Peines d'Amour Perdues (Love's Labour's Lost in French)

Par William Shakespeare

Comédie de Shakespeare, traduite en français par François Pierre Guillaume Guizot (1787 - 1874), historien français et homme d'État. Publié en 1862. Selon Wikipedia: "Love's Labor's Lost est l'une des premières comédies de William Shakespeare, qui aurait été écrite au milieu des années 1590 et publiée pour la première fois en 1598".

• Langue: Français
• Éditeur: Seltzer Books
• Date de sortie: 1 mars 2018
• ISBN: 9781455426508

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare (1564–1616) is arguably the most famous playwright to ever live. Born in England, he attended grammar school but did not study at a university. In the 1590s, Shakespeare worked as partner and performer at the London-based acting company, the King’s Men. His earliest plays were Henry VI and Richard III, both based on the historical figures. During his career, Shakespeare produced nearly 40 plays that reached multiple countries and cultures. Some of his most notable titles include Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet and Julius Caesar. His acclaimed catalog earned him the title of the world’s greatest dramatist.

Aperçu du livre

PEINES D'AMOUR PERDUES PAR WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, TRADUCTION DE M. GUIZOT

published by Samizdat Express, Orange, CT, USA

established in 1974, offering over 14,000 books

Other Shakespeare comedies in French translation (by M. Guizot):

Tout Est Bien Qui Finit Bien    

Comme Il Vous Plaira    

La Comédie Des Méprises    

Mesure Pour Mesure

Le Marchand De Venise

Les Joyeuses Bourgeoises De Windsor

Le Songe D'une Nuit D'Été

Beaucoup De Bruit Pour Rien

La Méchante Femme Mise À La Raison

Le Jour Des Rois Ou Ce Que Vous Voudrez

Les Deux Gentilshommes De Vérone

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Ce document est tiré de: OEUVRES COMPLÈTES DE SHAKSPEARE

NOUVELLE ÉDITION ENTIÈREMENT REVUE AVEC UNE ÉTUDE SUR SHAKSPEARE DES NOTICES SUR CHAQUE PIÈCE ET DES NOTES

PARIS A LA LIBRAIRIE ACADÉMIQUE DIDIER ET Cie, LIBRAIRES-ÉDITEURS 35, QUAI DES AUGUSTINS 1862

NOTICE SUR PEINES D'AMOUR PERDUES.

PERSONNAGES

ACTE PREMIER

SCÈNE I,  Navarre.--Un parc avec un palais.

SCÈNE II,  La maison d'Armado.

ACTE DEUXIÈME

SCÈNE I,  Toujours en Navarre.--On voit un pavillon et des tentes à quelque distance.

ACTE TROISIÈME

SCÈNE I,  Une autre partie du parc.

ACTE QUATRIÈME

SCÈNE I,  Une autre partie du parc.

SCÈNE II,  DULL, HOLOFERNE et NATHANIEL.

SCÈNE III,  Une autre partie du parc.

ACTE CINQUIÈME

SCÈNE I,  Autre partie du parc.

SCÈNE II,  Devant la tente de la princesse.

NOTICE SUR PEINES D'AMOUR PERDUES.

De toutes les pièces contestées à Shakspeare, voici celle que ses admirateurs auraient le plus facilement abandonnée; cependant cette pièce, imparfaite dans son ensemble et souvent faible dans ses détails, nous paraît un miroir où se réfléchit le véritable langage de la cour d'Élisabeth, cet esprit pédantesque du siècle, ce goût de controverse et de logique pointilleuse qui influait sur le ton de la société des savants comme du beau monde de l'époque.

Malgré ses défauts, la comédie de Peines d'amour perdues porte aussi l'empreinte du génie de Shakspeare dans plusieurs scènes et dans la conception de presque tous les personnages. Biron et Rosaline sont l'ébauche des caractères inimitables de Bénédick et de Béatrice dans Beaucoup de bruit pour rien. Don Adriano Armado est un fanfaron amusant; son petit page est bien réellement une poignée d'esprit; Nathaniel le curé, Holoferne le magister, donnent aussi lieu à plus d'une scène comique et originale. Il n'est pas jusqu'à Dull le constable, et Costard le paysan, qui ne contribuent à faire trouver grâce à cette pièce, qui appartient, selon toute apparence, à la jeunesse de Shakspeare.

