In 'Love's Labour's Lost', what is the name of the Spanish knight who speaks broken English?
Answer
Don Adriano de Armado
Answer
Don Adriano de Armado
In “Love’s Labour’s Lost,” the Spanish knight who speaks broken English is Don Adriano de Armado.
Armado is one of Shakespeare’s most flamboyant comic characters: a visiting Spaniard at the court of Navarre who presents himself as a grand soldier, lover and man of sophistication. His elaborate, inflated language contrasts sharply with the ordinary characters around him, especially Costard, the rustic he orders about, and Moth, his clever page.
Armado’s romantic pursuit of Jaquenetta, a country wench, creates much of his subplot. He sends her a letter through Costard, but the letter becomes entangled with Berowne’s messages to Rosaline. Later, Armado and the other comic characters perform the pageant of the Nine Worthies. The discovery that Jaquenetta is pregnant interrupts the performance and forces Armado to confront the consequences of his courtship.
Costard, Moth and Sir Nathaniel are often confused with Armado because they all appear in the play’s comic subplot. Costard is a rustic, Moth is Armado’s page and Sir Nathaniel is a curate. Only Armado is the fantastical Spanish knight whose grandiloquent English is part of the joke.
Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Aug. 2026