The Love of Deceptive Comedy

In Much Ado About Nothing one of the most interesting characters is Benedick. He is an enigma in this play because he spends most of his time putting love and marriage down. However, once he thinks Beatrice likes him, he eagerly jumps at the opportunity of love. Beatrice and Benedick cover up their emotions for a large part of the story through sarcasm and constant bickering.

One example of this is when they first reunite in the first scene of the first act. When Benedick calls Beatrice “ a rare parrot teacher,” she immediately comes back with a snappy “a bird of my tongue is better than a beast of yours” (136-8). This seemingly hostile and aggressive relationship was thrown for a loop when their friends decided to make them fall in love. Though they were a little curious, they were both quick to believe that the other loved them. And when they did come to this realization, they were joyous (as seen in the movie). The short amount of time it took for them to fall in love hints to the presence of sexual tension and possibly a previous relationship.

Benedick is also in a way hypocritical and possibly jealous of Claudio because he fell in love. Benedick swore to be a bachelor forever and made fun of Claudio for not having the same aspirations. However, when Benedick fell in love, he had no second thoughts about leaving his future as a bachelor. His hypocrisy was a form of negativity from his clear lack of success in his past love life. Benedick is a foil to Claudio because of their differing views on love.

A character I find Benedick to be very similar to is Katherine from The Taming of the Shrew. Neither of them think they can nor do they want to fall in love with someone. The commitment and love that these characters simply do not show for relationships explains Shakespeare’s view of a comedy. Mostly including hypocrisy, confusion, sarcasm, trickery, and of course, love (340).