Anuj Khamar
Consider the change in character of Benedict and Beatrice. Do you find their dramatic change of character believable? Write in more detail either Benedict and/or Beatrice. How would you have the character play their role? Concentrate on Act 4 Scene 1. how does Shakespeare use character, action, dramatic devices and structures to show Benedict and Beatrice’s response to each other?
Much Ado About Nothing is a comedy written by William Shakespeare and is set in Messina, Italy. The theme for this comedy is love. This play also tries to show that people cannot hide from love as it will find them no matter how hard they resist it. The play is about a battalion of soldiers under the command of Don Pedro who have come back victorious from war and are staying with Leonato. Very soon after the beginning love takes control of the play and match makes four of the main characters. These four include Hero, Beatrice, Claudio and Benedict. As the story progresses Don John the Bastard, the illegitimate brother of Don Pedro plays a game with love to brake up Hero and Claudio’s wedding.
Two of the main characters in the play are Benedict and Beatrice. The two are introduced as rivals. I know this because in Act 1 Scene 1 Leonato says “There is a kind of merry war betwixt Signor Benedict and her”. I also think this because of the argument they have in the beginning. This leads me to think that one has done something to hurt the other. I can also think by this that Benedict and Beatrice were in a relationship together which was bitterly ended. This would also explain both of their feelings towards the opposite sex and also their hatred of marriage. From the argument they have in the beginning I can also tell that the two are very witty. I believe that there is an obsession between the two. When the messenger arrives in the first scene Beatrice turns around almost anything said against Benedict. An example of this would be when she turned “And a good soldier too, lady” into “ And a good soldier to a lady. But what is he too a lord”. Also in the party scene Benedict who appeared to be a strong character was really offended by the remarks made by Beatrice. Beatrice is quite strong willed and does not support a Shakespearean stereotype of a woman. I believe that she is quite strong minded. I think this because she speaks out openly too a stranger when she was not talked to first and asks about a man using a nickname which she is aware that the messenger does not know. Benedict is quite the same but I think that he is a bit more pompous than Beatrice. I think this because he says “I am loved of all ladies, only you excepted”. This would show me that he is very arrogant but it is clear that he says this to answer an insult from Beatrice. Benedict’s type of humour is by making fun of someone else or himself. I do not believe that he is into poems or art or even parties that much. This is because of the way he treats Claudio when Claudio tells him that he loves Hero.