Douce suppose que Shakspeare a emprunté le sujet de cette pièce à un roman français, et qu'il l'a placée en 1425 environ. Il est difficile d'établir d'une façon positive l'année de la composition de cette comédie, mais il est certain qu'elle a été écrite de 1587 à 1591.

PERSONNAGES

FERDINAND, roi de Navarre.

BIRON,         )

LONGUEVILLE,   ) seigneurs attachés

DUMAINE,       ) au roi.

BOYET,      ) seigneurs à la suite de la

MERCADE,    ) princesse de France.

DON ADRIEN D'ARMADO, original espagnol.

NATHANIEL, curé.

HOLOFERNE, maître d'école.

DULL, constable.

COSTARD, paysan bouffon.

MOTH, page de don Adrien d'Armado.

UN GARDE DE LA FORÊT.

LA PRINCESSE DE FRANCE.

ROSALINE,   )

MARIE,      ) dames à la suite de la

CATHERINE,  ) princesse de France.

JACQUINETTE, jeune paysanne.

OFFICIERS ET SUITE DU ROI ET DE LA PRINCESSE.

La scène se passe dans le palais du roi de Navarre et dans les environs.

ACTE PREMIER

 SCÈNE I,  Navarre.--Un parc avec un palais.

LE ROI FERDINAND, BIRON, LONGUEVILLE ET DUMAINE.

LE ROI.--Que la Renommée, objet de la poursuite de tous les hommes pendant leur vie, reste gravée sur nos tombeaux d'airain et nous honore dans la disgrâce de la mort! En dépit du temps, ce cormoran qui dévore tout, un effort, pendant l'instant où nous respirons, peut nous conquérir un honneur qui émoussera le tranchant de sa faux, et fera de nous les héritiers de toute l'éternité. Courage donc, braves vainqueurs, car vous l'êtes, vous qui faites la guerre à vos propres passions, et qui combattez l'immense armée des désirs du monde.--Notre dernier édit subsistera dans toute sa force, la Navarre deviendra la merveille du monde; notre cour sera une petite académie, adonnée au repos et à la contemplation. Vous trois, Biron, Longueville et Dumaine, vous avez fait serment de vivre avec moi pendant trois ans, compagnons de mes études, et d'observer les statuts qui sont rédigés dans cette cédule: vos serments sont prononcés; maintenant signez, et que celui qui violera le plus petit article de ce règlement voie son déshonneur écrit de sa propre main. Si vous êtes armés de courage pour exécuter ce que vous avez juré, signez votre grave serment, et observez-le.

LONGUEVILLE.--Je suis décidé: ce n'est qu'un jeûne de trois ans; si le corps souffre, l'âme jouira. Les panses trop bien remplies ont de pauvres cervelles, et les mets succulents, en engraissant les côtes, ruinent entièrement l'esprit.

DUMAINE.--Mon aimable souverain, Dumaine se mortifiera; il abandonne aux vils esclaves d'un monde grossier ses plaisirs plus grossiers encore: je renonce et je meurs à l'amour, à la richesse et aux grandeurs, pour vivre en philosophe avec eux et vous.

BIRON.--Je ne puis que répéter à mon tour la même protestation. J'ai déjà fait les mêmes voeux, mon cher souverain: j'ai juré de vivre, d'étudier ici trois années. Mais il y a d'autres pratiques rigides, comme de ne pas voir une seule femme jusqu'à ce terme, article qui, j'espère, n'est pas enregistré dans l'acte; de ne goûter d'aucune nourriture durant un jour entier de la semaine, et, les autres jours, de ne manger que d'un seul mets, autre point qui, j'espère, ne s'y trouve pas non plus; et encore de ne dormir que trois heures par nuit, sans jamais être surpris les yeux assoupis dans le jour (tandis que moi, ma coutume est de ne jamais songer à mal toute la nuit, et même de changer en nuit la moitié du jour), troisième clause qui, j'espère, n'est pas non plus mentionnée dans l'écrit. Oh! ce sont là des tâches bien arides, trop pénibles à remplir: ne pas voir les dames, étudier, jeûner et ne pas dormir!

LE ROI.--Votre serment de vous abstenir de ces trois points est prononcé.

BIRON.--Permettez-moi de répondre non, mon souverain. J'ai simplement juré d'étudier avec Votre Altesse, et de passer ici à votre cour l'espace de trois ans.

LE ROI.--Biron, avec cet article, vous avez juré les autres aussi.

BIRON.--Par oui et par non, mon prince; alors mon serment n'était pas sérieux.--Quel est le but de l'étude? Apprenez-le-moi.

