In the first act of Much Ado About Nothing, we are introduced to Beatrice, one of the main characters of the play, and she first strikes us as a feisty, cynical and sharp woman. She is cousins to Hero, daughter of Leonato, Governor of Messina, who incarnates better the quintessential woman of the Renaissance being chaste, naïve and rather reserved. In some respects, you can say that Hero acts as a “foil” to the character of Beatrice seeing as though her timid personality further accentuates her witty personality. In the beginning of the play, when the Messenger announces the arrival of Don Pedro and his men to Messina, Beatrice quickly jumps in and adds her two cents to the dialogue with a show of her signature wit saying, “I pray you, is Signor Montanto returned from the wars or no?” (Shakespeare 4). Her line is a joke about Benedick of Padua, a lord attending on Don Pedro, Prince of Aragon and continues in emphasizing her distaste in him:
O Lord, he will hang upon him like a disease! He is sooner caught than the pestilence, and the taker runs presently mad. God help the noble Claudio! If he have caught the Benedick, it will cost him a thousand pound ere a be cured. (Shakespeare 5-6)
It becomes obvious that the feelings of hatred are mutual between the two characters as they have a quick skirmish of wits when Benedick arrives into the scene, in which they mutually insult and belittle each other. This first act gives us proof that Beatrice is a modern woman of her time seeing as though her way with words and her independence from men show us a feminist and educated side of her, uncommon in this era.
In the second act, on her way to a masked ball, Beatrice resumes in saying that she refuses to get married because no man will ever be perfect and equal to her and notes that it would even be a “sin”:
Not till God make men of some other metal than earth. Would it not grieve a woman to be overmastered with a piece of valiant dust? to make an account of her life to a clod of wayward marl? No, uncle, I’ll none. Adam’s sons are my brethren, and truly I hold it a sin to match in my kindred. (Shakespeare 19)
Afterwards, at the ball, she is asked to dance by a masked individual who is Benedick but she does not know that. She insults him and tells him that only he thinks that he is witty but in fact, he is just a boring man, the prince’s jester and he is saddened by that remark. Don Pedro lets her know this, saying “Come, lady, come, you have lost the heart of Signor Benedick.” (Shakespeare 26). In response, she unveils a new layer to her story in saying, “Indeed my lord, he lent it me awhile, and I gave him use for it – a double heart for his single one.” (Shakespeare 26). This line insinuates that the two have a had a romantic history together. It tells us that she once loved Benedick but it appears he was dishonest about his feelings towards her. In some respects, we can say that Beatrice uses her humour and her insults to disguise her deeper emotions and allows a deeper understanding of why she builds walls around her heart. She then confesses to Don Pedro that she feels sunburned [unattractive], therefore will never get a husband and, in reply, he proposes to her. She denies because she is not worthy of him.
In the third act, Don Pedro, Leonato, Claudio, and Hero plot to make a match between the two sworn enemies. They will make Benedick and Beatrice believe that they are secretly madly in love with each other. She overhears Hero saying to Margaret:
My talk to thee must be, how Benedick
Is sick in love with Beatrice. Of this matter
Is little Cupid’s crafty arrow made,
That only wounds by hearsay. (Shakespeare 41)
Beatrice, perched behind a bower, replies, speaking to herself:
What fire is in mine ears? Can this be true?
Stand I for condemned for pride and scorn so much?
Contempt, farewell! and maiden pride, adieu!
No glory lives behind the back of such.
And, Benedick, love on, I will requite thee,
Taming my wild heart to thy loving hand.
If thou dost love, my kindness shall incite thee
To bind our loves up in a holy band,
For others say thou dost deserve, and I
Believe it better than reportingly. (Shakespeare 44-45)
This monologue reveals many changes in the character. First, when she says “What fire is in mine ears? Can this be true?” (Shakespeare 44). She is surprised that she can be loved and that makes her vulnerable. She is painfully aware of her pride and her contempt so this is contradicting the confident and powerful Beatrice that we meet in the beginning. She decides to tame herself and to change to allow herself to be loved by a man, to be married.