Literature Study Answers
Introduction
- The play was written prior to the summer of 1600 and then is estimated to be written in 1598. At this time Shakespeare was busy at work with an array of several plays including ‘As you like’, ‘Henry V’, Ben Johnson’s ‘Every Man in his humour’ and ‘Much Ado About Nothing.’ The other three romantic comedies associated with this play are ‘The Faerie Queene Book II,’ ‘Cantio iv’ and ‘Matteo Bandello.’
- The three basic plot lines of the play are Claudio and Hero where they have a problem of scandal causing their relationship to go haywire but by the end of the play the scandal is solved and the love between them grows back and they get back together, the second plot is Beatrice and Benedick’s love battles in which these lovers even though at first they are both against love at the end of the play the perception of love changes as they are tricked into loving each other and the third plot is Dogberry being a ‘amateur police man’ with his friends and watchmen through their simplicity solve the scandal in the play allowing it to have a happy ending.
- An example of “battling lovers” from our popular culture is Hannah Howell’s book Highland Knight in which the characters Avery and Cameron continuously flung insults at each other and denying love when in fact they truly loved one another.
- The relationship between Beatrice and Benedick differs from Claudio and Hero’s relationship because Benedick and Beatrice had to be tricked in order for them to notice they were in love where as hero and Claudio fell in love with no argument or any tricks being done in order for them to fall in love.
- The unusual form of language used in this romantic comedy is prose, the reason it is written like this because when character like Beatrice and Bendick try to speak like lovers they are very uncomfortable and they not wanting to conform to societal norms speak in the form of prose.
- The unusualness of Dogberry and his amateur police force accomplishments are they do not understand what they are doing in the fact that they solve crimes out of convince and stupidity not based on common sense.
- The importance of a tight knit society in the play is to make it possible for persons like Don John to take full advantage of the good nature and reputation of persons like Don Pedro and Claudio. In the case of Beatrice and Bendick due to the closeness in society they believe they know each other well enough so one cannot hide the truth from each other.
- According to David Stevenson (in the ‘introduction’ of the signet edition on page 1xviii the roles Beatrice and Benedick play in their small society are ‘Beatrice as shrew’ and ‘Benedick as misogynist’ which means a woman hater.
- The men in the play are obsessed with cuckoldry which is men being betrayed by their lovers who are women; according to folklore it revealed itself when a man ‘grows horns on his forehead, horns which were invisible to him but which everyone else in the community could see.’ Men of the upper class were especially vulnerable because their wives usually were expected to cheat with younger unmarried men. The title relates to this obsession because the scandal was perceived to be of Hero committing cuckoldry against Claudio when in fact she was framed. Act I Scene 1:
- The military situation at the beginning of the play was that of an ended war and thus the characters were no longer on their guard. In the reports of causalities of the war the social class which was focused on was the upper class as stated by the messenger when asked by Leonatio “how many gentlemen have you lost in the action?” to which he replied “but few of any sort and none of name” this shows that only the noble class was seen as a major loss to society. The connection between Don John and the war was the group of rebels that sought to dethrone his brother Don Pedro and put him as king failed.
- Three ways Beatrice insults Benedick although he is not present are “…he is no less than a stuffed man, but for the stuffing well we are all mortal”. By this statement she is saying he has no intelligence and cannot understand since he is not mortal. She also insults his courage when she states that “… will eat his killing” it is said to explain he wouldn’t kill anyone even if he tried. Further, Beatrice insults Benedick’s character by stating his friendship is like a disease especially in her statement “O Lord! He will hang on him like a disease he is sooner caught than the pestilence and the taker runs presently mad. God help the noble Claudio! If he had caught the Benedick it will cost him a thousand pound ere he be cured.”
- Two perspective ways Don Pedro shows closeness or royal favour for Leonatio are his greetings, and acknowledging his daughter Hero.
- Benedick’s first remarks of asking Leonatio if was in doubt of Hero being his daughter is inappropriate because he is basically charging Hero’s mother with cheating on Leonatio. Leonatio’s answer to Benedick makes him look like the kind of gentlemen to have affairs with married women causing then to be pregnant.
- Benedick insults Beatrice by calling her “Lady Disdain” however to his disappointed she embraces the fact she has such qualities towards him.
- The only thing Beatrice and Bendick agree upon in the opening scene is that love is not for them and this is contradicting their society in which love is seen as a symbol of great value while it holds no value to them.
