These facts being made apparent without any sort of formal exposition,
the crisis of the play rapidly announces itself in the wrestling-match
and its sequels. In _Much Ado About Nothing_ there is even less of
antecedent circumstance to be imparted. We learn in the first scene,
indeed, that Beatrice and Benedick have already met and crossed swords;
but this is not in the least essential to the action; the play might
have been to all intents and purposes the same had they never heard of
each other until after the rise of the curtain. In _Twelfth Night_ there
is a semblance of a retrospective exposition in the scene between Viola
and the Captain; but it is of the simplest nature, and conveys no
information beyond what, at a later period, would have been imparted on
the playbill, thus--
"Orsino, Duke of Illyria, in love with Olivia.
Olivia, an heiress, in mourning for her brother,"
and so forth. In _The Taming of the Shrew_ there are no antecedents
whatever to be stated.
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