LE ROI.--Quoi! c'est de savoir ce que nous ne saurions pas sans elle.

BIRON.--Voulez-vous parler des connaissances cachées et interdites à l'intelligence ordinaire?

LE ROI.--Oui; telle est la divine récompense de l'étude!

BIRON.--Allons, je veux bien jurer d'étudier, pour connaître la chose qu'il m'est interdit de savoir.--Par exemple, je veux bien étudier pour savoir où je pourrai dîner, lorsque les festins me seront expressément défendus. Et encore, pour savoir où trouver une belle maîtresse, quand les belles seront cachées à mes yeux. Ou bien, m'étant lié par un serment trop difficile à garder, je veux bien étudier l'art de l'enfreindre sans manquer à ma foi. Si tels sont les fruits de l'étude, et qu'il soit vrai qu'elle apprenne à connaître ce qu'on ne savait pas avant, je suis prêt à faire le serment, et jamais je ne me rétracterai.

LE ROI.--Vous venez justement de citer les obstacles qui détournent l'homme de l'étude, et qui donnent à nos âmes le goût des vains plaisirs.

BIRON.--Sans doute, tous les plaisirs sont vains: mais les plus vains de tous sont ceux qui, acquis avec peine, ne produisent pour fruit que la peine; comme de méditer péniblement sur un livre, pour chercher la lumière de la vérité, tandis que son éclat perfide ne sert qu'à aveugler la vue éblouie. La lumière, en cherchant la lumière, enlève la lumière à la lumière. Ainsi, les yeux perdent la vue avant de trouver une faible lueur dans les ténèbres. Étudiez-moi plutôt comment on peut charmer ses yeux, en les fixant sur des yeux plus beaux, qui, s'ils les éblouissent, servent du moins d'étoiles à l'homme qu'ils

Avis sur Peines d'Amour Perdues (Love's Labour's Lost in French)

[nosajeel · Évaluation : 5 sur 5 étoiles]

After seeing the fantastic Shakespeare in the Park original musical adaptation, I decided to read the play itself. The Shakespeare in the Park version interspersed modern lyrics with the original lines in a way that complemented both--and told a psychologically modern story that was set among recent college graduates getting back together again--and falling in love, interspersed with some of the more over-the-top satiric characters. It was hard to believe that the play itself could read anything like that adaptation. But, of course, it did.

Love's Labor's Lost is about a King and his followers that take a vow to retreat from women to study for three years, a princess and her followers who come upon them and disrupt the vow, and what happens after. The romantic comedy between Berowne and Rosaline drives much of the plot and is up there with the best of Shakespeare's witty, romantic repartee.

[bookworm12_1 · Évaluation : 4 sur 5 étoiles]

I’m normally a big fan of Shakespeare’s plays, and while I enjoyed parts of this one, it still fell a bit flat for me. The King of Navarre and three of his friends decide they will swear off women and other temptations for three years while they focus on their studies. Of course they decide to do this shortly before the Princess of France and her friends are about to visit. No sooner is the vow made than all four men are swooning over the lovely ladies. There are some really funny parts, like when the men try to hold each other to their vow while at the same time writing love letters to their new crushes. As with all of Shakespeare’s comedies, hidden identities and witty dialogue confound the characters as they find themselves unexpectedly falling in love. **SPOILERS**The play ends with a bit of an unusual cliff hanger. The lovers are all separated when the Princess must return to rule France after hearing of her father’s unexpected death. There is a theory that a sequel to the play existed but there are no surviving copies. The play “Love’s Labour’s Won” is mentioned in other texts from around the same time and it could have been the sequel that resolved the lovers’ future. **SPOILERS OVER**BOTTOM LINE: This isn’t one of the Bard’s strongest plays, but if you’re already a fan then it’s worth reading. If not, start with one of his better comedies, like Twelfth Night, As You Like It or Much Ado About Nothing. “He hath never fed of the dainties that are bred in a book; he hath not eat paper, as it were; he hath not drunk ink.”“As sweet and musicalAs bright Apollo's lute, strung with his hair;And when Love speaks, the voice of all the godsMakes heaven drowsy with the harmony.” 

