How Does Shakespeare Introduce and Develop the Characters of Beatrice and Benedick?

950 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Representation of women in Shakespeare

Much ado about nothing was written by William Shakespeare in 1595.It is about relationships, love, deceive and hatred. Benedick (one of the main character) enjoys speaking his mind in a witty argument with Hero’s cousin and companion, Beatrice. Beatrice is also like Benedick. She is an Elizabethan feminist who is strong; she speaks her mind and lets everyone (including Benedick) know exactly what she thinks of Benedick. Shakespeare has created another couple who is totally the opposite of Beatrice and Benedick. Claudio and Hero are kind hearted, loving and let others decide their fate; whereas Beatrice and Benedick are fiery and determined. With Beatrice and Benedick, they are tricked into liking each other by ‘overhearing’ other people’s conversations that pertain to the other person. This causes them to fall in love. The wittiness used by Beatrice and Benedick also suggests that there is a deeper meaning behind what they say and that they are deceived by their own foolishness.

In the first scene, Beatrice talks to a messenger and Leonato. Shakespeare makes it instantly seems as if she and Benedick do not to get along, when she calls him "Signor Mountanto", which is very rude and suggests that he has a 'big head'. Even though she refers to Benedick in a negative manner, it is interesting that she mentions him before she mentions anyone else. Shakespeare shows this first sign of interest in a fairly subtle way; yet she obviously cares about him by asking if he has returned from war, this clearly being her first line of thought. In the first scene, before Benedick, Claudio, Don Pedro, Don John enter, Beatrice mentions Benedick many times, again showing that she really does think about him and is curious to know how he is. At the ...

... middle of paper ...

... saying 'Do not you love me?' there is a sudden relationship change again because he does know that she loves him but he wants everyone else to know that too. The word 'love' is a sweet example of imagery and has a concise style as to how he is saying it. Beatrice speaks her mind finally. 'I yield upon great persuasion, and partly to save your life, for I was told you were in consumption '. She is still denying her love a bit. Shakespeare has used a verbose style to match Beatrice's character.

As a conclusion, Beatrice and Benedick have changed both in their attitudes towards the idea of marriage and towards each other since the beginning of the play. However, one must note that they will never get bored of each other while they are having their 'war' so they are definitely a good match. Personally I think that Shakespeare is a feminist is much ado about nothing.

Show More
Related

  • Theme Of Deception In Much Ado About Nothing

    1058 Words  | 3 Pages

    The 3 deliberately have a conversation about Beatrice love and affection for Benedick, causing him to question whether or not what is being said is true or not. As Leonato starts to speak, he says… By my troth, my lord, I cannot tell him what to think of it, but that she loves him with enraged affection, it is past the infinite of thought. (3.4.107-110). Typically saying Beatrice love for him is by far more than any man can comprehend by far even withstand having knowledge of. By this time Benedick seems to question whether or not this is credible, but hearing it from Leonato he thinks it has to be true because he has never spoken any words other than the

    Read More

  • Much Ado About Nothing: Beatrice, Portia and Marriage

    525 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Irony In Much Ado About Nothing

    690 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Much Ado About Nothing

    1264 Words  | 3 Pages

    Shakespeare’s introduction of the other couple in question is in stark contrast to the way in which Beatrice and Benedick were introduced. Claudio and Hero are amorously receptive to one and other from the very start. Upon laying eyes on Hero, Claudio remarks of her to Benedict “is she not a modest young lady?” (1.1.125). Clearly, by having Claudio express his fondness of Hero to Benedick, the playwright directly compares the older and more cynical to the more young and naive, allowing the reader to see the contrasting personas of the two men. This is reinforced by Benedick, who after finishing listening to Claudio’s rhetoric on the charms of the young Hero (“in m...

    Read More

  • Hero in Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare

    666 Words  | 2 Pages

    Telling her gentlewomen that Benedick loves Beatrice is her secret and it just so happens that Beatrice overhears, because it was. all planned that she should overhear. In this scene, Hero is dominant. in the conversation and says whole paragraphs instead of a few words that she says sporadically throughout the play, like in Act 1 scene 1. where she only says one line in the whole scene, "My cousin means Signor Benedick of Padua. " Page 5, line 27.This is because she needs.

    Read More

  • How Does Shakespeare Present Marriage In Much Ado About Nothing

    740 Words  | 2 Pages

    Much Ado About Nothing is a William Shakespeare play that was performed in 1612. It is a play about love and complications. The important love in this play includes Beatrice and Benedick, and Hero and Claudio. Hero and Claudio played the part of new puppy love and Beatrice and Benedick being the old dog love. This is about the two women of the love’s, Beatrice and Hero. Their acceptance of marriage. What made them so different and how would a modern feminist view their acceptances; which would be that a modern feminist would disagree with their ways of life interpreting love.

    Read More

  • Much Ado About Nothing Book Vs Movie

    1668 Words  | 4 Pages

    Whedon's production of Much Ado About Nothing is a modern, black and white retelling of the famous Shakespeare play of the same name which tells the story of love and deceit between two couples: Hero and Claudio, and Beatrice and Benedick. While Hero and Claudio court and prepare to marry each other, Beatrice and Benedick steal the show away with their wit, humor, and constant bickering. Though they both insist that they hate each other, the flashback presented at the start of the film suggests that there is far more to the story than meets the eye. While the style of the film certainly enhances the story being told, making it a timeless classic entangled with modern society, it is the ensemble cast that work both individually and as a unit which make the film a true masterpiece, as well as the genius idea of a change in scenery that propels a sense of realism not often found in your average Shakespeare adaptation.

