Meant for Each Other?

In Shakespeare's play Much Ado About Nothing we learn right off the bat about Beatrice and Benedick's rivalry between each other. The question that arises is Is it rivalry or love? They seem to be two of a kind. Beatrice is just as witty as Benedick and they continuously battle it out. Leonato explains to the messenger regarding Beatrice's encounter that "You must not, sir, mistake my niece, There is a kind of merry war betwixt Signor Benedick and her. They never meet but there's a skirmish of wit between them" (1.1, 49-51). Beatrice more or less refers to Benedick as a dummy. She claims that every battle they have she comes out of victoriously. She knows that he is a fickle man, but yet she seems entrigued.

Benedick displays the same feelings toward Beatrice. He claims "It is certain that 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 none" (1.1, 101-104). He seems to demonstrate the same affection toward her yet he continues to rise to the occassion of her wittyness. He claims that he loves no woman, but yet we haven't heard of his actions, such as the one's displayed toward Beatrice with any other woman. He doesn't seem to trust women at all, which could be the very reason he hides his true feelings for Beatrice.

The funny thing about Beatrice and Benedick is that they both claim that they will never marry. Beatrice's reply to Leonato when he tells her he'd like to see her with a husband was, "Not till God make men of some other mettle than earth" (2.1, 50-51). Benedick claims, "I would not marry her though she were endowed with all that Adam left him before he transgressed" (2.1, 218-220). Their views on marriage are so similar that it's scary. They seem to be two of a kind in this sense. Neither one of them want to be played for a fool.

The ironic thing about Benedick is that when he becomes convinced that Beatrice is in love with him after overhearing a trick conversation between Claudio, Don Pedro and Leonato, he decides that he will return the love for her. He then changes his attitude toward women, or at least Beatrice. He doesn't want to upset her. In his speech he says, "It seems her affections have their full bent. Love me! Why it must be requited" (2.3, 198-199). He also recognizes her beauty. This lets us know that he must have had feelings for her prior to the news and that his battles of trying to outwit her were totally out of love. The question that comes to mind is, Are they meant for each other or is this just another one of Shakespeare's ridicules on love?