Character study - Benedick.
At the beginning of the scene, Benedick thinks it is foolish to be in love. He uses pompous phrases like, 'I do much wonder, that...' and 'I have known when...' to show his smug disapproval and superiority over the love struck Claudio. He thinks he is better than Claudio because he will never let himself fall in love. Benedick uses contrast to emphasise how much Claudio has changed from being a normal military man, now that he has fallen in love. '...there was no music with him but the drum and the fife, and now...the tabor and the pipe.' He contrasts the 'drum and the fife' with 'the tabor and the pipe' suggesting that now Claudio would rather listen to love songs than military music. This contrast highlights the extent to which Claudio has been changed by love, from the hard military man involved in violence and fighting, to the light hearted softness of being in love. They are two extremes, with which Benedick highlights that he will not be changed. Benedick uses a lexical field in describing his immunity to female charms. '...one woman is fair, yet I am well,' and '...fair, or ill never look on her:' The use of a lexical field emphasises the point that Benedick feels that he can resist all female charms. It is as if he is boasting to himself by going over and over what most men cannot do, which is to resist love. Benedick describes his ideal woman showing his wit
The dramatic importance of Benedick
What is the dramatic importance of Benedick in Much Ado about Nothing? This essay will explore the presentation of Benedick in light of the developing relationship between Beatrice and Benedick. It is crucial to explore the importance of Benedick alongside Beatrice as they are the characters who Shakespeare uses to draw out humour and sympathy through the theme of love. From the moment Shakespeare introduces us to Benedick, the audience is immediately amused. His quick wit when he enters the scene and makes the joke about Hero; 'If Signor Leonato be the father she would not have his head for all Messina', instantly enlivens the audience and when he and Beatrice meet, the 'merry war' between them creates a jovial and humorous atmosphere. Despite their determination to conceal their true feelings for each other; 'Is it possible Disdain should die, while she hath such meet food to feed as Signor Benedick?' Shakespeare indicates to us that Beatrice's language is infact ambiguous, the word 'meet' also has sexual connations as it fits in with the pun 'meat' and 'mate'. The ambiguity in Beatrice's language indicates us that Beatrice has deeper feelings for Benedick; her insults may appear to be harsh, but underneath her rebellion there are emotions which she tries to mask. Shakespeare hints to us that Benedick is the perfect match for Beatrice not only because they are similar in
Much Ado About Nothing - Benedick
Mike Innes Benedick Much Ado About Nothing Benedick is a character that changes a lot throughout Much Ado About Nothing, and by the end of the play he contradicts many of the qualities that he has shown at the start. One of the characteristics he displays at the start is that he is joker; and although his being witty is not necessarily a bad thing, he also shows that he does not take anything seriously enough. Shakespeare mainly shows that he is witty through the "merry war" that he carries out continuously with Beatrice - a war of witty insults, where Benedick says things such as: "What, my dear Lady Distain! Are you yet living?" and "I would my horse the speed of your tongue, and so good a continuer." at the beginning of the play. It appears that Benedick has deceived Beatrice in some way, as she says "You always end with a Jade's trick. I know you of old" and talks of "false dice". He also does not take Claudio's "love" at all seriously, and makes it very clear that he does not trust love or want to get married at all, saying he will "die a bachelor". This also possibly relates to a previous relationship with Beatrice. Towards the end of the play, though, his attitude and behaviour change completely. Whereas at the start the Claudio and Don Pedro were seen to be the sensible and serious ones, and Benedick loyal to them, after Hero's humiliation he remains loyal to
The Tricking of Beatrice and Benedick.
