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In Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, Benedick undergoes a great attitude change. At the beginning of the play, Benedick is a presented as a skilled swordsman, but also a man with an immature, misogynistic demeanour and an aversion to marry- he viewed it as a burden and a mistake rather than something that he can actually find enjoyment and true happiness from . At the end of the play, his attitude changes, and he suddenly becomes a more sensible man and an eager bridegroom; Benedick loses his aversion to marry or love and lets his hatred of women go. Shakespeare conveys Benedick as misogynistic at the start of the play. This is shown during a conversation Claudio and Benedick have on the former’s feelings for Hero. Claudio starts with …show more content…
However, at the end of the play, Benedick submits to Beatrice at the end of their confessions. The change in his ways his shown in the quote ‘Enough, I am engaged; I will challenge him. I will kiss your hand, and so leave you. By this hand, Claudio shall render me a dear account. As you hear of me, so think of me. Go comfort your cousin’. Before realising that he was in love with Beatrice, he was very argumentative with Beatrice, and wouldn’t listen to her. This quote shows that Benedick is so in love with Beatrice that he would do anything for her to be happy, even if it means that he has to kill Claudio, one of Benedick’s good friends; he is giving in to her wishes, and will allow himself to commit crimes for her. When Benedick says ‘Claudio shall render me a dear account’, Benedick is saying that he will make Claudio pay for what he’s done- he is showing a sensitive and sympathetic side to Beatrice. The phrase ‘Go comfort your cousin’ has an underlying message; Benedick is telling Beatrice to not worry and that he will take care of it, making a change from the arrogant, rowdy man at the beginning of the play. Benedick’s attitude towards love, marriage and women changes drastically throughout the Much Ado About Nothing. Benedick transitioned from a smooth-talking swordsman to a sensible man who no longer harboured an aversion to marry. Benedick no longer regards marriage as something to be averted or something that is a burden or mistake, instead finding that he would do anything for one woman. Benedick is also no longer misogynistic, and became a changed man by the end of the
...e down by weeping. Shakespeare shows us that Beatrice is the only character despite some of these positive attributes of Beatrice’s character, she is very rude about men. She says ‘but manhood is melted into curtsies’ showing Benedick her lack of respect towards men. However it is possibly her refreshing honesty that leads her to be a positive role model.
Throughout Act one and two, Benedick repeatedly says that he will never love a woman or get married. At some stage in the duration of the play his mindset changes. In the end he is head over heels in love for Beatrice whom he once quarreled with habitually. The turnabout in his behavior was brought about by the deceiving Claudio and Pedro who indirectly told Benedick that Beatrice loved him.
The Transformation of Benedict in Much Ado About Nothing. In "Much Ado About Nothing" Shakespeare manages to transform Benedict. from being a bachelor to being in love with Beatrice. Shakespeare does extremely well to make this change of character seem believable as it such a big one.
Benedick’s Change of Heart by the End of Act 2 Scene 3 of William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing
Set in the sixteenth century, Much Ado About Nothing is revolved around the thought of love and marriage. Primarily, this is prevalent in the two main characters, Beatrice and Benedick. They have once been courted which suggests more maturity than the majority of couples in Shakespeare’s various plays. In the duration of the play, the violent language between Benedick and Beatrice is most evident through their ridicule. Both characters always speak critically regardless of whether they are talking to each other or out loud about one another. This is highlighted when Beatrice exclaims, “What should I do with him—dress him in my apparel / and make him my waiting gentlewoman? He that hath a / beard is more than / a youth, and he that hath no beard is less than a/ man; and he that is more than a youth is not for me, and he that is less than a/ man, I am not for him...
As a conclusion, Beatrice and Benedick have changed both in their attitudes towards the idea of marriage and towards each other since the beginning of the play. However, one must note that they will never get bored of each other while they are having their 'war' so they are definitely a good match. Personally I think that Shakespeare is a feminist is much ado about nothing.
bothers him. Shakespeare presents to the audience an image of a woman. Benedick would prefer to be with and it is ironic that it should be. Beatrice. In the same way Beatrice talks about her ideal husband but finds it impossible to consider any possible suitor.