16. The “jade’s trick” stated by Beatrice in line 40 was in accordance to Benedick’s speech where he states “I would my horse but had the speed of your tongue, and so good a continuer, but keep your way a’ God’s name, I have done”. In the speech he dismisses the heated argument by simply saying ‘I have done’ and moving off topic. Beatrice saying “you always end with a jade’s trick, I know you of old” is actually implying that he knew of him before and that he has used this method of getting out of an argument without ‘losing face’ prior to this occasion.
17. I believe Claudio was younger than the other men because when he mentioned love he seemed to seek advice from the others as though he was not as experienced in that field or that he felt he wasn’t as wise or learned as Benedick or Don Pedro. Also, he seemed very trusting, naive and gullible in some instances because he was so quick to believe Don John when he accused Hero of infidelity and impurity.
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18. The most important reason for Benedick’s decision not to marry is because of his views. It is evident in this extract of Benedick’s discourse with Claudio from (I:I:28) “...In faith hath not the world one man but he will wear his cap with suspicion...”. In this dialogue, his true perception comes out; he is basically saying, in Standard English, that a man has to always be suspicious of a woman for she is only going to cheat on him. He believes that marriage makes no sense for it only brings to light the person’s negatives.
19. In a Shakespearean play a character’s declaration significant when he says he will “never” do something because back in those times a man was always true to his word, it showed a sense of credibility and reliability on his part. It was always perceived that an honest man is always the man with the highest honour and position in the Elizabethan Era. However, in Shakespeare’s plays irony usually plays a huge role in the play development.Therefore, from the beginning foreshadowing took place. The reader was thus, able to determine that Benedick was going to fall in love prior to it actually happening because of the history of the other plays by Shakespeare
20. When Benedick leaves the language and overall mood changes from that of anger to that of romance. When Benedick leaves Claudio and Don Pedro talk of love with love iambic pentameters as if what they are saying is poetry as opposed to the arguments against love and the one line sort of detracted verse of love when Benedick is around. The language seems more romantic and free. This is because of Benedick’s obvious views of the hatred of marriage, love and anything of romantic origin.
21. The question Claudio asks Don Pedro about Hero and Leonatio was “hath Leonatio any son my Lord?” and upon Don Pedro answering no and Hero the heir to Leonatio’s riches shows that during the Elizabethan era men marrying women with status and money gave their noble family higher privileges due to both families wealth being combined.
21. The question Claudio asks Don Pedro about Hero and Leonatio was “hath Leonatio any son my Lord?” and upon Don Pedro answering no and Hero the heir to Leonatio’s riches shows that during the Elizabethan era men marrying women with status and money gave their noble family higher privileges due to both families wealth being combined.
22. Don Pedro offers to win Hero’s love for Claudio because Don Pedro is like a father-figure to Claudio, as it appears. It seems that because of the significant age difference between then that Don Pedro has taken Claudio under his wing and seeks to hep him out through his trials and tribulations like a father would do. Don Pedro seems like a democratic and father-like figure in terms of his position and authority as a Prince. However, Claudio is portrayed as dependent upon the guidance of Don Pedro and seems a little weak to stand on his own.
Act I, Scene 2:
23. Leonato gets the wrong impression of Don Pedro’s intentions towards Hero because he himself received the message through hear-say. His messenger was eavesdropping or ‘over-heard’ Don Pedro and Claudio’s conversation and misinterpreted the fact that Claudio was the one who had his sights set on Hero and not Don Pedro.
Act I, Scene 3:
24. ‘Melancholia’, according to Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopaedia is a mood disorder of non-specific depression, characterized by low levels of both enthusiasm and eagerness for activity. Don John is said to be melancholic because he is very quiet and seems to be introverted and to himself at all times. Furthermore, he never seems to smile or show any expressions of joy on his face.
25. Don John shows hostility within the confines of his own room within the palace which seems like the cellar, also in the background of the ball only seeming to show his face once to execute his villainous plan of implementing ill-will into the mind of Claudio. He is usually in the background or hidden because he wants to keep his villainous-intent and ill-will secretive so he makes his presence as hidden as it could be so as not to disclose any type of treasonous behaviour to the main characters of the play.
