59 pages • 1 hour read
William ShakespeareA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Leonato, governor of the Italian city of Messina, is excited: the Prince of Aragon, Don Pedro, is coming to town after a gloriously successful battle. Leonato is especially pleased to hear that a young Florentine lord named Claudio has proven himself in these battles and won much praise from his elders for his courage.
One person isn’t quite so happy: Leonato’s niece, Beatrice, asks if “Signor Montanto” will be visiting too. This is her insulting nickname for the Paduan nobleman Benedick—a man she seems to have negative history with. When she learns he will indeed be coming with the prince, she mocks Benedick wittily and mercilessly, calling him a coward, a glutton, and a fraud, especially untrustworthy in matters of the heart. Leonato explains to the befuddled messenger who brought news of the prince’s arrival that Beatrice and Benedick engage in a “kind of merry war” of wits and scathing comments every time they meet (1.1.57).
At this moment, Don Pedro arrives accompanied by Claudio and Benedick. Leonato welcomes them and introduces them to his daughter, Hero, Beatrice’s cousin. Benedick and Beatrice immediately start bickering, engaging in a lightning-quick exchange of insulting puns.
By William Shakespeare
All's Well That Ends Well
William Shakespeare
A Midsummer Night's Dream
William Shakespeare
Antony and Cleopatra
William Shakespeare
As You Like It
William Shakespeare
Coriolanus
William Shakespeare
Cymbeline
William Shakespeare
Hamlet
William Shakespeare
Henry IV, Part 1
William Shakespeare
Henry IV, Part 2
William Shakespeare
Henry V
William Shakespeare
Henry VIII
William Shakespeare
Henry VI, Part 1
William Shakespeare
Henry VI, Part 3
William Shakespeare
Julius Caesar
William Shakespeare
King John
William Shakespeare
King Lear
William Shakespeare
Love's Labour's Lost
William Shakespeare
Macbeth
William Shakespeare
Measure For Measure
William Shakespeare
Othello
William Shakespeare