Much Ado About Nothing - Act III, scene 2
1st part of the scene: l. 1-58
Characters: Don Pedro, Claudio, Benedick, Leonato
Summary: Don Pedro and Claudio’s merry teasing of Benedick having been transformed by
love.
Don Pedro and Claudio’s merry teasing:
Don Pedro and Pedro, with the occasional comment from Leonato, are trying to get
Benedick to admit that he is in love, hinting that they know who he is in love with. Don Pedro,
Benedick and Claudio’s playful friendship is shown in this scene by the rapid exchanges
between them, as they are able to quickly bounce off each other’s short lines: this is called
stichomythia, a dramatic device often used to increase comedic effect.
→ Don Pedro - “Draw it.”
Benedick - “Hang it.”
Claudio - “You must hang it first, and draw it afterwards.”
There are a lot of Cupid-related language and imagery throughout the play, as an
ongoing metaphor for love, or a personification of love. It could also represent the
concept of sexual desire or erotic love, not called by its own name but by the name of
something else - Cupid - associated in meaning with it.
→ Don Pedro - “(...) he hath twice or thrice cut Cupid’s bow-string, and the
little hangman dare not shoot at him (...).”
Benedick’s change in appearance:
In Shakespeare’s day, in order to show that a character was in love, there were
certain conventional signs and costume devices the actor would wear so the audience
would understand he was in love. Benedick shows up here looking prettier than usual — it’s
a signal to the audience that he’s been changed by love.
Benedick’s sudden change in appearance goes along with the idea of love as
masquerade: being in love results in a certain pose and attitude. The shaving of Benedick’s
beard symbolizes the beginning of his domestication by love (cf. Act III, sc 1: Beatrice
agreeing to let Benedick “[Tame] my wild heart to thy loving hand”). And we remember that
Beatrice does not like men with beards (cf. Act II, sc 1: though she does not like men without
beards either…?).
→ Claudio - “(...) a brushes his hat a-mornings, what should that bode?”
→ Leonato - “Indeed he looks younger than he did, by the loss of a beard.”
→ Don Pedro - “Nay, a rubs himself with civet, can you smell him out by
that?”
→ Don Pedro - “And when was he wont to wash his face?”
Benedick’s newly subdued attitude:
, Claudio’s comparison of Benedick to a lute continues the play’s extended metaphor
connecting love to music. Here, it suggests that Benedick, like an instrument, is being
played on by his passion, without having any say in it.
→ Claudio - “Nay but his jesting spirit, which is now crept into a lute-string, and now
governed by stops”
Benedick seems about to admit he is indeed in love, but then changes his mind. This
constitutes a very comic moment in the scene. The audience expects him to say one certain
thing, and he actually says something different and totally absurd.
→ Benedick - “Gallants, I am not as I have been.”
(...)
Benedick - “I have the tooth-ache.”
Benedick’s excuse is that he has a toothache: this is the perfect invitation for
mockery and derision. This goes back to the Elizabethan image of love as a sickness.
Moreover, this seems to be Benedick’s first time being in love. And, like so many lovers
before him, he’s convinced it’s a unique feeling than no one else has ever felt.
→ Benedick - “I have the tooth-ache.”
→ Benedick - “Well, everyone can master a grief but he that has it.”
Benedick has been transformed by love. He does not deny their charge, but finally
asks Leonato if he could have a word with him in private. Though he’s certainly the wittiest in
his group of friends, and can usually handle as much heckling as he dishes out, he now
slinks off with the gentle Leonato. Basically, in the initial stages of love, he’s become more
soft, dull, and serious. To an Elizabethan audience, it is obvious that Benedick is going to
ask Leonato for Beatrice’s hand in marriage. Don Pedro confirms this as they leave. This
goes back to Messina being a patriarchal society.
→ Benedick - “Yet is this no charm for the tooth-ache: old signor, walk
aside with me, I have studied eight or nine wise words to speak to you,
which these hobby-horses must not hear.”
→ Don Pedro - “For my life, to break with him about Beatrice.”
The woman Benedick loves/and who loves Benedick (= Beatrice):
Claudio and Don Pedro figure that if any woman loves Benedick, it’s only because
she doesn’t know him very well.
→ Don Pedro - “That would I know too, I warrant one that knows him not.”
There is an innuendo in Claudio and Don Pedro’s joke: the girl Benedick loves will
die for him, but she’ll die with her face upward. ("die" is an Elizabethan term for having an
orgasm).
→ Claudio - “Yes, and his ill conditions, and in despite of all, dies for him.”
Don Pedro - “She shall be buried with her face upwards.”
