Notes to Help With “Much Ado” Coursework Essay
The following notes will help you understand what is required of you in order to
answer the question below. You can use this information to help you with the points
you make and the quotes you select. However, you must explain these quotes
effectively and write what these events and quotes show us about the character,
analysing how the characters change.
What Examiners Are Looking For:
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An overall understanding of the play, characters’ motivations, and the
dramatic/comic effects of their actions
An understanding of the dramatic/comic effects of the language they use
An understanding of the social context of the play (issues, ideas and themes)
Use of Point, Quote, Comment with your comments being developed and
explaining your points and quotes in relation to the question.
A style to your writing – interesting words, separated paragraphs, a range of
different sentences
“How do the characters of Benedick and Beatrice change by the end
of the play?”
There are 12 steps to a top-quality answer but you SHOULD NOT use subheadings in your response:
1) Introduction – you should skilfully outline your essay in this paragraph.
Say what you are going to write about and how you are going to do this.
2) The Context Of The Play –
Shakespeare’s play explored various issues and ideas. It was a comedy
and therefore it was designed to amuse. The language used by the more
comic characters was very fanciful and this mocked courtiers of the time
who tried to use ever-more elaborate language. This amused audiences at
the time it was written and performed. The play has tricks and deceptions
too which would also have been amusing for the audience to watch.
Another major theme is the idea of self-deception or self-delusion.
Beatrice and also Benedick are examples of this and we see this as they
change throughout the play. They are firmly against love and marriage at
the start of the play but comically end the play married to each other,
revealing more tender sides of their character. This choice in marriage for
Beatrice would be something uncommon in Shakespeare’s time as many
women had marriages that were arranged; such was the importance of
social status. This is another major theme of the play, and many people
are driven by honour and social code. Indeed, in the patriarchal society of
Shakespeare’s Messina, where men have power, the orphaned Beatrice, as
she has no father to constrain her like Hero, is able to be a strong female
character unlike Hero, and possibly one of the earliest examples of a
feminist icon!
3) We Are Introduced To Beatrice (and Signor Mantanto!)
At the start of the play, the messenger arrives with a letter for Leonato, the
governor of Messina. His niece, Beatrice Introduces Herself To The Audience
by involving herself confidently in questioning the Messenger. She is
interested in another character:
Quote: Beatrice: “Signior Mantanto….”
She continues to mock this character in his absence in as an audience we
learn of her apparent dislike for ‘Signor Mantanto’, later revealed to be
Benedick.
Quote: Beatrice: “A good soldier to a lady….”
: “ A stuffed man.”
We learn here more of Beatrice’s confidence and wit as she plays with the
messenger’s words.
Leonato then reveals to us and the other characters that there is a ‘merry
war betwixt the two of them’. Beatrice however, continues her verbal assault on
Benedick’s character.
Quote: Beatrice: “He will hang upon him like a disease”
4) The First Verbal Exchanges Between Beatrice and Benedick
Don Pedro and his soldiers arrive at Leonato’s house and we see, as an audience,
the first verbal exchanges between Beatrice and Benedick.
Quote: Beatrice: “Nobody marks you”.
Quote: Benedick: “What, my Lady Disdain…”
They mock each other with their verbal sparring which is highly amusing for the
audience and the other characters, demonstrating the wit of both Benedick and
Beatrice. Benedick finishes the exchange by not allowing her to say anything and
Beatrice quietly mutters:
Quote: Beatrice: “You always end with a jade’s trick. I know you of old.”
This let’s the audience know more about their prior relationship and may even
hint at how it ended.
5) We Are Shown More About Benedick and Beatrice’s characters
Don Pedro then announces that he and his comrades will stay for a month. As all
the characters leave the stage, only Benedick and Claudio remain. Benedick
reveals to Claudio, who by now is smitten with Leonato’s daughter Hero, that he
is not really interested in love or marriage. He seems to enjoy his reputation as a
bachelor and as we later see his true feelings.