[irishdancer2 · Évaluation : 5 sur 5 étoiles]

Love's Labour's Lost is easily one of my favorites in the whole body of Shakespeare's works (excluding his sonnets, of course, which are a whole different animal entirely). As I haven't yet gotten around to reading a different version, I can't comment on how the Folger measures up, but the annotations in this edition seem just about perfect, in that it explains the things that need to be the most and leaves the rest up to personal interpretation.The plot of this play is simple in that it could easily be a Renaissance rom-com if not for the superb execution. Per the usual, Shakespeare weaves layer upon layer of literary devices until your mind spins (in a good way), but the humor of this particular play overshadows even the ever-entertaining double entendres. I could read this over and over again for the cutting wit of Berowne alone; throw in Costard, too, and I'm hooked for life. Their exchange at the beginning of Act III makes me smile like an idiot no matter how many times I read it (see also: Berowne's soliloquy about love at the end of Act III, Scene I. Shakespeare was a freaking genius).***Spoilers***The only downside to this work is the ending, and even that really depends on how you look at it. Though part of me wants the fan-girly happily ever after, the more somber, uncertain ending lends the play some much needed weight.

[amerynth · Évaluation : 4 sur 5 étoiles]

I was surprised to say I quite liked William Shakespeare's "Love's Labors Lost." Knowing that it isn't often performed today (and that my local library didn't even have a copy of this one,) I really didn't have high expectations. I found it an entertaining, though sometimes challenging read."Love's Labors Lost" is essentially a romantic comedy. The King of Navarre and his courtiers pledge to dedicate themselves to study for the next three years and forsake all women... of course a bevy of beauties immediately emerge to challenge that notion. The play is typical Shakespeare -- word play, messages misdelivered, disguises and people switching places. I'm sure a lot of the puns were lost on me, but I still enjoyed the ones I got.While this definitely isn't one of Shakespeare's best, I did find it fun overall.

[alcracka · Évaluation : 2 sur 5 étoiles]

You know what I'm not crazy about? Shakespeare's comedies

[alanwpowers · Évaluation : 5 sur 5 étoiles]

The 2000 film of this play got me in trouble because I was laughing so loudly at Shakespeare; I was told after the film, "Everybody in this room HATES you." (Guess Americans are not s'posed to laugh at Great Drama--or poetry, either.) Arguably Shakespeare's most Shakespearean play, or interplay: the exchanges of wit, what he would have overheard at Middle Temple and among his fellow actors. Rather than the text, I'll comment on Branagh's musical version, with himself as Berowne and Director, Scorsese as producer. It's hilarious, especially for a Shakespearean; I laughed throughout so much (my laugh scares babies) one lady in the audience 25 came up to me after the film to kindly inform, "Everybody in this room HATES you." I thanked her for the admonition. Very slow, stagey opening lines by the Prince. Dunno why. They cut the poetry criticism, and substitute the American songbook--Gershwin, Berlin--for poems. The Don Armado stuff (with Moth his sidekick) is broad, not literary: mustachioed, funny body, melancholy humor. Armado's the most overwritten love-letter, parodying catechism; but he is standard Plautine Braggart Soldier ("Miles Gloriosus") by way of commedia dell'arte. Then the Plautine Pedant (commedia Dottore) Holofernia crosses gender, a female professor type. Costard wears a suit, maybe a Catskills standup.Branagh cuts the Russian (or fake-Russian) lingo, "muoosa-Cargo" of the masked entrance. Wonderful 30's film cliches: female swimmers, the dance scenes, the prop plane's night takeoff. Ends with WWII, grainy newsreel footage of the year, after news of the French Princess's father's death. Berowne (pronounced .."oon") is sentenced privately "to move wild laughter in the throat of death…" His judge, Rosaline, points out the Bard' instruction on jokes: "A jest's prosperity lies in the ear / Of him that hears it, never in the tongue / Of him that makes it" (V.end). LLL ends with death and winter (the Russian an intimation?): "When icicles hang by the wall,/ And Dick the shepherd blows his nail,/ And Tom bears logs into the hall,/ And milk comes frozen home in pails.." and the owl talks, "Tu-whit..Tu whoo, a merry note/ While greasy Joan doth keel the pot." That's the European Tawny Owl (male and female must combine for it) so an American director might replace with the same prosody, "Who cooks for youuu?"(the Barred Owl). In the penultimate scene, Dull is onstage the whole scene nere speaking a word until Holofernes says, "Thou hast spoken no word the while," to which Dull, "Nor understood none neither, sir."Well, no wonder, if he has no Latin, for Costard offers, "Go to, thou has it AD dunghill…as they say." Hol, "Oh, I smell false Latin--dunghill for UNGUEM." The Bard kindly explains the Latin joke, essential for modern American readers. Incidentally, Berowne uses Moliere-like rhymed couplets in his social satire on Boyet, V.ii.315ff. His most daring rhymes, "sing/ushering" and maybe "debt/Boyet."

