Analysis of Benedick’s Soliloquy (Act 2, Scene 3).
The character of Benedick is established from his entrance in the first scene as
a male chauvinistic joker. In this soliloquy, Benedick rants about the folly of love and
how he will never be made a fool. Benedick’s ire is the result of his friend, Claudio,
having fallen in love and gotten engaged to Hero. He had always assumed that
Claudio felt the same way about love as he did and seems to feel betrayed by his
“desertion.”
Benedick sets up a list of comparisons between Claudio before he fell in love
and the changes he now perceives in him; he and Claudio have recently returned from
a war and Benedick’s descriptions are filled with military references. The first
description contrasts “the drum and the fife” with “the tabor and the pipe,” a reference
to Claudio’s change of personality from a serious disposition to a merrier, lighthearted nature; the change from the measured, marching beat to the exuberance of
festival music. Benedick portrays this “new” Claudio as a fashion victim:
“I have known when he would have walked ten miles afoot, to see a good
armour, and now will he lie ten nights awake carving the fashion of a new
doublet”
In his life as a soldier, he was dedicated to practical considerations, but now he
worries endlessly over his appearance in an effort to attract Hero. Benedick continues
to add that Claudio’s speech has grown as elaborate as his dress; the imagery of the
phrase “his words a very fantastical banquet” creates the impression that Benedick is
overwhelmed by his language, as a diner might be when presented with a laden table.
Also, “just so many strange dishes,” is an image that suggests Benedick fails to
understand Claudio’s feeling, that the concept is alien to him or it could further imply
just how at odds this new behaviour is to Claudio’s usual character.
Claudio is supposed to be Benedick’s friend, but Benedick seems to have little
respect for him. This is illustrated by his failure to refer to him by his name and
instead dubbing him with the incongruous nickname: “Monsieur Love” in the final
line of his soliloquy. This mockery does not take place openly, perhaps because he is
aware that Claudio, as a count, out ranks him.
Benedick also utilises imagery when describing his own attitude to love;
“love may transform me to an oyster.”
“Oyster” may be a reference to the typical image of lovers as moody and
silent, a possible link to the modern English phrase “clam up.” Oysters also have
sexual connotations as they are famed to act as an aphrodisiac. The image, however, is
highly incongruous and typical of Benedick’s wit and deprecation of views he does
not share. Another example of this is his reaction to Claudio’s first confession of his
love for Hero:
“That I neither feel how she should be loved, nor know how she should be
worthy, is the opinion that fire cannot melt out of me: I will die in it at the
stake.”
Act 1, Scene 1, lines 171-3
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Benedick seems to draw a parallel between love and illness, likening love to a
disease. He lists the typically desired characteristics of women: beauty, intelligence
and virtue, but only attributes one trait to each figurative woman. Each description is
followed by the statement, “yet I am well,” meaning he is unmoved; he is not in love;
he is immune.
After he has so eloquently expressed his distaste for love up until this point, it
seems rather strange that, at line 22, Benedick begins to describe his perfect woman.
His idea of perfection is a kind of defence mechanism, measuring all women by an
impossible ideal: “till all graces be in one woman, one woman shall not come in my
grace.” “One woman” could imply that Benedick does enjoy brief liaisons with many
women, but he is not prepared to devote his life to one. This is supported by earlier
hint of Benedick’s character, for example in the first scene he jokes that Leonato is
unsure of Hero’s paternity, to which he replies:
“Signor Benedick, no, for then you were a child.”
Act 1, Scene 1, line 80
His list of qualities that his perfect woman would possess is chauvinistic in the
extreme; the order in which he names them signifies their importance. The first he
mentions is her wealth: “rich she shall be, that’s certain,” making him appear shallow,
though perhaps not to an Elizabethan audience. Other qualities include wisdom, virtue
(virginity), beauty, a good-nature, nobility (titled) and talent. He seems to consider it a
generous concession to add: “and her hair shall be of what colour it please God.” The
irony is that is moments later Benedick, tricked by Don Pedro, Leonato and Claudio,
is vowing to woo Beatrice, who falls somewhat short of some of his stipulations,
when her hears of her supposed affection.
The characters of Benedick and Beatrice are intellectual equals, though neither
of them would admit it. It is this tempestuous nature of their relationship that provides
most of the comedy in the play:
“And they are not merely witty lovers, they are lovers who are wits.”
From “Shakespeare and the Traditions of Comedy”
- Leo Salingar, page 244
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Bibliography:
Shakespeare, William
-
Much Ado About Nothing
Cambridge University Press, 1988
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Salingar, Leo
-
Shakespeare and the Traditions of Comedy
Cambridge University Press, 1974
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