Benedick's Changing Character in William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing
During the play "Much Ado About Nothing", Benedick's character changes
dramatically towards certain aspects of life, namely in his attitude
towards women and love. At the beginning of the play Benedick is
portrayed as an experienced soldier and a knowledgeable scholar but
with little interest in women, love, and marriage; a partly formed
Renaissance man. His friends were mainly his army colleagues those
whom, he had fought alongside when at war. However, as the play
progresses, we see him become easily influenced by others and his
attitude towards life change, thus displaying his 'giddy' character.
In the first scenes of this play, Benedick and Beatrice seem to have
formed an instant hatred for one another; Beatrice seems to know of
Benedick before he even arrives in Messina. Beatrice warns Messina
about Benedick, so when Benedick arrives in Messina, everybody has an
idea of what Beatrice thinks he is like, so they do not have very high
opinions of him. We notice as the first few scenes take place that
there is a large amount of witty repartee going on between them.
"And a good soldier to a lady, but what is he for a lord?" Beatrice
says this even before Benedick has arrived; giving the impression that
he sleeps around with various different women, and he will not commit
to anybody. This shows his lack of maturity. As Benedick arrives in
Messina, Beatrice's response to him is one full of witty repartee and
mocking, however they do not seem to take the comments made by each
other to heart, and it appears more as a joke. It becomes apparent
later on in t...
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...essina, Benedick refuses to take part in these
actions of ridicule. He has become more sociable and civilized and the
Messina has noticed that he has matured a lot through the play. He has
become more of a gentleman and thinks about others before himself. He
doesn't want anybody to miss out on the happiness that he has worked
hard for with Beatrice and tries to get Don Pedro to get married.
"Prince, thou art sad, get thee a wife"
He is now so happy with Beatrice and even though they were tricked
into liking each other they notice how much they like each other. This
is a completely different Benedick than at the start of the play, who
despised marriage, and said that to get married is the last thing he
wanted to do in his life, no-one would have guessed as the play came
to an end, and that Benedick would be married.
The difference between Beatrice,Benedick,and the other two Claudio and Hero though is that, these two are very headstrong characters with a different outlook on love, but have very much love for one another. Benedick believes in just being a bachelor and spending the rest of his life messing with as many women as he pleases, well as for Beatrice she believes there is no man good enough and willing to show her the love she wants so she much rather be left alone. But the fact that they honestly want to believe what they say is what makes this get way more interesting. What they don’t know is that they are going to soon become curious trying to figure out what they truly feel for one
Beatrice's courtship with Benedick greatly contrasts with the courtship of Hero and Claudio. Hero gladly and willingly submitted to marriage, and she accepted the role of the relatively powerless woman. In contrast Beatrice chose her submission after openly criticizing the institution of marriage.
Benedick and Beatrice both benefit from the deceit that they encounter. At first, both are enemies in a battle of insults and wit, until they are each fooled into thinking that the other loves them. When Benedick hears that Beatrice is supposedly attracted to him, he thinks that it is “a gull, but that the white-bearded fellow speaks it: knavery cannot, sure, hide itself in such reverence” (111). Little does he know, Leonato, the "white-bearded fellow," is also in on the joke (111). Benedick starts to admire her when he is aware that Beatrice might actually be attracted to himself, as well. She is also astonished when she first hears that he loves her. However, when Beatrice comes to terms with their affection, she hopes "Benedick [will] love on... And [she] Believe it better than reportingly" (134). In other words, she falls in love with Benedick as soon as she believes that he, too, is fond of her. They each start to fall in love with one another under the pretense that other was hiding their affection from them. Now that they are both in love, they start to open up to each other and prove that the deception they endured was worth it in the end.
Beatrice and Benedick show their apparent distaste for each other right from the first scene. Beatrice mocks Benedick to the Governor of Messina, claiming that she always beats him in a battle of wits and the last time they crossed paths Benedict’s “five wits went halting off, and now is the whole man governed by one” (1,1,50). Clearly relishing resuming their ‘merry war’, Beatrice cuts Benedick down at the first opportunity, telling him “I wonder that you still will be talking, Signor Benedick, nobody marks you” (1,1,105). Incredulously, Benedick retorts, “what my dear lady distain! Are you yet living?” (1,1,95). So, the dynamic of the two is set and it goes on from there in the same vein. Yet, the reader, even at this early stage may ponder if the lady doth protest too much.
is still as patronising as he was at the beginning of the play and he
Upon first sight, Beatrice and Benedict seem as if they abhor one another as they exchange several deriding remarks. The skirmish of wits is merely a facade of their underlying attraction to each other, and an ongoing struggle of recognizing their love; the insults function as a psychological device which erects a strong barrier around their emotions and further supports their feelings of denial. A few of the townspeople have noticed several signs of love between Beatrice and Benedict so they decide to trick them into divulging their feelings. Don Pedro, Claudio, and Leona...
Beatrice and Benedick seem to have had some relationship before the beginning of the book that ended badly. This suggests that the initial situation between Beatrice and Benedick was one of mutual attraction, not of the overt hate they seem to flaunt at the beginning of the play. Scorn of this magnitude is rare among people who dislike each other from the start, and seems very unlikely in a broken up couple. In addition, both Beatrice and Benedick turned out to be very willing to abandon their smear campaigns as soon as they are convinced the other is aching for them. It is ridiculous that one would abandon one's own principals to bail out a hated enemy in trouble. This makes clear that their attitude toward each other is an act. If this is so, what is the purpose of the act...
She seems to be unprovoked, but very rigid in her opinion of him. In Leonato's house, the discussion of Beatrice and marriage leads her uncle to conclude that, "Thou will never get thee a husband if thou be so shrewd of thy tongue.... ... middle of paper ... ...
...e down by weeping. Shakespeare shows us that Beatrice is the only character despite some of these positive attributes of Beatrice’s character, she is very rude about men. She says ‘but manhood is melted into curtsies’ showing Benedick her lack of respect towards men. However it is possibly her refreshing honesty that leads her to be a positive role model.
Shakespeare makes sure that Beatrice comes off as a woman who is not afraid to speak her mind to anyone. This is portrayed in the beginning of act one, when the mail messenger comes to announce that the soldiers are on their way to Messina. They start a conversation about Benedick and he tells Beatrice that Benedick is a "lord to a lord, a ...
The first scene gives good insight to Beatrice’s character. Benedict is telling Beatrice how he will never marry a woman, and he will be a bachelor forever. To this Beatrice responds: “A dear happiness to women. They would else
Throughout Act one and two, Benedick repeatedly says that he will never love a woman or get married. At some stage in the duration of the play his mindset changes. In the end he is head over heels in love for Beatrice whom he once quarreled with habitually. The turnabout in his behavior was brought about by the deceiving Claudio and Pedro who indirectly told Benedick that Beatrice loved him.
` Benedick and Beatrice hated each other at first. In the beginning of the play Beatrice makes a statement of “...will happily go to hell with Benedick.” This proves that Beatrice does not like Benedick, more hate. There is clearly tight tension in between them, and some background hatred as well. At the beginning of the play, Benedick and Beatrice had a hateful relationship.
For example, he voices the revelation “By my troth, it is no addition to her wit- nor no great argument to her folly, for I will be horribly in love with her” (2.3, 204-208). This shows Benedick falling for his friends’ trickery and concluding that he must requite Beatrice’s love.
This is part of her “merry war” with Benedick. Beatrice appears to loathe Benedick and vice versa; they engage in many “skirmishes of wit.” However, although Beatrice appears hardened and sharp, she is vu...