Quote: Benedick: “I will live a bachelor.”
His cynical outlook on love is illustrated in this scene with Claudio. Beatrice then
shows us to be a character who is equally as stubborn as Benedick. When she is
discussing men and marriage, she shows us that she is trying to maintain a
reputation of being fussy and also somewhat aloof.
Quote: Beatrice: “He that hath a beard….”
As we see their true feelings later on in the play, we see these characters to be
quite self-delusional but more fortunately the other characters can see through
their facades.
6) At The Masked Party:
A masked Beatrice dances with a masked Benedick at the evening party.
Shakespeare’s use of masks is significant as it is like the two characters are
somewhat masking their true feelings with their cynical actions and words. We
learn that Beatrice knows that the man she is dancing with is Benedick and when
he shows his stubbornness to reveal his identity, she mentions his name to hook
his interest and sees an opportunity to gain revenge for her earlier verbal defeat.
Benedick: “What’s he?”
Beatrice: “Why, he is the Prince’s jester, a very dull fool….”
Benedick then realises that he is talking to Beatrice and complains to Don Pedro,
who has been busy trying to woo Hero for Claudio. Don Pedro is amused when
Bendick uses fanciful language and begs him to send him anywhere so that he
might be away from Beatrice, who he later describes as “My Lady Tongue,”
showing his frustration at not being able to respond as himself to her insulting
words.
Don Pedro then tell her ‘you’ve lost the heart of Signior Benedick’, which leads
Beatrice to offer more insight into her their prior relationship and hints at
possible regret that it ended:
Beatrice: “He lent in me awhile and I gave him use for it.”
Also, for the first time, here we see her possible repressed fragility and insecurity
as she starts to question who would want her as he offers to find her a husband.
Don Pedro offers to marry her, and rediscovering her wit which she seems to use
as a shield somewhat, she turns him down.
7) The Trick Played on Benedick
Cynical Benedick wants to avoid his comrade Claudio. He does this by hiding in
the arbour as he doesn’t want to be anywhere “Monsieur Love.” Here, he
illustrates his cynicism by referring to Claudio sarcastically. After Balthasar’s
song, the musician that entertains Don Pedro leaves and, noticing where
Benedick has hidden, Don Pedro, Claudio and Leonato speak, with raised voices
to ensure Benedick hears, about Beatrice’s love for him.
Quote: Don Pedro: What was it you told me of today, that your niece Beatrice,
was in love with Signior Benedick?”
Benedick listens intently, again showing his cynicism by being sceptical at first.
The other characters are clever though and he is convinced in two ways: firstly,
he is convinced that Leonato speaks the truth because of his reputation as an
honourable man, and also the tricksters mention that Hero, probably Beatrice’s
most trusted confidante, has told them of this.
Benedick is finally convinced but initially confused by this as she has shown no
signs of this love. This fades and we are shown his somewhat vain and arrogant
side as he poses in the mirror to the amusement of the other characters and the
audience.
Continuing his plan, Don Pedro then sends Beatrice to invite Benedick for dinner
– the first time he has seen her sincehe was convinced by her infatuation with
him. She, however, is still masking her emotions and shows him no signs that he
might feel this way:
Quote: Beatrice: “Against my will…..”
Benedick: “There’s a double meaning in that!”
He is certain of her attraction for him after this exchange, despite her showing
absolutely no clues, which is amusing for the audience.
8) The Trick Played On Beatrice
As Beatrice returns to the house, she overhears her cousin Hero and her
gentlewoman, Ursula talking. She hides and listens and the audience discover
that they are aware of her hiding. Mirroring the earlier trick on Benedick, talk
about Benedick’s love for Beatrice. Hero adds weight to the claims, by
mentioning that Don Pedro, a man who like Leonato, has an honourable
reputation and Claudio, he is Benedick’s best friend, told her. They also say that
Beatrice is proud and scornful and that they should tell Benedick not to say
anything as his love would remain unrequited, because Beatrice is incapable of
love. The two mischievous characters then run off, convinced that Beatrice has
taken the bait.
