Much Ado About Nothing opens in a liminal situation with a war that has just ended. How typical is this exchange between Beatrice and Benedick of their encounters in the play so far? Identify the main features of this passage and at least one other passag

Beatrice describes Benedick’s appearance in line 101. She believes that ‘scratching could not make it worse’ than it is now. By exploring the idea of his face being scratched, the audience is made conscious that he might be a possible wooer. Benedick calls her ‘a rare parrot-teacher’ because she is just repeating a few familiar phrases and she cannot think of something new and unique. However, Beatrice does not give up and says that the language she speaks is better than his. Perhaps, she also means that Benedick’s is the double tongue of the serpent by saying that her ‘tongue is better than a beast of his’. At this point, Benedick ends the conversation by giving the reason that she is ‘a continuer’ who is never going to stop. Another interpretation might be that he cannot keep up with her and that is why he ends the row. At the last sentence (107), Beatrice manages to offend him once more by saying that he uses ‘a jade’s trick’. She also says that she ‘knows him of old’ which might be a reference that they had some kind of relationship before and she implies that she did not think well of him.

Another confrontation between Beatrice and Benedick appears in Act Two Scene Three (201-212). Beatrice is asked to go and invite Benedick in to dinner. She does not like the idea, so she clearly says what she thinks to Benedick ‘Against…in to dinner’ (201). As in the previous row, Benedick picks up on her language and thanks her ‘for her pains’ (202). Benedick’s reply does not seem to be as offensive as his other ones (Act One Scene One). This proves that the trick planned by Leonato, Claudio and Don Pedro had been successful. However the picking up on each other’s language continues and has now become a habit. Beatrice now plays around with the word ‘pain’. She says that asking him to come in to dinner took her ‘no more pains’ than it took for Benedick ‘to thank her’. She tries to hurt him again by telling him that he is an ungrateful person. Benedick then comes to a conclusion that it was a pleasure for Beatrice to do so, as he believes she is in love with him. So far, Beatrice has not succumbed to the trick planned by Hero and Ursula, so she tries to get her own back. Benedick suggests that she took a pleasure in conveying the message, but Beatrice denies this and says that it was a tiny amount, which is just enough to choke a jackdaw. She is implying that Benedick is a nasty squawking person. She says that Benedick has no appetite and she does not care about him. She regards him as an arrogant person and she wants to demonstrate that her wit is better than his. At this stage she does not want Benedick to be the one who finishes the conversation, so she just goes off.

Both the conversations are started by Beatrice, which shows that she wants to have a leading role. Beatrice starts the rows by dismissing Benedick and telling how she feels about him. The war between them continues as they respond to each other’s language and then play around with the words. Both the participants have an incredible skill in using language and that is the main thing that drives the play on. The first conversation consists of many language devices: assonance and alliteration. Benedick uses more such devices, which might imply that he is even more skilful with the language than Beatrice. He would want to prove this to show his masculine dominance and his superior intelligence. In their first conflict Beatrice refers to Benedick as an unpleasant, malicious suitor and she repeats the same thing in the second confrontation where she says he is an ungrateful person. In the first conversation Benedick says that Beatrice is the only woman, who does not love him. In the second conflict, due to the planned trick, he thinks that Beatrice is in love with him, so he behaves in a slightly different way. He does not use very offensive phrases, but still tries to keep up with Beatrice. Benedick ended up the first conflict and in the second Beatrice makes sure that does not happen again by simply going off. She does not continue to argue with him. This might occur because he called her ‘a continuer’. The dialogue itself shows their feeling and attitudes to each other, which they express in a typical way.