The Tricking of Beatrice and Benedick Act 2 Scene 3 and Act 3 Scene 1 are the two scenes in which Benedick and Beatrice are tricked into falling for one another. The trick on Benedick is preformed by Claudio, Don Pedro and Leonato with a musical interval from Balthazar. Beatrice on the other hand is tricked by Hero and Ursula. The tricks plaid on these two 'star cross'd lovers' differ slightly but also share certain similarities, one of these being they contain certain comical aspects. Another similarity between the two tricks is that the two victims are hidden from the sight of those tricking them. This allows Shakespeare to have one group in a dialogue whilst the victim of the trick has his/her own monologue, so two conversations are occurring simultaneously, giving a complexity to the scene and leaving room for comedy. This is well in the film version of the film by Kenneth Branagh. Although some of the dialogue is lost in the transfer from novel to film the setting is well planned and the actors capture the tone of language and created an atmosphere that personally helped me understand the scene better than when I was reading it. The advantage the film has is the dramatic expression, be it in the faces, body language or speech of a character. The film shows that the characters are blatantly poorly acting to convince Benedick and you can tell they did not prepare well by
How are Beatrice and Benedick portrayed? In
How are Beatrice and Benedick portrayed? In William Shakespeare's play "Much Ado About Nothing" At the beginning of William Shakespeare's play "Much Ado About Nothing" he portrays Beatrice and Benedick as two argumentative young people. However he also portrays them as being attracted to each other, this becomes clear because the first thing Beatrice says in the play is " I pray you, is Signor Mountanto return'd from the wars or no?" She is talking about Benedick asking the messenger in a joking kind of way did Benedick come back from the war or did he die? This shows that Beatrice is clearly interested in Benedick because he is the only thing she talks about through out the whole of act one. Also the first thing Benedick says is also about Beatrice "were you in doubt sir that you ask'd her?" Also the first time in the play that Beatrice and Benedick lay eyes on each other they have an argument. When these two are having their argument they are arguing about the silliest things. "Benedick: you are a rare parrot teacher Beatrice: a bird of my tongue is better than a beast of yours." In a way they are always in tune with each other, arguing about the same things but exchanging words in their argument. The audience get the impression that they are masking their feelings. For example if you liked someone you would exchange a complement, instead of doing that these two exchange
Importance and Dramatic Presentation of Beatrice and Benedick.
In Shakespearean works, audiences had become accustomed to plays in which their attention would be fixated entirely on the intricately constructed plots and sub-plots unraveling before them, as well as the carefully created personalities of each character whose position within the plot was inextricably linked with the eventual success of the play on the whole. These characters had to be people whom the audience felt some sort of empathy toward and had to be in positions which could be related to by the audience. 'Much Ado About Nothing' is no different in this respect and two characters stand out head and shoulders above the rest in terms of importance. This is the fiery couple, Benedick and Beatrice whose relationship is filled with uncertainty throughout, over whether or not they will marry, however the air of inevitably is never removed. From other Shakespearean comedies, some conventions had come to be expected. One of these was the use of comedy characters. In plays such as Twelfth Night, we see Malvolio's naivety in being tricked into believing that completing a list of ridiculous acts would prove his devotion towards his sweetheart and thus, persuade her to love him as well as the comedy of Sir Andrew Aguecheek and Sir Toby Belch. Similarly, in Midsummer's Night Dream, 'the Mechanicals' provide humour in not being able to see their obvious hopelessness when
Compare the audiences' reaction to Claudio and Benedick.
Compare the audiences' reaction to Claudio and Benedick The audiences reactions to Claudio and Benedick and very different but the audiences reaction nowadays and in the 16th century when Shakespeare wrote this are not that different. The modern and 16th century audiences first impressions of Claudio are that he is the perfect gentleman we get this impression from the conversation between Leonato and the messenger when Leonato says, "He hath bestowed much honour on a young Florentine called Claudio." (1.1.10) And the messenger says, "He hath bourn himself beyond the promise of his age, doing in the figure of a lamb, the feats of a lion." (1.1.13) Just these two quotes prove that they think that he is this perfect gentleman because he is a good soldier and good looking. The two audiences reaction to Benedick are slightly different the 16th century audience think that he will be the entertainment because this is a comedy the has to be some kind of person who is stupid and is the entertainment in the play the modern audience think he is an idiot a lot of the words and quotes that prove this are said by Beatrice she says things like, "Signor Mountanto?" (1.1.28) "And a good soldier to a lady." (1.1.50) "He hath every month a new sworn brother." (1.1.66) "If he hath cough the Benedick, it will cost him a thousand pound ere 'a be cured." (1.1.82) So what Beatrice is
Beatrice and Benedick character study - Much A Do About Nothing.
