Exercises

 

I. Choose the right item:

1. Hero was the daughter and Beatrice the niece of …

Leonato, the governor of Messina

Don Pedro, the prince of Aragon

Claudio, the lord of Florence

2. Benedick was just as talkative and witty as …

Hero

Margaret

Beatrice

3. When Claudio shamed Hero before the people in the church she …

died

fell ill

sank down in a fainting fit

4. …. advised Leonato to report that Hero was dead.

The priest

Benedick

Don John

5. The only way Benedick could prove his love towards Beatrice was …

to marry her

to kill Claudio

to fight with Claudio and Don Pedro

6. … were two mad wits who became friends and got married.

Claudio and Hero

Benedick and Beatrice

Borachio and Margaret

 

II. Put the sentences in the right (chronological) order.

1.    The prince had a half-brother who came from the wars along with him to Messina.

2.    But the old priest was a wise man, and full of the knowledge of human nature.

3.    When the morning came, the prince and Claudio went to the church.

4.    The priest promised to explain this miracle when he had made them man and wife.

5.    There lived in the palace at Messina two ladies, whose names were Hero and Beatrice.

6.    Claudio therefore asked forgiveness of the old man Leonato for the wrong he had done his child.

7.    These strangers had been at Messina before, and the governor introduced them to his daughter and his niece as their old friends.

8.    Claudio was to wait only a few days before being married to his fair lady, but he complained that they passed very slowly.

9.    Nothing could equal the anger of Claudio, when he had made (as he thought) his discovery.

10.   But though Leonato thought they would make a quarrelsome pair, the prince did not give up the idea of matching these two sharp wits together.

 

III. Say “true” or “false”:

1.    Benedick, Don Pedro and Claudio had never been at Messina before.

2.    The prince was highly amused with listening to the talk of Benedick and Beatrice.

3.    Hero was just as talkative and witty as Beatrice.

4.    Borachio had made himself pleasant to Ursula.

5.    When Don John brought them, near Hero’s room that night, they saw Benedick standing under the window.

6.    The prince and Claudio believed it was the lady Hero herself.

 

IV. Answer the questions.

1.    Where do the events in the story take place?

2.    Who are the main characters in the story? Characterize each of them.

3.    What did Benedick call Beatrice? What did Beatrice call Benedick?

4.    What was the plan? Was it a fair plan? Why or why not?

5.    Who tried to break the prince’s plan to marry Beatrice with Benedick?

6.    What episode can be called the central point in the story?

7.    What plan did the priest propose?

8.    In what way was the false accusation cleared up?

 

V. Guess the meaning of the following words and phrases: 

lively temper; pastime; half-brother; pleasant spirited; quarrelsome pair; hard-hearted; fainting fit; forgiveness; sorrowful.

 

VI. Choose a synonymous expression:    

1.a well-bred lady

well-dressed lady

lady with good manners

2. the blameless Hero

innocent

unworthy

3. I stand dishonoured

 (I stand) disgraced

 (I stand) displeased

4. to put things right for her

to put the things in the right order

to prove the innocence

 

 

Discussing the text

I.  Prove that:

1. Beatrice and Hero were alike.

2. Beatrice would be an excellent wife for Benedick.

3. The old priest was a wise man and full of knowledge of human nature.

4. Don John hated the prince and his friends.

 

II. Say what you like/dislike in the story and why.

Example: I like that the prince wanted to make Benedick and Beatrice a man and a wife (because they both were talkative and witty).

                I dislike that Don John was eager to do harm to his brother Don            

                Pedro and his friends.

 

III. Act out the talks between:

a)    Beatrice and Benedick;

b)   Don Pedro and Leonato;

c)    Hero and Ursula;

d)   Leonato and Claudio