An early comedy in five acts first performed in 1594-95 and published in an extant second quarto edition of 1598, from foul papers. Its central comic device is that of four young men, dedicated to study and the renunciation of women, meeting four young women and inevitably abandoning their absurd principles.

The King of Navarre and his three lords, Berowne, Longaville, and Dumaine, swear an oath to scholarship, for three years-and, to keep the distractions to a minimum, no women will be allowed within a mile of the court (Although Berowne expresses reservations about the venture and its chances for success). Berowne points out that the king has forgotten an embassy that very day with the Princess of France.

They receive a letter from Don Armado, a Spaniard visiting the King's court, telling them that he has caught Costard, a fool, and Jaquenetta, a country wench, consorting in the park. The King announces Costard's sentence, and he and the lords go off to begin their oath. Don Armado confesses to Moth, his page that he has fallen in love with Jaquenetta. He writes her a letter that he asks Costard to deliver.

Meanwhile, the Princess of France has arrived to visit the King. Because of his oath, however, the King cannot receive the Princess and her party at his court; the French Princess and her entourage are put off when Ferdinand and his lords deny them entrance into the court. In protest, the embassy camps in front of the court. The three lords soon fall in love with the three ladies, as does the King with the Princess.

Boyet makes note of the king's new found "affection" toward the Princess, and the ladies retreat to their tents to plan how they can get back at Ferdinand and his court. In the meantime, Armado-who is himself in love with Jacquenetta-strikes a deal with Costard to let him off, if Costard will deliver her a letter Before Costard can do so, however, Berowne finds him and asks him to take a letter to Rosaline.

Costard accidentally switches it with the letter from Don Armado to Jaquenetta. When he gives Berowne's letter to Jaquenetta, she brings it to the learned Holofernes and Sir Nathaniel to read for her. They tell her that the letter was meant for someone else and to deliver it to the King.

Berowne watches the King from a hiding spot as he reads about his love for the Princess. Longaville enters, and the King hides as well; he and Berowne observe Longaville reading of his love for Maria. Dumaine enters, Longaville hides, and all three see Dumaine reading an ode he has written to Katherine. Longaville breaks from hiding and tells Dumaine that he is also in love. The King then comes into the fray, scolding the two men for breaking their oath. Further, he decides that their oaths are better off left for dead, at least while the women are around.

Berowne advances and reveals that the King is also in love as well. Jaquenetta arrives and gives Berowne the letter, which he rips up. However, Dumaine picks up a piece of the letter with Berowne's name on it, and Berowne confesses that he is in love as well. The four men decide to court their women.

The King and his lords arrive at the Princess's pavilion dressed as Muscovites. The women heed Boyet's warnings and decide to switch favours, so that the men will mistake them for each other. The women continue to bait them with their own words, delighting in the men's confusion.

After the men leave and reappear as themselves, the women reveal their prank. Just when they begin to sort things out and sit down to watch a show of the Nine Worthies, performed by Don Armado, Sir Nathaniel, and Holofernes. A messenger arrives to inform the Princess that her father has died, and she must leave immediately. The Princess tells Ferdinand that if he spends one year's time cloistered in a remote hermitage-his penance for being an oath-breaker-whiles she is in mourning, and then she will consider his suit of marriage. Each lady-in-waiting exacts a similar promise from the king's lords. Although there will be no weddings forthcoming, the ladies vow to return to Navarre the following year to determine if their love is true.

Once considered obsolete and overly dependent on temporary and incomprehensible allusions, the play was unfavourably reviewed by such critics as John Dryden, Samuel Johnson, and William Hazlitt. It has come to life again only since the early 20th century, when its central exploration of the consequences of man being made of flesh and blood was seen in a fresh light.