Brick Shakespeare: The Comedies—A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Tempest, Much Ado About Nothing, and The Taming of the Shrew (55 page)

LEONATO (cont.)

Let me bid you welcome, my lord: being reconciled to the prince your brother, I owe you all duty.

DON JOHN

I thank you: I am not of many words, but I thank you.

LEONATO

Please it your grace lead on?

DON PEDRO

Your hand, Leonato; we will go together.

ACT I. Scene I (257–291).

A
s the others exit, Claudio and Benedick are left to discuss their gentlemanly pursuits. Claudio indicates that he has fallen in love with Hero and looks to Benedick for his thoughts on the situation. Benedick, who does not have an especially high opinion of women or marriage, tells Claudio marriage is like putting his “neck into a yoke” (I.i.175), or in other words, losing his freedom to a wife and becoming another member of the marital herd. Don Pedro enters and encourages Claudio to pursue Hero, finding them worthy of one another. Benedick continues to criticize marriage, but Don Pedro says that “in time the savage bull doth bear the yoke” (I.i.228) as well, meaning that even the most ardent bachelor will find a wife to tame him.

CLAUDIO

Hath Leonato any son, my lord?

DON PEDRO

No child but Hero; she’s his only heir.

Dost thou affect her, Claudio?

CLAUDIO

O, my lord,

When you went onward on this ended action,

I look’d upon her with a soldier’s eye,

That liked, but had a rougher task in hand

Than to drive liking to the name of love:

But now I am return’d and that war-thoughts

Have left their places vacant, in their rooms

Come thronging soft and delicate desires,

All prompting me how fair young Hero is,

Saying, I liked her ere I went to wars.

DON PEDRO

Thou wilt be like a lover presently

And tire the hearer with a book of words.

If thou dost love fair Hero, cherish it,

And I will break with her and with her father,

And thou shalt have her. Was’t not to this end

That thou began’st to twist so fine a story?

CLAUDIO

How sweetly you do minister to love,

That know love’s grief by his complexion!

But lest my liking might too sudden seem,

I would have salved it with a longer treatise.

DON PEDRO

What need the bridge much broader than the flood?

The fairest grant is the necessity.

Look, what will serve is fit: ’tis once, thou lovest,

And I will fit thee with the remedy.

I know we shall have revelling to-night:

I will assume thy part in some disguise

And tell fair Hero I am Claudio,

And in her bosom I’ll unclasp my heart

And take her hearing prisoner with the force

And strong encounter of my amorous tale:

Then after to her father will I break;

And the conclusion is, she shall be thine.

In practise let us put it presently.

ACT II. Scene I (161–345).

A
s the house prepares for the evening’s party, Antonio seeks out Leonato to share some news. His trusted servant, having overheard only a portion of Claudio and Don Pedro’s plot to woo Hero, gives Antonio misinformation, which Antonio passes on to Leonato. He explains that Don Pedro is deeply in love with Hero and plans to win her over at the party. Leonato accepts this to be true, and tells Antonio to let Hero know so she can prepare.

Meanwhile, Don John “The Bastard” and Conrade are in another room, discussing Don John’s hatred of his brother, Don Pedro, for having more power and for limiting his own. As he stews, he describes himself as a “plain-dealing villain” (I.ii.27–8), implying that while he may be malignant, he never pretends to be otherwise. He remains in sour spirits until Borachio joins them and explains that he has overheard Claudio and Don Pedro’s true plan to woo Hero. Don John sees this as a wonderful opportunity to stir up trouble for Don Pedro—whom he would like to overthrow—and Claudio—whom he sees as the only person to stand in his way. They head off to the feast as they begin their scheme.

At the party, Beatrice discusses her disdain for men and marriage, while Leonato prods Hero to get ready to accept the Prince’s courtship. A mask-donning Don Pedro does approach Hero, asking her to dance, and he begins to amuse her on behalf of Claudio. Wearing masks, the attendees of the gathering dance and chatter with one another, including one of Don John’s counterparts with an equal of Hero’s, and Beatrice with Benedick. While Benedick knows the identity of his dance partner, the same is not true for Beatrice. She inevitably releases a series of pointed insults regarding Benedick, who is left feeling rather scorned. Claudio tries to pretend he is Benedick in front of Don John to glean more about Don Pedro’s progress with Hero. Realizing the ruse and taking advantage of it, Don John tells “Benedick” that Don Pedro is wooing Hero for himself and not for Claudio. Don John leaves Claudio to put the pieces together, thinking his friend has betrayed him.

BENEDICK

Count Claudio?

CLAUDIO

Yea, the same.

BENEDICK

Come, will you go with me?

CLAUDIO

Whither?

BENEDICK

Even to the next willow, about your own business, county. What fashion will you wear the garland of? about your neck, like an usurer’s chain? or under your arm, like a lieutenant’s scarf? You must wear it one way, for the prince hath got your Hero.

CLAUDIO

I wish him joy of her.