October 19,1996
Intro To Shakespeare
In William Shakespeare's comedy "Much
Ado About Nothing", the characters
Beatrice and
Benedick are involved in what could only be called a "love/hate"
relationship. The play is a classic example of this type
of relationship, and allows us
to view one from
the outside looking in. This gives us
the chance to analyse the type
of relationship
that at one time or another we all have been, or will be, involved in.
Both Beatrice and Benedick are
strong-willed, intelligent characters, who fear
that falling in
love will lead to a loss of freedom and eventually heartbreak. This causes
them to deny
their love for each other and it is only through the machinations of other
characters in the
play that their true feelings emerge.
When these feelings are finally
acknowledged,
both characters are changed, but the changes are subtle. They are
neither drastic
nor monumental. Both remain who they
were before, but now they the
two are one. They gain everything and lose nothing. Whether or not their love would
have bloomed
without the help of their friends, we will never know.
In the beginning of the play, Beatrice and
Benedick do not seem to like each
other very much,
if at all. This can be seen in Act I;
Scene I, (line 121-131):
BENEDICK: God keep your ladyship still in that mind!
so some gentleman or other
shall 'scape a predestinate scratched face.
BEATRICE: Scratching could not make it worse, an
'twere such a face as yours were.
BENEDICK: Well, you are a rare parrot-teacher.
BEATRICE: A bird of my tongue is better than a beast
of yours.
BENEDICK: I would my horse had the speed of your
tongue, and so good a
continuer. But keep your way, I' God's
name; I have done.
BEATRICE:
You always end with a jade's trick: I know you of old.
Were the reader
to judge the relationship between the characters solely by the above
lines, they would
come to the conclusion that these characters much disliked, if not
hated each
other. This is most likely not the
case. In today's world, with its
knowledge
of psychology, we
are aware that this behaviour is most
likely a cover-up for other
feelings. In fact, many relationships begin with the
parties involved denying attraction
to each other for
various reasons. Others may see it, but
those involved deny it so
vehemently that
it seems to indicate dislike, if not actual hate.
Beatrice's opinion of Benedick is easy to
see in the first act, she seems to
strongly dislike him
for some reason and does not hesitate to tell all who will listen.
Regardless of her
opinion, we can gather that Benedick is, in actuality, a decent man
from the other
characters in the play. An example of
this can be seen in Act I; Scene
I, (lines 31
& 40):
Messenger: O, he's returned; and as pleasant as ever
he was.
Messenger: He hath done good service, lady, in these
wars.
The lines of the
messenger, someone who in all probability does not know Benedick
very well, lead us to believe that he (Benedick) is a respected man who treats others
fairly. That Beatrice says otherwise is purely an act
of denial on her part. She sees
what she has
convinced herself is there and that's all there is to it.
At this point in the play, both Beatrice
and Benedick are sure that they want to
spend their lives
unmarried. This is shown by Beatrice in
Act II; Scene I, (lines 51-57):
LEONATO: Well, niece, I hope to see you one day
fitted with a husband.
BEATRICE: Not till God make men of some other metal
than earth. Would it not
grieve a woman to be overmastered with a
pierce of valiant dust? to make an
account
of her life to a clod of wayward
marl? No, uncle, I'll none: Adam's sons
are my
brethren; and, truly, I hold it a sin to match in my
kindred.
and by Benedick,
(lines 223-230):
BENEDICK: That a woman conceived me, I thank her;
that she brought me up, I
likewise give her most humble thanks: but
that I will have a recheat winded in my
forehead, or hang my bugle in an invisible
baldrick, all women shall pardon me.
Because I will not do them the wrong to
mistrust any, I will do myself the right to trust
none; and the fine is, for the which I may
go the finer, I will live a bachelor.
By the end of the
play, both their feelings on whether they love, who they love, and
marriage, will
change. For better or worse, we do not
know, but assume better.
In the middle of the play, Beatrice and
Benedick are "tricked" into admitting
their love for
each other. This "trick" is
carried out by the other characters in the play.
In the case of
both Beatrice and Benedick, this is accomplished by arranging for them
to overhear a
conversation pertaining to the love one
has for the other. For Benedick,
the conversation
was between Leonato and Claudio in Act II; Scene iii, (lines 89-100):
DON PEDRO:...Come hither, Leonato. What
was it you told me of to-day, that your
niece Beatrice was in love with Signior
Benedick?
CLAUDIO:
O, ay: stalk on. stalk on; the fowl sits. I did never think that lady would
have loved any man.
LEONATO:
No, nor I neither; but most wonderful that she should so dote on Signior
Benedick, whom she hath in all outward
behaviors seemed ever to abhor.
LEONATO:
By my troth, my lord, I cannot tell what to think of it but that she
loves
him with an enraged affection: it is past the infinite of
thought.
With Beatrice,
this is accomplished in Act III; Scene I, (lines 24-28):
HERO:
...No, truly, Ursula, she is too disdainful; I know her spirits are as
coy and
wild
As haggerds of the rock.
URSULA:
But are you sure That Benedick loves Beatrice so entirely?
HERO:
So says the prince and my new-trothed lord.
The fact that the
other characters in the play arranged this "trick" leads the reader
to
believe that they
are more aware of the true nature of the relationship between Beatrice
and Benedick than
they themselves are. This is most likely
due to the fact that they
(Beatrice &
Benedick) are so caught up in bickering and denial that they cannot see
their
relationship for what it truly is. It
takes their friends and family to force them to
realize that for
them, all they show is the opposite of what they feel.
At the end of the play, both characters
have admitted their love for each other,
Act II; Scene iii
and are to be wed. Their views on both
love and marriage have
changed as much
as their opinions/thoughts of each other.
They both readily admit their
love for each
other, and yet still hold on to the strength they showed in the earlier parts
of the play. The way that they speak to each other has
changed but little, they still
throw quick jibes
and quasi-insults back and forth almost quicker than the reader can
follow. What has changed is the underlying feeling of
their banter. Where before it
was spoken with
disdain, now it is spoken with affection.
A good example of this can
be found in Act
V; Scene ii (Lines 50-61) when they are discussing each others first
realization of
love for the other:
BENEDICK:
...And, I pray thee now, tell me for which of my bad parts didst thou
first
fall in love with me?
BEATRICE: For them all together; which maintained so
politic a state of evil that
they will not admit any good part to
intermingle with them. But for which of my good
parts did you first suffer love for me?
BENEDICK: Suffer love! a good epithet! I do suffer
love indeed, for I love thee
against my will.
BEATRICE: In spite of your heart, I think; alas, poor
heart! If you spite it for my
sake, I will spite it for yours; for I
will never love that which my friend hates.
BENEDICK: Thou and I are too wise to woo peaceably.
While this
conversation may seem somewhat insulting, the two characters are opening
up to each other,
and learning how to love and share with each other. This does not
mean they will
change who and what they are, only that they will share their feelings
and thoughts, for
better or ill.
In conclusion it should be noted that not
both Beatrice and Benedick's fears
concerning love
and marriage were unfounded. Even after
admitting that they love each
other, they are
still fundamentally the same people that they were before. They are
happier, even
though they still "spar" verbally (even at the alter), and their
freedom
does not seem to
be suffering in any way. What started
out as what seemed to be hatred
has turned to
love. Too bad that is not always the
case.
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