The war ended and the soldiers came back to Messina. Leonato, a leading man of that town, lodged them in his house. Young Claudio saw Leonato’s daughter Hero and lost his heart on the spot.
Benedick and Beatrice were in that house too. Benedick was a soldier who thought marriage was a joke, and Beatrice was Leonato’s niece. The two of them could not meet without stabbing at each other in words. Neither would give way first, so the household enjoyed the fighting as sport.
Each of them had said many times over that they would never marry. Don Pedro heard those declarations and had an idea. He wagered he could have the two of them in love within a few days.