D. Preciado 1 Dianne Preciado Mr. St.

Amant English 12 16 September, 2011 Benedick Soliloquy In the play Much Ado about Nothing, Benedick a young returning soldier undergoes significant changes. Benedick has always sworn he will never fall in love or marry simply by choice and his pride. When his good friend Claudio falls in love with a character named Hero, Benedick begins to criticize how foolish Claudio has become. However, after examining two soliloquies by Benedick, it is obvious he transitions from a soldier to a well-hearted man. Despite Benedicks new ideas being ironic, it is also ironic how much in common Beatrice shares with Benedick. Throughout the soliloquies we see love and change, all of which contribute to the wonderful drama Shakespeare creates in the play. In the first soliloquy, Benedick is alone in an orchard criticizing how foolish Claudio has become for falling in love with Hero. Bendick criticizes everything Claudio does by claiming that Claudio now worries about fashion now he will lie ten nights awake carving the fashion of a new doublet (2.3.11-12). In the soliloquy there also many metaphors that emphasizes what Benedick is referring to, for example when he says that love will make him a fool, but love may transform me to an oyster (2.3.18). It is ironic however that Benedick speaks with certainty being that the soliloquy is a foreshadow of his own love life. Although Benedick doubtfully says he will never fall in love, it appears he is open to love when he uses repetition to describe that one woman needs to be perfect in order for him to accept love, But till all graces be in one woman, one woman shall not come in my grace (2.3.22-23). Ironically enough, Beatrice sounds

D. Preciado 2 like a good candidate for Benedicks ideal woman, making this soliloquy evolve form certainty to doubt for Benedick. The second Soliloquy in Shakespeare play is the foreshadow transformed to real life. After overhearing Don Pedro, Claudio and Leonato about how Beatrice is in love with Benedick, he quickly feels a rush of love for Beatrice. Although he believes This can be no trick (2.3.1), in actuality it is which makes this a dramatic irony. Benedick quickly changes from his old views to a man who will devotedly love Beatrice and become what he wanted to avoid by using any oxymoron, ...for I will horribly in love with her (2.3.15-16). Ironically enough his description of an ideal woman is Beatrice, they say the lady is fair tis a truthand virtuous I cannot reprove it (11-12). After contemplating with his decision, he concludes that a person is allowed to change their mind by using a metaphor, a man loves the meat in his youth that he cannot endure in his age (2.3.19-20). The theme in this soliloquy is once again love and change because of Benedicks spontaneous love for Beatrice. Although Benedick went through a significant change, he still remains the devoted man who possibly always loved Beatrice. In the soliloquies metaphors and similes were used to emphasize Benedicks ideas and making it more entertaining. Irony and foreshadow also contributed because of Benedicks rapid transition from one man to another. In the end Benedick learned to accept love and accept his inevitable change. Benedick is part of the drama that Shakespeare creates with love as the main focus.