benedicks character

Question: What does the characters' use of language tell us about different attitudes to love and marriage in the two Key Extracts?

1. Introduction section: 
Shakespeare uses several techniques to explore the characters' different attitudes towards love and marriage.

2. Middle section, using PEE: 

3. End section: 

Benedick and Beatrice spend much of the play deceiving themselves and each other about their true feelings. However, at the end of the play we see that their love is the purest. The audience may question whether Hero and Claudio really love each other at all.

Question: What do the two Key Extracts say about the status of women in Shakespeare's Messina?

1. Introduction section: 
In Shakespeare's day, the general attitude to women was different to today. And most women had less power than men. The play takes place in Sicily, where attitudes would have been even more different. However, England had a strong, unmarried Queen on the throne at the time, so it would not have been right to show all of the women as completely powerless.

2. Middle section, using PEE: 

3. End section: 

The two main female characters show the different ways women were treated in Shakespeare's time. They were often expected to keep quiet and do what the men in their family thought was right to maintain the family's honour. Other women, though, were able to live quite freely - if no one else's honour was at stake.

Question: The two Key Extracts show Beatrice and Benedick in very different moods. How should the actors speak their lines and behave during the two separate scenes?

1. Introduction section:
Beatrice and Benedick both behave differently in the two extracts. In the First Key Extract, Hero's humiliation brings them both closer together. Although they still take pleasure in their wit, Benedick shows a softer side. Beatrice is not ashamed to show her true feelings and behaves in a very unfeminine way. In the Second Key Extract, the other characters are watching, so both Benedick and Beatrice go back to behaving like stand-up comedians trying to outwit one another. This time, though, Beatrice shows her softer side. Benedick kisses her to stop her from arguing. After that, she does not say anything for the rest of the play.

2. Middle section:

At the beginning of the First Key Extract, Beatrice is as silent as Hero. This is really out of character for Beatrice. Benedick says she has been crying, so it could be that Hero and Beatrice comfort each other away from the men on the stage.

Benedick should speak kindly and gently to Beatrice. This is out of character for him, so the actor playing Beatrice might seem suspicious when she replies to him: "Yea, and I will weep a while longer." When Beatrice and Benedick admit their love for each other, this will contrast strongly with the way they have behaved towards one another in the rest of the play.

Towards the end of the scene, Beatrice is so angry Benedick cannot stop her from talking. He could be shocked at her anger. Or, because he is so in love with her, he could show how much he wants to stop her from feeling hurt.

In the Second Key Extract, the mood is much lighter. So when Benedick and Beatrice start arguing, the actors should show how much the characters enjoy sparking off each other. When Benedick kisses Beatrice, she might struggle at first: she has always been an independent woman! She does not speak for the rest of the play, but the actor should show how happy she is to have found love at last.

Conclusion: 

The actors playing Benedick and Beatrice have a difficult job because the characters they play are acting or pretending, too. The First Key Extract shows us how passionately they love each other. The Second Key Extract shows them trying hard to hide their feelings, until the end when they are so happy they cannot help revealing their true emotions.