| Costard | |
|---|---|
| Love's Labour's Lost character | |
 1776 print by Charles Grignion of Thomas Weston playing Costard | |
| Created by | William Shakespeare |
| Portrayed by | Thomas Weston Paul Jesson Nathan Lane |
| In-universe information | |
| Gender | Male |
| Occupation | Jester |
_-_page_47_-_honorificabilitudinitatibus.jpg)
Costard is a comic figure in the playLove's Labour's Lost byWilliam Shakespeare. A country bumpkin, he is arrested in the first scene for flouting the king's proclamation that all men of the court avoid the company of women for three years. While in custody, the men of the court use him to further their own romantic endeavors. By sending love notes to the wrong women and blurting out secrets (including that of an unplannedpregnancy), Costard makes fools of the royal court. Along with Moth thepage and Jaquenetta, a country wench, Costard pokes fun at the upper-class. While mocking a pedantic schoolmaster, Costard uses the wordhonorificabilitudinitatibus, the longest word by far from any of Shakespeare's works.
Costard makes many clever puns, and is used as a tool by Shakespeare to explain new words such asremuneration. He is sometimes considered one of the smartest characters in the play due to his wit and wordplay.
Costard's name is an archaic term forapple, or metaphorically a man's head.[1] Shakespeare uses the word in this sense inRichard III.[2]
 | This article about aliterature character is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it. |