1st part of the scene: l. 1-58
Characters: Don Pedro, Claudio, Benedick, Leonato
Summary: Don Pedro and Claudio’s merry teasing of Benedick having been transformed by
love.
Don Pedro and Claudio’s merry teasing:
Don Pedro and Pedro, with the occasional comment from Leonato, are trying to get
Benedick to admit that he is in love, hinting that they know who he is in love with. Don Pedro,
Benedick and Claudio’s playful friendship is shown in this scene by the rapid exchanges
between them, as they are able to quickly bounce off each other’s short lines: this is called
stichomythia, a dramatic device often used to increase comedic effect.
→ Don Pedro - “Draw it.”
Benedick - “Hang it.”
Claudio - “You must hang it first, and draw it afterwards.”
There are a lot of Cupid-related language and imagery throughout the play, as an
ongoing metaphor for love, or a personification of love. It could also represent the
concept of sexual desire or erotic love, not called by its own name but by the name of
something else - Cupid - associated in meaning with it.
→ Don Pedro - “(...) he hath twice or thrice cut Cupid’s bow-string, and the
little hangman dare not shoot at him (...).”
Benedick’s change in appearance:
In Shakespeare’s day, in order to show that a character was in love, there were
certain conventional signs and costume devices the actor would wear so the audience
would understand he was in love. Benedick shows up here looking prettier than usual — it’s
a signal to the audience that he’s been changed by love.
Benedick’s sudden change in appearance goes along with the idea of love as
masquerade: being in love results in a certain pose and attitude. The shaving of Benedick’s
beard symbolizes the beginning of his domestication by love (cf. Act III, sc 1: Beatrice
agreeing to let Benedick “[Tame] my wild heart to thy loving hand”). And we remember that
Beatrice does not like men with beards (cf. Act II, sc 1: though she does not like men without
beards either…?).
→ Claudio - “(...) a brushes his hat a-mornings, what should that bode?”
→ Leonato - “Indeed he looks younger than he did, by the loss of a beard.”
→ Don Pedro - “Nay, a rubs himself with civet, can you smell him out by
that?”
→ Don Pedro - “And when was he wont to wash his face?”
Benedick’s newly subdued attitude:
, Claudio’s comparison of Benedick to a lute continues the play’s extended metaphor
connecting love to music. Here, it suggests that Benedick, like an instrument, is being
played on by his passion, without having any say in it.
→ Claudio - “Nay but his jesting spirit, which is now crept into a lute-string, and now
governed by stops”
Benedick seems about to admit he is indeed in love, but then changes his mind. This
constitutes a very comic moment in the scene. The audience expects him to say one certain
thing, and he actually says something different and totally absurd.
→ Benedick - “Gallants, I am not as I have been.”
(...)
Benedick - “I have the tooth-ache.”
Benedick’s excuse is that he has a toothache: this is the perfect invitation for
mockery and derision. This goes back to the Elizabethan image of love as a sickness.
Moreover, this seems to be Benedick’s first time being in love. And, like so many lovers
before him, he’s convinced it’s a unique feeling than no one else has ever felt.
→ Benedick - “I have the tooth-ache.”
→ Benedick - “Well, everyone can master a grief but he that has it.”
Benedick has been transformed by love. He does not deny their charge, but finally
asks Leonato if he could have a word with him in private. Though he’s certainly the wittiest in
his group of friends, and can usually handle as much heckling as he dishes out, he now
slinks off with the gentle Leonato. Basically, in the initial stages of love, he’s become more
soft, dull, and serious. To an Elizabethan audience, it is obvious that Benedick is going to
ask Leonato for Beatrice’s hand in marriage. Don Pedro confirms this as they leave. This
goes back to Messina being a patriarchal society.
→ Benedick - “Yet is this no charm for the tooth-ache: old signor, walk
aside with me, I have studied eight or nine wise words to speak to you,
which these hobby-horses must not hear.”
→ Don Pedro - “For my life, to break with him about Beatrice.”
The woman Benedick loves/and who loves Benedick (= Beatrice):
Claudio and Don Pedro figure that if any woman loves Benedick, it’s only because
she doesn’t know him very well.
→ Don Pedro - “That would I know too, I warrant one that knows him not.”
There is an innuendo in Claudio and Don Pedro’s joke: the girl Benedick loves will
die for him, but she’ll die with her face upward. ("die" is an Elizabethan term for having an
orgasm).
→ Claudio - “Yes, and his ill conditions, and in despite of all, dies for him.”
Don Pedro - “She shall be buried with her face upwards.”
