Chapter 6 of 24 · 3'01"
The masked revellers are about to arrive, and the talk at Leonato's turns to husbands. Beatrice will have none of it: bearded men are unbearable, and she would rather 'lie in the woollen' than marry one. Even her uncle's hopes meet a joke, since 'I can see a church by daylight.'
Beatrice Would Rather Not Marry
Beatrice's Joke About Bachelors in Heaven
Before the masked dance, Beatrice and the others trade jokes about what makes a husband. One man is deemed too silent, another too talkative, and Beatrice declares she could not stand a bearded husband. Leonato reminds Hero to obey her father, while Beatrice insists she will never be fitted with a husband.
Everyone is talking about marriage, and Beatrice is the one person determined not to. The scene opens with a description of a man stitched together from two others, as if a husband were simply a matter of correct ingredients — 'a good leg,' 'a good foot,' and 'money enough in his purse.' Beatrice answers in the opposite direction: a husband with a beard is unbearable, and she would rather 'lie in the woollen.' Her joke about the devil who sends maids away — 'Here's no place for you maids' — turns cleanness into comedy, and her picture of the bachelors sitting in heaven is a cheerful defence of the single life. When Leonato urges Hero to obey her father, Beatrice undercuts the whole business with a clever refusal to be fooled: 'I have a good eye, Uncle. I can see a church by daylight.' The wit keeps marriage at arm's length, but it also keeps it the only subject in the room.
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“He were an excellent man that were made in the midway between him and Benedick.”
It builds an ideal man out of two halves of real men, a joke sharp enough to set the whole scene's tone.
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“Thou wilt never get thee a husband if thou be so shrewd of thy tongue.”
One flat prediction from an elder: a sharp tongue will keep any husband away.
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“I could not endure a husband with a beard. I had rather lie in the woollen.”
She refuses a bearded husband by preferring rough blankets, a refusal delivered with dry self-mockery.
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“and there live we as merry as the day is long.”
An old simile turns her little heaven into a sing-song promise: happy for as long as the daylight lasts.
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“I have a good eye, Uncle. I can see a church by daylight.”
Praised for seeing through things, she answers with the plainest fact to turn the compliment back.
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Up next · 07wish someone joyThe scene: Don John Deceives ClaudioShe treats marriage and husbands as a joke throughout the scene, preferring comfort and freedom. Her banter protects her independence and keeps suitors at arm's length.
It is her way of ruling out every kind of suitor. A bearded man is too much the grown man, and a man without one is too little, so no husband will do.
He reminds her of what he has said before and tells her that if the prince makes her an offer, she will know how to answer.
The too-silent man and the ever-talking Benedick. She jokes that an ideal man would be stitched together from both of them.
It is a refusal to be fooled. When her uncle praises her sharp understanding, she answers that her eyes are good and she can see plainly what is going on.