In the beginning of the play Benedick is just another soldier with Claudio but is also known for arguing with Beatrice. He is constantly getting in to arguments with her and at the masquerade Ball she pretends to be somebody else to try to interrogate her. When he first arrives in Messina he says “Look, it’s my dear lady distain.” This quote represents the relationship in between Benedick and Beatrice. The relationship they have is one of hatred and anger. However when Benedick is in the Orchid and over hears Claudio and the others he falls in love with Beatrice. When he falls in love with Beatrice he wants to pronounce his love to her himself. AS soon as he sees Beatrice after he was tricked into loving her he started being nice to her and didn’t make fun of her. Benedick also says “Lovely Beatrice, I thank you for taking the pains to tell me that” This highlights his change of heart towards Beatrice and that he is willing to love her. This shows how Benedick was manipulated to love Beatrice by Claudio, Don Pedro and Leonato. Afterward When Claudio shammed Hero in front of everybody and left Benedick wants to help Beatrice clear Hero’s name. Benedick doesn’t believe that Hero cheated Claudio and wants to fix the situation. Also he convinces Leonato of the friar’s plan to clear Hero’s name by faking her death. Benedick even says that “I really
Shakespeare undoubtedly creates a coherent distinction between Beatrice and Hero, the two main female characters, in such a way that allows the audience to irrefutably note their differing dispositions. Hero, “a face without a voice” (Cook 8), is characterized by her passivity and inability to assert herself, whereas Beatrice, whose speech “might seem [like] a serious violation of Messina's conventions of gender” (Cook 7), is characterized by her witty and unconventional independence that ultimately delineates the sure separation between her and women of 16th Century Europe. Almost immediately, one can observe Beatrice's acerbic demeanor towards one of the main male characters, Signior Benedick. As the messenger is informing Beatrice...
In the play of `Much Ado About Nothing', Beatrice is portrayed as a witty and strong willed woman who talks a great deal, appearing determined not to marry. However, Don Pedro concocts a plot that brings her together with Benedick and they marry at the end.
Beatrice’s dialogue with Benedick in Much Ado about Nothing establishes her control over him, dissimilar to the discourse between Katherina and Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew. Beatrice’s first lines reveal much about her attraction to Benedick. “I pray you, is Signor Moun...
The Elizabethan society in which Shakespeare lived during his life held a misogynistic ideology in high esteem. ‘Much Ado about Nothing’ was written in 1598-9, during a time when women were second class citizens compared to males and were considered to be inferior to males in every way. As soon as she was born, a female was her father's property until she was married off by her family when she then became her husband's property. A woman was expected to be seen and not heard, she was to be chaste and submissive. Women were uneducated and undervalued, they were not their own person.
Feminist critics of Much Ado About Nothing, like Sylvia Townsend Warner, praise Beatrice for being "free and uninhibited" ("Women as Writers," Warner, 272). Beatrice is a strong female character who marries only after asserting her disapproval for the traditionally voiceless role of women in marriage and courtship relationships of the 16th and 17th c. Beatrice is a fearless verbal warrior, and Benedick is her greatest challenger. Their verbal bantering allow for each of their strengths and opinions to show, and together they glory in the challenge of their next duel.
Even though love and marriage was a major ideal in Shakespearean England, we can get views from Much Ado about Nothing which oppose this idea. From the two main ‘couples’ in this play we can understand their different views on commitment throughout and because of this we as readers and viewers can learn about each relationship separately and watch the thoughts and ideas change throughout the play.
...o asks Hero about Claudio she responds with: "So you walk softly, and look sweetly, and say nothing, I am yours for the walk, and especially when I walk away." (2.1.81-83). Beatrice is what a woman should be. A more modern view of feminism would have had Beatrice not only make her own decisions but follow through with them on her own. While Much Ado About Nothing seemingly questions the traditional gender roles of men and women in Messina through Beatrice's resistance to them, at the same time, the play decidedly ends Benedick saying, "Peace! I will stop your mouth" (5.4.96), silencing Beatrice with a kiss. Still, it cannot be denied that Beatrice, for a time, equates herself with men and the power they hold. Unfortunately, she gives in to love and in so doing, she relinquishes her independence and self-control in the male-dominated world of Much Ado About Nothing.