26. According to Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopaedia, Borachio is similar to the Spanish word "Borracho," which means "drunk." Borachio is a type of beer bottle. He misheard Pedro’s intentions for Hero because he was eavesdropping and heard Claudio declaring his love for Hero and probably thought it was Don Pedro or with reference to his name and the significance of it thereof, he was drunk and mistook the happenings because of the condition he was in at the time.
Act II, Scene I
27. According to the lecture, Beatrice is living with her uncle because her parents have passed. Leonato kindly takes her in as his own, in accordance to this.
She ‘proves’ that she will never love a man when she states ‘Not till God make men of some other metal than earth’.
Beatrice seems to oppose marriage simply because they sin which was implied by her statement ‘No, uncle, I’ll none. Adam’s sons are my brethren, and truly I hold it a sin to match in my kindred.’ And she seems to be of the belief that marriage makes one die faster because of the constant stress of it. Whereas, Benedick opposes marriage simply because he finds there is no match for him, no woman that is perfect in his eyes.
28. “‘lead’ in Elizabethan English means to have sexual intercourse. The proverb means that women who take no part in the sexual activity of society for whatever reason will be punished by being served by apes in hell. This is not a punishment for chastity (a faithful spouse is chaste) but for failing to spread joy in the world by healthy activity” according to ephemera-society.org.uk.
29. ‘Conceit’ in Shakespeare’s work is, according to Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopaedia, an elaborate comparison between two very different things. In this particular case, Beatrice uses a ‘conceit’ to describe the process of wooing - ‘wooing, wedding, and repenting is as a Scotch jig, a measure, and a cinquepace.’
30. Leonato and Antonio want Hero to accept the Prince’s proposal to wed her if he were to do so the night of the dance. However, Beatrice, on the other hand, wants Hero to only accept if she personally wants to marry him.
31. The gentlemen wore masks at the dance because they wanted to be able to flirt freely without people judging their behaviour based on their status or societal role which would ‘ruin their reputation’.
32. Don Pedro tries to impress Hero when they dance by flirtatiously replying to Hero’s prior statement that ‘My visor is Philemon’s roof; within the house is Jove’. However, Hero replies unaffected by his seductive words ‘Well, then, since Philemon’s roof was thatched with straw, your mask should have a beard.’
33. Ursula realizes her partner is Antonio by the way he ‘waggles’ his head. She tries to make him feel better by saying ‘Come, come, do you think I do not know you by your excellent wit? Can virtue hide itself? Go to, mum, you are he. Graces will appear, and there’s an end.’
34. The interchange between Benedick and Beatrice seems to differ from that of the other couples because they are both vile and vicious in their language although unknowing of who they are talking to and seem to insult each other unlike the other couples whom compliment one another.
Benedick insults her first, by saying that she was ‘disdainful’ and that she had her good wit out of ‘The Hundred Merry Tales’. To call a lady ‘disdainful’ was not only insulting but demeaning their value and personal standard. Furthermore, Beatrice felt herself to be very witty and smart, so when Benedick compared her wit to that out of ‘The Hundred Merry Tales’ it hurt her privately.
Beatrice insults him by saying ‘Why, he is the Prince’s jester, a very dull fool, only his gift is in devising impossible slanders. None but libertines delight in him, and the commendation is not in his wit but in his villainy, for he both pleases men and angers them, and then they laugh at him and beat him. I am sure he is in the fleet. I would he had boarded me.’ She continues ‘Do, do. He’ll but break a comparison or two on me, which, peradventure not marked or not laughed at, strikes him into melancholy, and then there’s a partridge wing saved, for the fool will eat no supper that night.’
It seems that Beatrice’s insult comparing Benedick to a jester is the one that hurt Benedick the most because Benedick always saw his insults as intellectual responses to hers and when she compared it to that of a jester, it was mocking his wit.
35. At the party Claudio pretends to be Benedick when approached by Don John because Borachio caught on to Claudio’s disguise when he says ‘And that is Claudio. I know him by his bearing.’ And Claudio in an attempt not to be found out said that he was Benedick instead. It was not a necessary deception however, Claudio wanted to find out what was being said about him. Claudio believes that Don Pedro is trying to seduce Hero for himself instead of carrying out the prior arrangement. Benedick thinks that Hero had fallen in love with Don Pedro. The significance of the willow in Benedick’s discourse with Claudio is that it symbolizes unrequited love.
