Benedick Scorns Hero and Marriage, Explained：turn husband

What's really going on

Benedick is performing. His attack on Hero is funny and overdone on purpose—"too low for a high praise, too brown for a fair praise, and too little for a great praise"—and everyone can hear the routine. He praises Beatrice even while complaining about her temper, which tells you where his attention really is. When Don Pedro exposes Claudio's love, Benedick moves fast to separate himself from it: "You speak this to fetch me in," he protests, and then states his position outright, "I will live a bachelor." The comedy is that his speeches defending bachelorhood are more passionate than anything the lovers say. Don Pedro's jab—that Benedick is an "obstinate heretic" against beauty—sets up the play's joke: the man loudest against love is the one the plot will catch first.

Theme

このチャプターで学べること

• The strongest confession sneaks out while he denies love.
• Benedick praises by insulting and confesses by accident.
• Seasonal imagery gives a beauty gap its scale.

発音のポイント

• have me speak — Have and me weaken and almost merge in fast speech.
• the sweetest lady — Stress sweetest to carry the weight of the superlative.
• first of May — Link first of May and reduce of to a schwa.