Key Lines 3
English Lit: AQA GCSE Much Ado About Nothing, topic 4.1.4
Don Pedro
DON PEDRO: If we can do this, Cupid is no longer an archer; his glory shall be ours, for we are the only love-gods.
Don Pedro’s plan
- Don Pedro’s use of the conditional tense (“if”) suggests that he knows that it will be no easy task to make Benedick and Beatrice fall in love.
- He talks of Cupid’s “glory”, implying he takes a great deal of pride and honour in successfully matching couples.
Hamartia
- His self-comparison to Cupid could be viewed as arrogant, especially by a more modern audience.
- Again, structurally this hint at Don Pedro’s over-confidence relates to the concept of fatal flaws (hamartia) in a classical tragedy.
Act 5, Scene 1
- It also prepares the audience for his disrespectful attitude towards Leonato and Antonio in Act 5, Scene 1.