for mine bedfellow.
- Act V, scene i, lines 230-33
(Of course she will. If she is alone, she will sleep with herself as the only person in the bed.)
Argus was a giant in Greek mythology, whose special monstrous attribute was a hundred eyes, some of which were always open (see page I-86).
But then, before the quarrel can grow more fierce than suffices to amuse the audience, the truth is revealed, Lorenzo and Jessica learn they will be Shylock's heirs, and all ends in a blaze of happiness.
Part II. Roman 19. Much Ado About Nothing
Much ado about nothing is among the pleasantest of Shakespeare's plays. It was written about 1599 and is the first of a cluster of three comedies, written in the space of a year or so, that represent Shakespeare's comic genius at its height.
... Don Pedro of Aragon ...
The play opens with Leonato, the governor of Messina, speaking with a Messenger who has just brought him a letter. Leonato says:
I learn in this letter that Don Pedro of Aragon
comes this night to Messina.
- Act I, scene i, lines 1-2
Messina is one of the principal cities of the island of Sicily. It is located in the northeastern comer of that triangular island just at the narrow strait that separates Sicily from Italy. As for Aragon, that is a medieval kingdom that was located in eastern Spain (see page I-526).
But what was Don Pedro of Aragon doing in Sicily?
Well, through much of the Middle Ages Sicily had been ruled by the German emperors. In 1266, however, it fell into the hands of the French dynasty of Anjou.
In 1282 the Sicilians grew tired of this Angevin rule. On March 30, just as the church bells were ringing for the sunset prayers called vespers, the Sicilians rose in concert and killed every Frenchman they could find. This event, the "Sicilian Vespers," ended Angevin rule on the island.
The last German ruler of Sicily, prior to the advent of the Angevins, had had only one surviving child, a daughter. She had married the King of Aragon, and the Sicilians considered this Aragonese King to be the natural successor to the crown. They Invited him to come to Sicily. He did so and by 1285 had established himself firmly as ruler of Sicily, beginning a dynasty that was to continue for over five hundred years.
The Aragonese King who took over in Sicily was Pedro III (also known as Pedro the Great). Naturally, he was not the Don Pedro of Aragon who figures in Much Ado About Nothing, a play which is completely and entirely unhistorical. Undoubtedly, however, it was his name that floated into Shakespeare's mind when he needed one for the prince.
... a young Florentine...
It is quickly established that there has been a battle which Don Pedro has won and which has been practically bloodless. Leonato says:
/ find here that Don Pedro hath bestowed
much honor on a young Florentine called Claudio.
- Act I, scene i, lines 9-11
Florence was the leading city of Renaissance Italy, the medieval analogue of ancient Athens. Shakespeare never set the scene of one of his plays in that city, but he knew its reputation and worth. Simply by making Claudio a Florentine he was informing the audience that the man was intelligent and gallant.
... of Padua
Leonato has a daughter, Hero, beautiful and shy, and a niece named Beatrice, merry and impudent. The latter is trying to make herself heard and finally manages to say:
I pray you, is Signior Mountanto
returned from the wars or no?
- Act I, scene i, lines 29-30
Mountanto is the name of a style of fencing thrust and the implication is that the gentleman in question is a great swashbuckler, presumably a phony, whose valor is all talk.
The Messenger doesn't know whom she means and her cousin, Hero, must identify him, saying:
My cousin means Signior Benedick of Padua.
- Act I, scene i, line 34
Padua is the scene of much of the action of The Taming of the Shrew (see page I-447). The Messenger assures the company that Benedick is alive and well, and Beatrice breaks out at once in a flood of slander against him. Leonato feels it necessary to explain this away and says to the Messenger:
You must not, sir, mistake my niece.
There is a kind of merry war betwixt
Signior Benedick and her. They never meet
but there's a skirmish of wit between them.
- Act I, scene i, lines 58-61
And indeed, it is this "merry war" that is the heart of the play and that will keep it alive