This play may not be common to many school age students so a “Drive-Thru Summary” is definitely needed. The scene of transgressive behavior that I would like to focus on is the masquerade party in the play. This scene leads to Beatrice ‘moping’ about everyone getting married except for her and as Don Pedro hears her complaint he asks, “Will you have me lady?”
This now leaves our characters in a bit of a predicament.
I would suggest giving the students a few minutes to mull over this one because the character interact may be a little more complex than that of Romeo and Juliet.
Beatrice is complaining that left and right woman are getting married and she seems to be wondering aloud if it will ever be her turn. Don Pedro offers to find her a husband, to which she responds, presumably in joking manner, by changing the meaning of
get
from “find you a husband” to “beget a man who could be a husband.” She thus appears to be asking if she could have Don Pedro’s brother or Don Pedro’s himself. Don Pedro (to her surprise?) interprets her remark as a serious invitation to offer a marriage proposal. This now leads to the need for Beatrice to figure out how to take that foot of hers out of her mouth.
It now seems that an art form must be made to get people out of awkward situations. I would propose students should brainstorm ways to get Beatrice out of this situation. It seems that this would be a tender modern life moment for someone to turn down a marriage proposal. This could lead to a “What would you do?” discussion. Again, the main focus is to connect students to the text for them to be able to identify transgressive behavior and give examples. The goal, or one goal, will be to go back and appreciate Beatrice’s wit and Shakespeare’s psychology.
