The action of Shakespeare’s comedy takes place in the Italian city of Messina, where, after battle victories, a military detachment headed by Don Pedro returns. The reader gets acquainted with the main characters, Beatrice and Benedic, long-familiar young people who find entertainment in constant mutual jokes. The second pair of heroes in the comedy is Claudio and Hero, whose mutual desire for each other is disrupted for a while by the gossip sown by Don Juan. Don Pedro plans to organize the happiness of Benedic and Beatrice, by tricks forcing the obstinate couple to confess their love to each other. The play ends with two weddings, and Don Juan’s punishment is postponed so that everyone can enjoy the feast.
Shakespeare’s plays are often distinguished by vibrant exotic locations that emphasize the daring and rich mores of the characters. Shakespeare’s humor in this play is based on two main devices, farcical and colloquial. The farcical element is provided by scenes of eavesdropping on love confessions, a masquerade with unrecognized lovers, secret dressing up of the bride. All these scenes are plot elements corresponding to the title of the play. Through farce, Shakespeare creates the plot of his comedy, demonstrating the traditional techniques used by European comedians in future centuries.
But even more valuable humorous basis of the comedy is the amazing poignant remarks, which are exchanged between the characters of Benedic and Beatrice. The headstrong Beatrice cannot confess her love for Benedic to anyone, not even him, so she showered him with barbs. Benedick is in love with her, but his pride and innate mind make him constantly joke in response. Their dialogues are based on the rhetorical technique of wit, that is, a timely comic response that makes sense only in a very short time context. The dialogues of the heroes represent whole chains, sequences of barbs flowing from each other. Shakespeare organizes them according to the associative principle, forcing the reader or viewer to be carried away by the dialogue and amazed at the ingenuity of his characters.