting its concern with love and desire, and also with deception and pride within love.

For example, at the end of 4.1, Boyet uses the analogy of an archer to question Rosaline about who her admirer is. She deflects by bantering with him about horns, suggesting that he is not well-endowed; he uses this same imagery to imply that she will be unfaithful and cuckold her hypothetical husband. She teases him for being unable to “hit” her (with his bow)—meaning that he cannot beat her at wordplay, or woo her.