Quote: Beatrice: “And, Benedick, love on, I will requite thee.”
We see a change in Beatrice’s character now, as she openly reveals her thoughts
and feelings about Benedick to the audience. Beatrice also mentions marriage
and is far more enthusiastic about the idea of Benedick being her husband as the
audience watches on:
Quote: Beatrice: “To bind our love up in a holy bind.”
This moment shows a transformation in Beatrice’s character – develop this
further with your own comment.
9) The Wedding Scene and Aftermath of…..
In the dramatic wedding scene, we see the culmination of the play’s evil trick:
Don John’s manipulation of Claudio, using Borachio and an unwitting Margaret,
to convince the count of Hero’s unfaithfulness.
For Benedick and Beatrice though, it shows a further development in their
characaters. Beatrice is devastated and distraught at how her cousin Hero’s
reputation has been slandered and that Claudio ‘hath wronged her’. Once again
we see a slightly fragile side of the usually confident façade and Benedick,
instead of standing in support of his comrades Claudio an Don Pedro who
express their anger at Hero’s apparent dishonour by leaving the scene, tries to
stay and comfort Beatrice. In Act 4 Scene 1, we also see a more tender side of
Benedick thean we have previously seen as he tells Beatrice of his undying love
for her. She tests this by asking him to ‘Kill Claudio’ and avenge the honour of
her cousin. It is interesting to note how serious a crime destroying someone’s
reputation was considered – a death sentence!
As Benedick initially rejects the idea out of hand by saying “not for the wide
world”, she questions his love and devotion to her. Reluctantly, he agrees to
challenge Claudio, again underlining this open devotion to a woman who he
apparently could not stand earlier in the play.
10) Benedick’s Transformation
Benedick’s transformation as a character who has realised his true feelings of
love is highlighted by Shakespeare in an amusing scene in which he tries to pen a
love song to his beloved Beatrice. This vision of a romantic troubadour is a far
cry from the cynical, sarcastic, quick-worded jester which was introduced to us
earlier in the play. This proves highly amusing as he is unable to find rhymes for
his words and shows his musical ineptitude in a comic way:
Quote: Benedick: “I can find no rhyme to ‘Lady’ but ‘Baby’.”
Despite his new-found feelings, he blames his starsign for his lack of songwriting
skills which is again amusing for the audience:
Quote: Benedick: “I was not born under a rhyming planet”.
11) The Final Scene
The truth is revealed and Hero returns to marry Claudio, with her reputuation intact
because of the Friar’s plan. Benedick decides to tell the truth about his and Beatrice’s
feelings towards each other. After Claudio and Hero are reunited, Benedick steps out
and calls Beatrice to come and join him; he then asks her in front of everyone: “Do
not you love me?” she tells him: “No more then reason”, which is amusing for the
audience and the characters as she maintains her aloof façade.
He then tells of how he heard the Prince, Claudio and Leonato say that she did,
Beatrice then asks if he loves her, he too replied: “No more then reason”, which is an
example of him trying to maintain his reputation as a proud bachelor.
She then too reveals that she heard Hero's and Ursula's conversation. Both of them
deny love, but agree on friendship. Luckily Claudio and Hero have poems or songs
hand-written from each other. Their love is publicly revealed and admitted to and they
kiss each other. Amusingly the last line of the play, is spoken by Benedick, a once
proud bachelor, who at the beginning of the play, to uphold his reputation had been
very dismissive of love. In this last line he recommends marriage and the change in
their characters is complete.
12) Conclusion
In your conclusion, you will have to sum up how Benedick and Beatrice have
changed throughout the play; what they were like at the beginning, what they were
like at the end, and what made them feel like this.
You may also want to make reference to the fact that they were deceiving themselves
throughout the play and only by being deceived did they allow their true feelings to
show through the reputations they wanted to uphold.