Beatrice and Benedick

So here we are with Much Ado About Nothing. In the very first scene of the play we are introduced to some very interesting characters, but the character that is of the most interest to me is Beatrice. We learn that she is the niece of Leonato, the governor of Messina.

It is true that she is good-hearted and generous, but there is a side of her that I can’t help but compare to Benedick. These two characters appear at the beginning of the play, mainly in Act one, to be complete opposites, but in fact I see many things between them that are true similarities.

These similarities make me think that perhaps the idea of Don Pedro and Leonato is right on point. “She were an excellent wife for Benedick” (2.1.294). 

To start, the two are very good with words, quick-witted, and get kicks out of mocking others, even their own friends. Beatrice says, “…he is the Prince’s jester, and a very dull fool…” (2.1.113). She goes on to say that his only talent is to come up with “impossible slanders” (2.1.114). Ironically, she too has many of the same characteristics that she says makes Benedick a fool.

Being that the women in the previous plays do not act and speak the way that Beatrice does, I can only assume that it is not typical behavior for the time. Beatrice’s constant pestering of Benedick is a quality that makes her a very unique character of this play. Perhaps, her speaking out of line is the major quality that makes her the fool of the play.

I think that it appears most that Benedick is a fool, when he is giving different meanings to what Beatrice has said to him about dinner (2.3.226-231). This scene most directly reminds me of the scene in Twelfth Night where Feste and Viola are mixing and playing with words.  

                                “No, sir, I live by the church.”

                                “Art thou a clergyman?”

                                “No such matter, sir. I do live by the church; for I do live at my house, and my house doth stand by the church.” (3.1.3-6).

I will personally be paying close attention to this technique and see if Shakespeare continues to use. I am also very interested to learn if there is something underlying in this concept in terms of this play as well as others.

We looked last week at the fool in Twelfth Night, Feste, and the role that he has on the story. Although I am not yet sure how this play is going to end, I do know that in each of the plays we have read thus far, fools do play an important role. My thoughts are that this play is going to be based a great deal on the fools of the story. I find it interesting that these three plays have so many similarities. Let’s hear it for the fools of the play thus far!

Strength, Ego & Evil

The characters in Shakespeare’s plays are so entertaining, it’s no wonder that his plays are still being studied, produced and enjoyed today. The three characters that most affected me the in the first two acts of Much Ado About Nothing  are Beatrice, Benedick and Boracchio.

Beatrice’s character exudes confidence. She is firm in her beliefs and does not seem to care that others disagree with her. She is able to express her beliefs in intelligent and amusing ways. She counsels her cousin Hero, against her father, in front of him. Beatrice tells Hero it is in her best interest to say, “Father as it please me”(2.1.47)  instead of “Father as it please you”(2.1.45) in regards to choosing a husband.  Considering that Beatrice is Leonato’s ward, it is interesting that Beatrice does not fear his scorn at her advisement of Hero.  She is so resolute in her position not to marry that she turns down the Prince, Don Pedro’s marriage proposal and then compliments him.  She tells him, “Your grace is too costly to wear everyday” (2.1.287).  This is another example of Beatrice’s disdain for marriage. Beatrice possesses many admirable qualities but her disregard for being a financial burden on her uncle seems selfish. Yet, when discussing his niece’s position on marriage, Leonato does not mention money.  If he’s not concerned about it, the reader shouldn’t be either.  Could Beatrice’s attributes outweigh her financial burden?  Don Pedro notices Beatrice’s “merry heart” (2.1.274) and her uncle speaks of how Beatrice “often dreamt of unhappiness and waked herself with laughing” (2.1302-303). Beatrice’s disposition seems like an attribute to the household and is a jovial person. She is even revels in her dislike for Benedick, so much so that his return is the first that she inquires about. She considers herself superior to him in wits and she even refers to him as a “stuffed man” (1.1.47).  Beatrice’s abhorrent feelings for Benedick and marriage remind me of the famous quote from another Shakespeare play, Hamlet, “The lady doth protest too much, methinks”.  Could Beatrice just think that she’ll never find a match so she rejects marriage  and might she have a bit of a secret crush on Benedick? She has taken notice of his relationships with women. The messenger comments on Bennedick, “And a good soldier too, lady” but Beatrice says “And a good soldier to a lady, but what is he to a lord?” (2.1.43-44). She considers Benedick a lady’s man and questions his real worth.

