Berowne uses two paradoxes to describe the uselessness of studying:
So study evermore is overshot.
While it doth study to have what it would,
It doth forget to do the thing it should.
And when it hath the thing it hunteth most,
‘Tis won as towns with fire—so won, so lost.
Study, he says, is always “overshot,” or going beyond its appropriate limits. While study, here personified, wishes to accomplish “what it would” (to help students learn what they wish), it forgets to impart what it should (what students ought to know). Finally, when studying accomplishes its goal, it destroys that object. Berowne compares this instance to a town that has been captured through scorched-earth tactics, conquered by being razed to the ground (“so won, so lost”).
In this scene, the immediate conflicts between Ferdinand’s plan and obligations become clear. He must receive the embassy from the Princess of France, even though he wishes to swear off all contact with women. Berowne draws a line from this situation to certain broader conclusions about study. Paradoxically, he believes misapplied study can leave the learner ignorant, rather than knowledgeable. Study, undertaken with the wrong goals in mind, destroys learning as the student seems to attain it (“won as towns with fire”).
Berowne’s paradoxes point to the immaturity of Ferdinand’s plan, and how misguided his intentions of winning fame through study are. Such a plan for “self-improvement,” he warns, can actually be more destructive than helpful. As Berowne sees it, prioritizing academic learning over real world experiences, like interaction with the Princess and other women, is actually detrimental to their characters.