36. A hyperbole, according to Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopaedia, are exaggerations to create emphasis or effect. Benedick uses it to strengthen his argument that the Prince has wronged Claudio by stealing the heart and affection of Hero. Two of Benedick’s best ones are ‘Why, that’s spoken like an honest drover; so they sell’ and ‘Ho, now you strike like the blind man. 'Twas the boy that stole your meat, and you’ll beat the post. bullocks.’
37. Benedick’s reference to ‘turn spit’ and chop his club is that she would humiliate him by making him do housework and force him to chop his club to make firewood.
38. Benedick offers to go on a journey. He says ‘I will go on the slightest errand now to the Antipodes that you can devise to send me on. I will fetch you a toothpicker now from the furthest inch of Asia, bring you the length of Prester John’s foot, fetch you a hair off the great Cham’s beard, do you any embassage to the Pygmies.’ They seek to make Benedick have to neither converse with Beatrice nor make him have to see her face after she so wrongfully humiliated him with her insults.
39. Beatrice reveals that she had once loved Benedick but she seemed to be more interested in the relationship than him. The reference by Don Pedro to being ‘put down’ is that she had humiliated him, but the reference by Beatrice of such is a sexual reference to be put to bed aand she continues with the insult saying if she were to have children with him, she would give birth to fools.
40. Don Pedro appears to propose to Beatrice because of his words ‘Will you have me?’ seemingly very direct and to-the-point. It may be serious because he had seemed to take a liking to Beatrice prior to saying that. It may be in jest, on the other hand, because of his directness although knowing Beatrice’s vies on love and marriage. She treats the proposal as a jest. The connection between Pedro’s proposal and his planned deception of Beatrice and Benedick was to see her criteria for a husband.
Act II, Scene 2:
41. We know that Don John and Borachio are aware of the consequences of their planned deception because firstly, the setting in which they talk of their treachery is always closed off from the outside world. Furthermore, they only involve themselves in the act because they know if they were to include an outsider he/she would probably tell others or act suspiciously. Also, when telling Don Pedro and Claudio they make sure no one else is around.
Act II, Scene 3:
42. Benedick believes love has changed Claudio’s behaviour by saying 1. I have known when there was no music with him but the drum and the fife, and now had he rather hear the tabor and the pipe. 2. I have known when he would have walked ten mile afoot to see good armour, and now will he lie ten nights awake carving the fashion of a new doublet. 3. He was wont to speak plain and to the purpose, like an honest man and a soldier, and now is he turned orthography; his words are a very fantastical banquet, just so many strange dishes.
43. The eight ‘graces’ which Benedick believes a hypothetical woman should have before he would consider marrying her are 1.Fair, 2.Wise, 3.Virtuous, 4.Rich, 5.Mild, 6.Noble, 7.Of good discourse and 8.excellect musician. He is flexible on the lady’s hair colour.
44. Benedick hides when Don Pedro, Claudio and Leonato come in to talk because he wants to prove the extent to which Claudio has fallen in love and forgotten about his own behaviour prior to falling in love with Hero.
45. The element of the ‘gulling scene’ which convinces Benedick that this is no trick is the very presence of Leonato. He believes that Leonato would have no reason to lie about it because he has no close ties to Benedick whatsoever and has a close relationship with Beatrice, her uncle. Beatrice’s possible suicide makes Benedick speculate once again on his perception of love and change it.
46. Three different ways that Benedick’s friends question his personal character are by:
1. Accusing him of being scornful
2. Claudio postulates that Beatrice must ‘wear out’ her passion rather than take the risk of being emotionally damaged by Benedick’s cruelty.
3. Accusing Benedick of taking pleasure in other people’s melancholy situations.
47. ‘Die’ in Shakespeare’s plays often means ‘reaching a sexual climax’.
48. Benedick suddenly has a change of heart: He now looks at Beatrice with a sensitive and caring eye instead of the scornful and disapproving look he used to give. He also, now seems to have changed his views on love from something that was just not tolerable to something that he wouldn’t mind doing.
49. Beatrice posits ‘Against my will I am sent to bid you come in to dinner…’ Yes, just so much as you may take upon a knife’s point, and choke a daw withal: You have no stomach, signior, Fare you well.’ By the comments along those lines it is seen that Beatrice is highly annoyed at the fact she is the one to call Benedick in for dinner after she notices that he does not respond in the manner he normally does she uses the last statement to say he is not responding to her insults as usual so he is basically wasting her time.
