Much Ado About Nothing

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   jamie-wheeler Teacher
   College - Sophomore

   Beatrice loathes men in 1.1, especially the Benedick. For example, in lines 29-30, she resolutely declares, " I would rather hear my dog bark at a crow/than a man say he loves me."

   In 2.1, her attitude has not altered. Pressed by Leonato about marriage, Beatrice disdainfully replies,

   "What should I do with him? dress him in my apparel
   and make him my waiting-gentlewoman? He that hath a
   beard is more than a youth, and he that hath no
   beard is less than a man: and he that is more than
   a youth is not for me, and he that is less than a
   man, I am not for him: therefore, I will even take
   sixpence in earnest of the bear-ward, and lead his
   apes into hell" (2.1.36-41)

   This last sentence shows just how deep her dislike runs. Proverbially, women who are unmarried in life are punished in the afterlife. (The actual proverb reads: "Those who die maids do lead apes in hell.") She also says she'd rather pay make a bargain with the man who keeps performing bears (a bearherd) than be a wife.

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   Posted by jamie-wheeler on Thursday May 10, 2007 at 11:27 AM
   
   

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