Benedick thinks Beatrice is awful. When she enters he asks Don Pedro to send him “to the word’s end” (21.1230) so that he can avoid her. He thinks that she indirectly insulted him but she knew it was him all the while. His description of the account and his feelings about Beatrice is displayed with the most eloquent language.    In this day age I think a man would just say that the woman was a “bitch’ and move on. The lines Benedick speaks in 2.1. 209-227 are an excellent example of the beauty of language and how Shakespeare deployed it.  The conviction he feels about his dislike of Beatrice is extreme. The notion that people would sin so that they go to hell and get away from Beatrice (2.1.225) is comical. The quickness in which Shakespearean characters are able to change their minds about a love interest is prominent factor when reading his works.   In Twelfth Night Olivia readily accepts Sebastian over Cesario and in  A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Demetrius doesn’t protest when he ends up with his stalker, Helena.  When Benedick finds out that Beatrice is allegedly madly in love with him, he changes his feeling towards her instantly. Are Beatrice’s initial ideas about Benedick warranted? Is he a fool? Is he so viscous towards because she deflates his ego or because he is hurt because he secretly likes her?  Is it a case of feel/think one way but say and do another? 

In complete contrast to the light hearted teasing and talks of match making and betrothal in the first two acts of the play, there is Borrachio. He is just plain evil.  He is aligned with Don Pedro’s black sheep of a brother Don Jon, and his sole purpose is to help him make everyone unhappy.   In one fell swoop he wants to, deceive Don Pedro, torment Claudio, ruin innocent Hero’s reputation and destroy Leonato. This character is The Emperor from Star Wars evil!  It is also remarkable that Shakespeare could craft a chain of results from one act of deception.

It will be interesting to see how these three elements, strength, ego and evil work together through the play.  Will the strength be weakened? Will the ego be put aside and will good overcome evil all in the name of love?

Why are there so many strong women in Shakespeare's works?

One thing that stands out immediately in Much Ado About Nothing is the presence of a strong, central, female figure.  I find this to be slightly ironic considering during Shakespeare’s time women were not very highly regarded, especially when they are married, as seen through the “Marriage and Money” article previously read.  Through the first two acts, primarily the first one, I see Shakespeare setting the stage to enhance Beatrice’s role as a strong woman.  Shakespeare clearly demonstrates this powerful aspect of women when he puts Benedick vs. Beatrice in a verbal showdown.  After the two provide insults back and forth, primarily Beatrice towards Benedick, Benedick has enough and backs down, “I have done” (I.I.116-117).  I found this moment to be extremely interesting while reading because what man during this time would let a woman win such a match of insults?

            To further demonstrate Beatrice’s strong-will and dominance, when she provides a reason to not get married she makes a valid, religious based point which undermines the male gender.  She basically tells her uncle, Leonato, that she refuses to be overmastered with a piece of valiant dust?” (II.I.51-52) .  Although Beatrice believes she will be overpowered by whomever she marries she still refers to the man as a miniscule piece of dirt.  This is a powerful insult not only to men but also God and Adam from Genesis.  But, what is more interesting than Beatrice’s control is the acknowledgement Shakespeare makes in the men, that women seem to be the person in the marriage who “wear the pants”.

            As shown in our study guide questions, we also see the quote from Don Pedro in Act I Scene I, line 213 “Well, as time shall try.  In time the savage bull doth bear the yoke” while discussing marriage.  Even Don Pedro recognizes that once a man enters marriage he will become tamed and part of the yoke.  This is the lifestyle that Benedick appears to want to avoid for the rest of his life so he can remain a bachelor but we all know this is not practical during Shakespeare’s time just as it seems impractical to have a woman “in-charge”.  It is funny to think that a woman would be the one to put the man in his place and tell him what to do and how to act, especially from all the commentary we have read about societal roles.

            One thing I also noticed while reading that almost contradicts the idea of women’s roles once they are married is when Benedick and Don Pedro are communicating.  In Act One, Benedick sees marriage as the end of his individuality.  He sees that the woman is going to take over his life and over power him and he will be a tool to her.  Benedick says, “In such great letters as they write ‘Here is good horse to hire’ let them signify under my sign ‘Here you may see Benedick, the married man’” (I.I.218-219).  This is extremely ironic to me considering all that has been embedded in the minds of readers of Shakespeare is that women are not supposed to be in power.  I think this quote directly addresses the oppression Benedick will feel from being married to any woman. 

            What does this say about Shakespeare as a writer?  We have already seen powerful women in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and even in Twelfth Night.  Are these women supposed to represent the few women who, during the time actually stood out or maybe this is Shakespeare’s way of calling out all the women and get those who are a bit more timid to stand up and take control of the life they lead and the men in society?  It is unfortunate that no one ever will know the answer to any of these questions but I think they are reasonable to be asking, otherwise why would the women in Shakespeare’s plays have so much strength?

