The character of Moth in Love's Labor's LostLike much of Love's Labor's Lost, the young character of Moth is full of paradoxes. When Shakespeare asks little Moth to play the great Hercules in the "Nine Worthies," the playwright provides humor by contrasting the actor's physique with his role, or as Armado puts it, Moth "is not in sufficient quantity” (5.2.130) to play. the Greek god. However, Shakespeare may also be using this contradiction to compare physical strength with mental strength. Although physical ability does not matter in Love's Labor's Lost, mental ability does, and Moth (mentally superior to his contemporaries) proves himself worthy of high status. Using Moth as a Herculean figure is one of the play's most obvious paradoxes, but there are others. Moth relies on rhetoric and integrity to show how true intellect comes from understanding people and not from scholarly demonstrations. Moth, for the most part, gains the upper hand over his comrades, especially the more educated ones. During the initial conversation between Moth and his boss, Armado, the page's first response to Armado's question demonstrates common sense. Moth responds that a “great sign” (1.2.3) of melancholy is sadness. This statement, too simple for Armado to understand, mocks and uses rhetoric. Moth defines a sad face as a great sign, implying that the greatness of the sign lies in its obviousness. By asserting that something as common as a sad face is "great," Moth treats the rhetoric as a joke by giving an overly simplistic answer to a difficult and eloquent question. But at the same time, Moth uses rhetoric by changing the definitions of words to make his point. Because a sad face is so visible, it is great in its degree. Like any rhetorician, Moth h...... middle of paper...... it's more. Moth, with his integrity intact, passes through the "Nine Worthies" unscathed. The same can also be said for her role in Love's Labor's Lost. Moth managed to cross the room without looking like an idiot. He does this by relying on two things: integrity and common sense. Moth learned to balance these two qualities, not through studying books, but through social interactions. Shakespeare uses Moth as an example of how the true intellect works. True intellect is not the ability to speak Latin or write stylized poetry, but as Moth says, true intellect "is the means of making an offense gracious" (5.1.140). And whenever Moth deals with offensive characters, he always maintains his grace. Works Cited Shakespeare, William. Love's labor is lost. The Shakespeare by the River. Ed. G. Blakemore Evans. 2nd ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1997. 208-46.