Much Ado About Nothing Character Review: Benedick

*The schedule for the Character Review posts will be changing to Friday (or Saturday the latest from now on).

*Warning: This post contains spoilers about the characters from the William Shakespeare play Much Ado About Nothing. Read at your own risk if you have not seen the movie. There is something to be said about a well-written, human character. They leap off the page and speak to us as if they were right in front of us, as flesh and blood human beings, instead of fictional creations. Love, as wonderful as it is, can be a bit scary. We want to put ourselves out there, but the fear of having our heart returned to us in pieces can sometimes lead us to lock ourselves away as a form of protection.

In Much Ado About Nothing, Benedick is man’s man. A respected warrior fighting under the flag of Don Pedro, he gets along well with his fellow soldiers. But there is one area in which his bravado is challenged: women. That challenge, to be more specific is in form of his sort of ex, Beatrice. When they meet again after some time apart, they are quick to play a verbal insult game of “top that”. This leads to Benedick advising young Claudio on a possible engagement to Hero, the daughter of their host, Leonato.

At the masked ball, he begs his boss to give him any job that will send him away. But Don Pedro has another idea. He, along with Leonato, Hero, and Claudio, will make Benedick and Beatrice believe that one is in love with the other. That seems to go well, until the marriage ceremony of Hero and Claudio does not go as planned. After everyone else has left, they declare their love for one another. But there is still one obstacle to their happiness: Beatrice declares that if he truly loves her, would kill the man who left her cousin defiled at the alter.

Benedick takes up this charge and the culprit, Don John is brought to justice. The story ends with two weddings, Beatrice and Benedick (who finally publicly declare their love for another another) and Hero and Claudio.

To sum it up: Benedick is a man who loves completely and is loyal to those who love him in return. But that gets complicated when it comes to romantic love and the woman who is his equal, Beatrice. Their mutual past and the internal bruises that have not yet healed hide the true feelings they have for one another, but their hearts are revealed to create a happy ending for all involved.

Which is why he is a memorable character.

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