One of the most fascinating moments in Love's Labour's Lost, a play that concerns the place of scholarship in a productive life, is Berowne's seemingly simple question: "What is the end of study?" Berowne, along with two other young noblemen, has agreed to join the King of Navarre in making his court "a little Academe" by studying hard and living ascetically for a three year period - "plain living and high thinking", in the words of Wordsworth, but he finds the terms increasingly frightening as the day approaches:

So much, dear liege, I have already sworn,

That is, to live and study here three years.

But there are other strict observances;

As, not to see a woman in that term,

Which I hope well is not enrolled there;

And one day in a week to touch no food

And but one meal on every day beside,

The which I hope is not enrolled there;

And then, to sleep but three hours in the night,

And not be seen to wink of all the day—

When I was wont to think no harm all night

And make a dark night too of half the day—

Which I hope well is not enrolled there:

O, these are barren tasks, too hard to keep,

Not to see ladies, study, fast, not sleep!

To which the King's reply is essentially: Too bad, you already agreed (I'm paraphrasing, of course; here's the full scene: http://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/views/plays/play_view.php?WorkID=loveslabours&Act=1&Scene=1&Scope=scene). And then comes the question above, which not only hovers over the rest of the play, but can haunt an audience member for some time afterward. More on this tomorrow.