Act 2 Review Questions and Test Review
Answer the following on a separate sheet of paper for bonus points on your test. This plus your Act 1
questions is your study guide for the test.
Act 2.1
1. Who are Leonato, Antonio, and Beatrice discussing upon their entrance?
2. What does Beatrice declare to Hero? To Leonato?
3. What are Beatrice's reasons for not wanting to have anything to do with men?
4. What are Leonato's instructions to his daughter, Hero, and what do they show about traditional
attitudes?
5. What does Beatrice say about Benedick while he is disguised? How does Benedick feel about this
conversation with Beatrice?
6. Why does Don John pretend that he does not recognize Claudio? What does Don John say to
Claudio while in disguise? Does Claudio believe him?
7. What does Beatrice mean when she says, "once before he [Benedick] won it [my heart] of me with
false dice"? (II, i, 277-278)
8. Why is Claudio unable to speak when Don Pedro tells him that the Lady Hero is his?
9. What offer does Don Pedro make to Beatrice? How does she reply?
10. When is the wedding set to take place?
11. What plan does Don Pedro make with Claudio, Leonato, and Hero upon Beatrice’s exit?
Act 2.2 was skipped—please read it on your own. (Pages 31-33) You can also read it on SparkNotes
NoFear site.
Act 2.3
12. In thinking about Claudio’s falling in love, what conclusion does Benedick make about his own ability
to succumb to the same thing? How does he describe his ideal woman?
13. Who enters, and what do they discuss? How do they describe their subject, and how do they say
Benedick will respond?
14. How does Benedick respond to the news?
15. How does Benedick’s behavior towards Beatrice change when she enters?
Quote Identification and Analysis. For the test, be able to identify the speaker, explain the context, and
paraphrase the quote.
You always end with a jade’s trick. I know you of old.
I pray you, is Signior Mountanto returned from the war or no?
But it is certain that I am loved of all ladies, only you excepted.
Let me bid you welcome, my lord. Being reconciled to the prince your brother, I owe you all duty.
If thou dost love fair Hero, cherish it,
And I will break with her and with her father,
And thou shalt have her.
...it must not be denied but I am a plain-dealing villain.
I will go on the slightest errand now to the Antipodes that you can devise to send me on . . . rather than hold
three words’ conference with this harpy.
I will in the interim undertake one of Hercules’ labors, which is, to bring Signior Benedick and the Lady Beatrice
into a mountain of affection . . .
Analysis Questions—Be able to discuss the following with references to the play.
1. What are some of the qualities Benedick wishes for his wife? How does he feel about the news
that Beatrice loves him, and does he feel that she meets his qualifications?
2. When Benedick is being tricked into believing Beatrice loves him, list and explain one of the
metaphors used by the tricksters to encourage each other in continuing.
3. Choose one of the following themes and give general (not text evidence) examples from the
text and explain its development through Acts 1 and 2:
disguises/mistaken identity; eavesdropping/noting; sibling rivalry