In the first scene of the play, Ferdinand explains his motivation for swearing off women for three years. He opens with an instance of personification:
Let fame, that all hunt after in their lives,
Live registered upon our brazen tombs,
And then grace us in the disgrace of death
Ferdinand imagines fame “living” upon the tombs of himself and his three lords, “gracing” them in the anonymity of death. Ferdinand hopes that through study he will win himself and his court celebrity status. They will become, he says in this opening monologue, a little “academe” (university) and a “wonder of the world.” This fame will ensure that they are remembered long after they die.
In Ferdinand’s speech, fame is given free agency to choose which men she will visit. All men, the prince says, pursue her (“hunt”). But, he asserts, she comes willingly to men who cultivate themselves through study, and she remains with them long after they die. The agency given to fame in this speech expresses Ferdinand’s awareness of how difficult it is to gain or control it. Reputation almost seems to have a mind of its own, eluding easy capture by deserving men. What's more, its presence can offer a court or individual significant cultural and political power ("grace us"). The power that fame can bring them also feeds into Ferdinand's characterization of it as an independent entity.
Ferdinand’s aim to win over fame through study is optimistic and perhaps a little out of touch with how truly random events in the world are. While he is aware that celebrity is difficult to achieve, he does not doubt his capacity to do so, as if fame were implicitly meritocratic. Ferdinand underestimates the elusiveness of fame, just as he seems to underestimate the power of love, another random and unstoppable force in the play.
After the lords and the king agree to break their vow and pursue the French women, Berowne immediately comes up with a plan to seduce them. He uses personification, saying:
We will with some strange pastime solace them,
Such as the shortness of time can shape;
For revels, dances, masques, and merry hours
Forerun fair love, strewing her way with flowers.
Berowne suggests that the men come up with some kind of entertainment to capture the women’s interest that afternoon. For, he says, love is heralded by dances, games, and celebrations. In a charming image, Berowne personifies love as a woman, possibly a bride, whose way is prepared for her by “revels, dances, masques and merry hours.” These four are also personified as ladies (attendants, or possibly flower girls) that run ahead of Love, announcing her arrival.
These lines indicate a change in the tone of the conversations about love that the men are having. Previously, Berowne compared love to a trap or disease, something that placed him in a position of weakness or compromised him. Now that he and the other men have reconciled with their own feelings, love appears not as a conquering force, peril, or enemy, but as a woman who is the center of their attention and desire.
