Benedick’s Soliloquy Analysis- Much Ado About Nothing

Benedick’s Soliloquy Analysis In the play of Much Ado About Nothing, the characters of Benedick and Beatrice have a love-hate relationship. On the surface, it appears that their relationship is built on a war of wits and insults. However, in Benedick’s soliloquy, the reader discovers that at the core of their insults actually lie the true feelings of love. It is also apparent that Benedick even sees loving each other as a competition, in that he wants to love her to a point of outdoing her love for him. Not only is Benedick constantly warring with Beatrice, but he is also undergoing an internal struggle, which is made quite apparent in Benedick’s soliloquy in Act 2 Scene 3. Benedick, after overhearing Don Pedro, Claudio, and Leonato converse about Beatrice’s fictional love for him, speaks alone on the stage. He considers this news and scrutinizes Beatrice’s virtues. He comes to the simple and quick conclusion that the love “must be requited” (II.iii.213-214). He speaks of Beatrice as “fair”, “virtuous”, and “wise”, which confirms that he has always been in love with her, but had never wanted to admit it to himself (II.iii.219-221). He had never spoken of Beatrice in this manner before, but had affirmed in his previous soliloquy that all three of those attributes are important for wife to possess. This is very ironic because Benedick has sworn up until this point in the play that he shall never marry and that he hates women. Beatrice and Benedick’s relationship has always been based on a competition. They were constantly in a war of wits with each other, and they both like to have the upper hand at all times. In the soliloquy, Benedick exclaims that he “will be horribly in love with her” (II.iii.223). The use of word “horribly” is ridiculous, because he so quickly falls in love with Beatrice, after just simply discovering her love for him. He would like to have the upper hand in the competition of love by outshining her, and he attempts to do so when he