I'm Adriano de Armado. I'm a bragger and I try to be just as heroic as other people in history. I love to make up words, and just like everyone else in the play, I'm in love. And you know what I think?

Who Said It and Where

Allow Shmoop to set the scene.

Everyone is gathered together for a special live performance. Costard enters, asking whether the nine worthies may come in. Berowne teases him a little and says yes. The King is worried that the play will be another embarrassing failure. In this situation, says Berowne, there's nowhere to go but up. Plus, the Princess wants to see the play, so the show must go on.

Armado comes in with the program identifying the cast. Berowne is excited to see these eccentric townspeople play the heroes of history. They come in, one by one:

• Costard plays Pompey
• Nathaniel is Alexander
• Holofernes as Judas Maccabeus
• Moth as Hercules

With each character, there's a sustained round of heckling from Boyet, Berowne, and Dumain. It's all "ha, ha, you're not that famous historical character!" The play is turning into a kind of death-match American Idol.

Then Armado enters as Hector. He valiantly pushes through and attempts to win the audience over. Pretty soon Armado might wish he had run away, though, because Costard deviates from the play to inform him that Jaquenetta is pregnant—with Armado's child. He claims he will not combat in his shirt because he hasn't got one.

The King and his lords are loving it. Armado challenges Costard and they get ready to fight. A messenger, Marcade, enters with news from France: the Princess' father is dead. The Princess wants to leave immediately, but the King of Navarre hopes she won't. The King begs her not to abruptly abandon their new love. Berowne asks the women not to judge the men by the one oath they broke.

The Princess protests that they took all the wooing as play. But the men are serious. It's too early to make a life-long commitment, replies the sensible Princess. She poses this challenge to the King: go to a monastery and spend a year there. Only then can the King come back and woo her. Whoa, he says he'll do it. Now that's love.