Tuesday, April 12, 2011

How does Benedick rationalize his change of heart regarding love and marriage in "Much Ado About Nothing"?

In Act II, scene 3, Benedick overhears Don Pedro, Leonato, and Claudio's staged discussion of Beatrice's love for him. He then admits his love for her, and rationalizes it this way:

"I may chance have some odd quirks and remnants of wit broken on me, because I have rail'd so long against marriage. But doth not the appetite alter? A man loves the meat in his youth that he cannot endure in his age. Shall quips and sentences and these paper bullets of the brain awe a man from the career of his humor? No, the world must be peopled. When I said I would die a bachelor, I did not think I should live till I were married."

This is one of the most comic scenes in the play because Benedick's attitude changes so quickly and so violently.

No comments:

Post a Comment

In Act III, scene 2, why may the establishment of Claudius's guilt be considered the crisis of the revenge plot?

The crisis of a drama usually proceeds and leads to the climax.  In Shakespeare's Hamlet , the proof that Claudius is guilty...