Gender Roles and Marriage

In the first two Acts of Much Ado About Nothing we learn that the Prince, Don Pedro, and his military men or knights are coming to visit the home of the governor of Messina, Leonato.  We learn that noble Claudio is Don Pedro’s right hand man accompanies him and Claudio seems to fall in love with Leonato’s daughter, Hero, at first sight and wishes to marry her.  We also learn that Benedick, another lord who has accompanied Don Pedro, disdains marriage as a yoke around the neck of men, and that Beatrice, Leonato’s niece, is a witty woman who disdains marriage as well and they both dislike one another at the beginning. The treatment of gender is well described in these first two Acts and can be best described provocatively through the characters of Beatrice and Benedick and more traditionally through the characters Hero and Claudio.

The primacy of patriarchy in English society is summed up in a Balthasar’s song:

Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more.

Men were deceivers ever

One foot in sea, and one on shore.

To one thing constant never.

Then sigh not so, but let them go.

And be you blithe and bonny.

Converting all your sounds of woe

Into hey nonny, nonny (2.3.57-63).

This song shows men to be deceitful and women to play their role of being beautiful, not complaining and singing their pain away—in other words, suffer in silence. 

Perhaps it is this acknowledgement at the silence women must bear that convinces Beatrice she will never marry since she has no problem speaking her mind and has apparently had years of verbal sparring with Benedick.  It seems as if they both enjoy their taunts and witticisms although, because of the gender roles they are both meant to play, neither will admit that they are attracted to the other. Although Beatrice is given the role of shrew by speaking her mind such as when she tells Benedick, “I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a man swear he loves me,” she admits that she “was born to speak all mirth and no matter” (1.1.106-108, 2.1.288-289). This seems to show that her duality in being witty—good for a man, bad for a woman—and yet always happy—expected of the perfect wife.  Even Benedick admits that despite his constant insistence against marriage, “The world must be peopled” (2.3.213-214).  This is the point.  Although men and women may not like losing their freedom, they have to have children to populate England.

Nevertheless, men also had anxiety about marriage as can be seen when Benedick is challenged about his insistence about always living the life of a bachelor, saying, “But that I will have a recheat winded in my forehead, or hang my bugle in an an invisible baldic, all women shall pardon me” or when Don Pedro says, “In time the savage bull doth bear the yoke” (1.1.196-198, 1.1.213-214).  The word “yoke” is a disparaging one.  According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a “yoke” is “A contrivance, used from ancient times, by which two animals, esp. oxen, are coupled together...” and yet, for an agricultural society, it seems inevitable.

 

Persuaded to Love

     The relationship and eventual marriage between Beatrice and Bendick left me feeling a bit uncomfortable at the end of the play. This appears to be one of those partially unresolved issues that Shakespeare seems to enjoy leaving his readers with at the end of his plays.

     I certainly feel as though Benedick and Beatrice have an abundance of sexual (and perhaps emotional) tension. They do have quite a bit in common, and seem to enjoy the sarcasm and witty banter they frequently share. After thinking more on the subject following our brief discussion about it in class, I am not completely convinced that Benedick and Beatrice would have naturally wound up with each other if their friends had not taken the initiative to shove them together. In fact, after reading the play in its entirety, I am more prone to believe that they would not have ended up in marriage with each other if they were not so intensely persuaded to do so.

     Beatrice and Benedick are both extremely stubborn individuals. They appear, as evident in their first conversation in Act 1.1, to enjoy toying with each other, and one might even expect them to secretly love one another. They do not, however, seem to think of each other when they are not in direct contact. In Act 2.3, Benedick vehemently expresses his dislike for marriage, and does not once mention Beatrice. He is alone, so it is not as though he has other, secret feelings that he is trying to hide from others. I truly feel that he has no intention of attaching himself to a woman until his ego has been stroked by the idea that Beatrice is in love with him. Beatrice also seems to genuinely dislike the idea of marriage, and likewise gives no evidence of secretly pining over Benedick.

     Because they each think so highly of themselves, I am convinced that only the idea of being loved by someone that was so determined not to love is what finally brings them together. It feels great to be wanted, but to be wanted by someone who is trying so hard not to have those feelings must be a powerful thing.

     What convinces me most that these two needed other people to connive their match is the final scene of the play, when Benedick and Beatrice discover that the love they each thought existed in the other was not necessarily real. Benedick asks, “Do not you love me?” and Beatrice replies, “Why no, no more than reason.” Benedick then states that he feels similarly. It takes some additional convincing by their friends for them to decide to marry each other. Beatrice even says, “…I yield upon great persuasion, and partly to save your life, for I was told you were in a consumption.” It seems, therefore, that they have really fought against being matched with each other. Although I’ll allow that they must have some real affection for one another to let themselves be convinced to marry, I think that that affection would not have been enough to bring them together on their own. The other members of the play were an imperative part of their eventual marriage.