The diplomatic business is not etherealised into romance, like the ladies' embassy in _Love's Labour's Lost_; but neither is it allowed to become grave or menacing.

Berthold's arrival to present his claim to the government of this miniature state affects us somewhat like the appearance of a new and formidable player in some drawing-room diversion; and the "treason" of the courtiers like the "unfairness" of children at play.

Nevertheless, the victory of love over political interest which the motto foreshadows is not accomplished without those subtle fluctuations and surprises which habitually mark the conduct of Browning's plots.

The alternative issues gain in seriousness and ideality as we proceed, and Browning has nowhere expressed the ideal of sovereignty more finely than it is expressed in this play, by the man for whose sake a sovereign is about to surrender her crown.[20] Colombe herself is one of Browning's most gracious and winning figures.

She brings the ripe decision of womanhood to bear upon a series of difficult situations without losing the bright glamour of her youth.