    Read More

  • A Comparison of Beatrice and Hero in Much Ado About Nothing

    435 Words  | 1 Pages

    The author portrays Beatrice as being very dominant and strong woman. I believe she protects her cousin and her family from the accusation that has been projected towards Hero as this has insulted not only Hero but also her family. When she is in the tabernacle with Benedict and confessing her love for him....she shows her demanding nature by essentially forcing Benedict to choose between the brotherly love of men and the loyalty of a man to his wife. Beatrice knows that she must destroy Benedict's former male bonding. Her order is therefore a command for Benedict to support her against Claudio, and represents the only way for them to have a mature relationship. Although being quite intelligent, Beatrice does manage to appear gullible when she overhears Hero and another woman discussing Benedict and Beatrice's relationship. So this can be seen that Beatrice does have a softer side as well.

    Read More

  • Much Ado About Nothing: Beatrice Potrayal

    983 Words  | 2 Pages

    Shakespeare represents Beatrice as a very feisty, cynical and sharp woman during the play. We can especially see this when she uses her wit to shock the messenger saying, in act one scene one, that ‘he is no less than a stuffed man.’ This is exceedingly disrespectful to fashion such a rude comment about a man who is just about to arrive back from war. One thing Shakespeare clearly shows us is that Beatrice would not be the ideal woman for most men. To emphasize this he contrasts Beatrice with a weak and quiet character such as Hero who acts upon every mans instruction, we can see this when Beatrice says to Leonato that its her ‘cousins duty’ to say ‘father as it please you.’ Shakespeare makes such a clear contrast between the two women to the extent that Beatrice steals most of Hero’s attention from the other male characters in the play. Furthermore he shows us how Beatrice is perhaps a threat to the patriarchal society at the time, we can see this on page fifty-nine where she implys that it is her duty to please herself, whether or not her father consents. This is unlike Hero, who cannot do anything unless a man is fighting her corner, however Beatrice is willing to

    Read More

  • The Violence of Language in Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare

    1017 Words  | 3 Pages

    Set in the sixteenth century, Much Ado About Nothing is revolved around the thought of love and marriage. Primarily, this is prevalent in the two main characters, Beatrice and Benedick. They have once been courted which suggests more maturity than the majority of couples in Shakespeare’s various plays. In the duration of the play, the violent language between Benedick and Beatrice is most evident through their ridicule. Both characters always speak critically regardless of whether they are talking to each other or out loud about one another. This is highlighted when Beatrice exclaims, “What should I do with him—dress him in my apparel / and make him my waiting gentlewoman? He that hath a / beard is more than / a youth, and he that hath no beard is less than a/ man; and he that is more than a youth is not for me, and he that is less than a/ man, I am not for him...

    Read More

  • Much Ado About Nothing Beatrice And Benedick Analysis

    979 Words  | 2 Pages

    This piece of text supports that they were acting like they didn’t want to be together because she is stating only bad thing about Benedick to make it look like she didn’t like him. When someone even mentions Benedick in the book, Beatrice instantly starts to talk about how she will never be in a relationship with him because he is not good enough for her. She is constantly giving reasons for not wanting a relationship to deny her feeling. It is like she is making fun of him to push away feeling she thinks she doesn’t want to have. On page 74, Shakespeare writes, “As strange as the thing I know not.

    Read More

  • The Role Of Women In Much Ado About Nothing

    1069 Words  | 3 Pages

    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 ...

    Read More

  • Benedick's Changing views on Love in Much Ado about Nothing

    581 Words  | 2 Pages

    At the beginning, Benedick’s attitude is negative towards women in general. He swears he will never marry, as he is very critical of women and does not trust any of them not to cheat on him. He seems to oppose with Beatrice in a competition to outwit, outsmart, and out-insult each other. Obviously he has been in some sort of past relationship with Beatrice because when he meets her at the masked ball, she describes him as a selfish pig. We can infer that Benedick has some kind of deep feelings for her because after she insults him he is hurt and says, “Will your grace command me any service to the world’s end? I will go on the slightest errand now to the Antipodes that you can devise to send me on. I will fetch you a toothpick from the furthest inch of Asia . . . do you any embassage to the pigmies, rather than hold three words’ conference with this harpy” (II.i.229–235). This blatantly means that he does not wish to talk to her.

    Read More

  • Differences between Beatrice and Hero in Much Ado about Nothing

    1199 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...he other hand, Beatrice and Benedick are comedy-makers and Beatrice is not ruled by her father as Hero clearly is. It does take Don Pedro’s benevolent plot to bring Benedick and Beatrice together, however. A modern audience would prefer Beatrice to Hero as she is her own self and admirable. The relationships also differ because Benedick and Beatrice’s relationship slowly grew whereas Claudio and Hero’s relationship was love at first sight. Perhaps it was a little hasty as we see in Act 4 how their love turns sour.

    Read More

  • Character Analysis of Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing by Shakespeare

    766 Words  | 2 Pages

    From the very start of the play Beatrice shows her independence but openly admitting to everyone that she does not, by any chance, want to be married, especially to Signior Benedick. Whom it was hinted at throughout the play had a past with Beatrice and the “relationship” ended up with her being hurt and him going off to battle. She makes it clear in their battle of wits after he says “….But it is certain I am loved of all ladies, only you excepted; and I would I could find in my heart that I had not a hard heart, for truly I love no one.” (A1; S1; L122-125). After hearing Benedick say that she then replies with “A dear happiness to women. They would else have been troubled with a precious suitor. I thank God and my cold blood I am of your humor for that. I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a man swear he loves me.” (A1; S1; L126-130). This was basically her way of telling Benedick that she does not want someone to swear the love her when in reality the love is not actually there. She would rather not deal with the nonsense of someone who is not true to their word. Even at another moment in the play, Leonato says to h...

    Read More

More about How Does Shakespeare Introduce and Develop the Characters of Beatrice and Benedick?

Open Document