Beatrice and Benedick are present together in the very first and very last scenes of Much Ado, and at every step of the way, the audience senses that they will eventually marry. The subplot of the tension between the two is crucial to the play. If their presence and their mutual development were absent, there is not much to this play. It is suggested that Beatrice and Benedick may have been romantically involved before the start of the plays action. In the plays opening scene, Beatrice refers Benedick to "Our last conflict". Both Beatrice and Benedick develop under each other's influence. For Benedick to be worthy of Beatrice, he must cast aside his male role by embracing Hero's cause. For Beatrice to be worthy of Benedick, she must discard her distrust of men and place her faith in him. Beatrice is one of the most interesting characters in the play. She is the niece of Leonato, a wealthy governor of Messina. Though she is a close friend with her cousin Hero, Leonato's daughter, the two couldn't be less alike. Where Hero is polite, quiet, respectful and gentle, Beatrice is feisty, cynical, witty, and sharp. Beatrice has kept up a merry war of wits with Benedick, a lord and soldier from Padua. The play suggests that she was in love with Benedick, but he led her on and their relationship ended. Now when they meet, the two constantly compete to outdo one another with clever
Do you think that Benedick and Beatrice are well matched?
Nicola Barratt 27th October, 2005. GCSE ENGLISH Item 2: Shakespeare MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING (1598) Do you think that Benedick and Beatrice are well matched? 'Thou and I are too wise to woo peaceably' Benedick, Act V Scene 2 Although at first there seems to be an undercurrent of antagonism in their relationship, I truly believe that Benedick and Beatrice belong together. Throughout the play, they dance around each other whilst following identical career paths and indulging in badinage. They echo each other's development, even down to their speech styles. They have found in each other a worthy opponent for 'a skirmish of wit'. We witness an example of this alleged antagonism in Act I Scene 1, when Beatrice states that she would 'rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a man swear he loves me.' Benedick retaliates by saying that he hopes that Beatrice will remain 'still in that mind' so that any future 'suitors' of hers will escape a 'scratched face'. Beatrice then demonstrates her quick wittedness when she replies 'Scratching could not make it worse, an 'twere such a face as yours were.' This exchange is a prime example of the active hostility between the two; however, if one were to witness this skirmish, the tone of antagonism would perhaps include accents of a humorous nature, as well as
First Impressions of Beatrice and Benedick - Much ado about Nothing.
First Impressions of Beatrice and Benedick In the first line said by either of these characters, we learn a lot about them both. Beatrice is the first of the two to speak when she enquires: 'I pray you, Is Signor Mountanto returned from the wars or no?' - Page 66, Line 23 As Hero explains two lines later, Beatrice is referring to Benedick but she is mocking him. She believes that Benedick is stuck up and through this line she also mocks his pretensions as a swordsman by calling him 'Mountanto'. This first line gives the impression that Beatrice either does not like Benedick or is maybe just pretending not to like him. As part of the same conversation, a messenger sticks up for Benedick and shows that people trust Benedick. It also shows that he is a good person despite what Beatrice says. This makes Benedick look good to an audience because someone is sticking up for him but it displays a jealous side to Beatrice. She could be jealous that Benedick has someone to defend him and she doesn't, but it may also be that he has chosen to be alone rather than to be with her. This is especially shown when she suggests that a fool's weapon is the most appropriate for him. 'He set up his bills here in Messina, and challenged Cupid at the flight: and my uncle's fool, reading the challenge, subscribed for Cupid and challenged him at the birdbolt.' - Page 66, Lines 29-31 By using
