Notesale: Turn your study into money

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Starting with this speech, explore how Shakespeare presents how characters
change in the play
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Shakespeare uses prose to
show how Benedick’s change of heart towards love is less significant than
Beatrice’s, later on in the play, as she speaks in verse
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She would also be expected to be silent, obedient and chaste, as these
were the ideals for women at the time
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The contrasting use of language in Beatrice and Benedick’s speeches
highlights the arguments surrounding a woman’s place in society, at Shakespeare’s
time of writing and how power dynamics changed within married couples
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Shakespeare uses the metaphor of food to highlight how Benedick’s attitudes
towards love have changed, particularly in the line: “doth not the appetite alter? A
man loves the meat…”
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It also reinforces the idea that women were not expected to make witty banter
or intelligent conversation with their friends, unlike Leonato, Don Pedro and Claudio,
who are always exchanging quips
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This may suggest that Benedick has completely changed
personality since his “gulling”, suggesting a new-found (and almost animalistic)
attitude to love
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This theme of objectification is reflected later on in the play, when Claudio “slanders”
Heros with the line: “She is but the sign and semblance of her honour”
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This line
also highlights how quickly the opinions of people in this play can change - Claudio
was only recently describing Hero as an expensive “jewel” however now he is
brutally calling her a “wanton” (whore)
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This
shows how women were treated if they were found to be unchaste, but also
highlights the theme of appearance vs reality in the play, and how deception can
cloud people’s opinions of one another
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Shakespeare also uses a series of very long sentences in this extract, which would
suggest that Benedick’s revelation has even changed the way he speaks
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However, it is also ironic, as Benedick is the first one to criticise a
love-struck Claudio, saying that “his words are a very fantastical banquet”
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This would suggest that Benedick’s
thought process is entirely different to earlier on in the play, when he had the ability
to respond to such criticisms rapidly (and cleverly)
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Shakespeare uses multiple rhetorical questions in this extract, which also gives a
sense that Benedick is lost and looking for some sort of guidance
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Indeed, the use of questions such as: “Shall quips and sentences and these paper
bullets of the brain awe a man from the career of his humour?” make Benedick
sound desperate and gives a sense of his internal conflict
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This rant suggests that Benedick is so
changed that he cannot think clearly anymore, and so seeks approval from the
audience for his opinions
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