How Shakespeare Develops the Relationship between Benedick and Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing

How Shakespeare Develops the Relationship between Benedick and Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing

During Much Ado About Nothing, Benedick and Beatrice certainly have an

exceedingly tempestuous relationship that goes through many stages

through the play.

In Act I, Scene 1, it seems that they have met before, as Beatrice

says she “know[s him] of old” (l.107), which could imply that they

were in a relationship before the war Benedick has just returned from

at the beginning of the play.

Although she acts as though she hates Benedick when she is talking to

him, Beatrice seems to care for him before he returns, as she asks the

messenger who brings the news of the returning soldiers if “Signor

Mountanto [has] returned from the wars or no?”. This shows she cares

about Benedick, and that she still has feelings for him of some kind.

When Benedick comes back from the war, he and Beatrice meet for the

first time in the play, which is the cue for a huge confrontation of

wit and personality. This confrontational reaction to meeting is

probably caused by the previous meeting between Beatrice and Benedick,

as there is no evidence in this play why they act like they hate each

other. This hostility is the first stage in Benedick and Beatrice’s

relationship.

Benedick and Beatrice, although acting as though they love each other,

they fill their conversations with witty references to harming each

other, for example, when Beatrice says, “Scratching could not make it

worse”, replying to Benedick saying how most men who have a

relationship with Beatrice will end up with a “predestinate scratched

face”, in other words, she is likely to be ...

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...nedick to get hurt by fighting Claudio.

Beatrice subverts her role as a women, by crying, ‘Oh that I were a

man!’, which shows how passionate she was about avenging her good

cousin’s slander.

In the final scene of the play, Beatrice and Benedick are at last

brought together. This moment is not through their own willing, but

overall by the will of Leonato, Don Pedro, Hero and the other

“plotters”, who bring them together by showing them letters from each

other declaring their love that they had stolen from Benedick and

Beatrice.

Overall, Benedick and Beatrice have an extremely tempestuous

relationship that fluctuates between love and hate over time, and they

are finally brought together by the sneaky members of family and

friends in the tale who wish to let the pair’s hearts follow the route

they wish to.