[girl_detective · Évaluation : 4 sur 5 étoiles]

Bizarre, yet entertaining story of men who renounce the company of women, then are quickly forsworn.

[mrslee_1 · Évaluation : 4 sur 5 étoiles]

A king and his gentlemen vow to remain celibate, studious and moderate in their habits for three years to improve their minds. They have signed their names to this vow. Oops! They forgot that an embassy from France was due soon, consisting of a princess and her ladies! Shenanigans ensue. And wordplay, such wordplay!What seemed at first a fairly shallow and cynical plot, developed by the end to be a story of depth. No fools these women, they understood these men better than the men understood themselves, and called them on their foolishness. Shakespeare leaves the ending undecided, as the twelve month penance the men are given by the women is "too long for a play."

[mkfs-354306 · Évaluation : 2 sur 5 étoiles]

Eh, not a big fan of The Bard's comedies. The bulk of them come across as a Three's Company episode with better dialogue.

Love's Labour's Lost is a particularly confused mess. The men declare themselves uninterested in women, then lose their minds over the first women they see, many of whom they admit are not that attractive. The women are keen to meet the men, then rebuff and humiliate them at every turn, then agree to accept their attentions after a suitable period of mourning/penance has passed. The whole situation is patently a platform on which to stage battles of wits, and those neither scintillating nor scathing.

This is compounded by the puerile interpretations of the Norton editor, one Walter Cohen, who insists that the play is a homoerotic and scatological triumph. Every occurrence of the word "loose" or "end" has a chuckling gloss denoting "ass" or "anus" or "scatological". When "enigma" is misconstrued by a character to be "an egma", it is insisted that "egma" is "enema", and that "salve" is "an anal salvo discharged from the male". Within three lines, the word "goose" is assumed to refer to "prostitute", "a victim of veneral disease", and "buttocks". And all that is just one page from scene 3.1. It gets a bit tiresome.

[nmhale_1 · Évaluation : 4 sur 5 étoiles]

Love's Labour's Lost is one of Shakespeare's comedies, despite its unique ending in which none of the lovers are conveniently married off, and the men are instead ordered to a year's worth of abstinence to prove their devotion to the women. The ending echoes the opening of the play in a bitterly amusing way: at the start of the play, the men have sworn off women and dissolute living for three years, to improve their minds, and at the end of the play they swear to be faithful for a year and a day (in other words, no women) to prove the constancy of their loves. Will they abide by the second promise, when they were unable to keep the first? The doubt surrounding this proposition closes the play on a jarring note.I started with the ending, so let me retrace my steps and explain the premise of the story. The King of Navarre and this three companions have taken an oath to perform three years of study and fasting, abstaining from women to keep their minds clear. One of the men, Berowne, skeptically observes that none of them has the endurance, but he reluctantly agrees. Enter the women: the Princess from France arrives for some political parley, along with her three women companions. The men immediately fall in love; fortunately, each man falls in love with a separate lady in the group. Without any hesitation, they throw aside their oath. In a scene that is replete with wonderful dramatic irony, each man comes out, one at a time, to confess in a soliloquy that he will pursue his new love, while at least one other man is hiding in the wings, eavesdropping. The King overhears the confessions of the others, and rebukes them for breaking their oath, before Berowne points out that he heard the King himself betray their earlier promise, and so they all have a good laugh at each other. They decide to court the ladies in disguise. Boyet, one of the men attending the Princess, overhears their plans and tells the female visitors. Not only are they a little indignant at this turn of events - the King had earlier refused them admittance into the Court, due to his oath, forcing them to camp outside - they are also contemptuous of how easily the men break their promises and of the foolish way they hope to woo them. To repay them for these issues, the women devise their own plot. They will also wear disguises, professing to be someone else, and force the men to court the wrong woman.As Shakespeare's women are so often the more clever gender, the plan goes exactly the way the women wish it to. The King and his entourage humbly apologize, and after some playful bickering, all turns out well, for it seems that the women have also fallen in love, each with the man that is most partial to her. This type of miraculous coincidence is to be expected in a comedy, where even fate and destiny work for the eventual good of the characters. Indeed, the story seems headed to the conventional marriage and celebration, when the festive events are interrupted with somber news. The Princess's father has died, and she must return home to mourn for the required year.