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CHAPTER FOUR
THE MIDDLE COMEDIES (II)
Much Ado about Nothing, As You Like It
and
Twelfth Night
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- - - I - - -
The comedies dealt with so far in my analysis can be broadly divided into two groups, one containing those plays in which a tragic, or at least unhappy, outcome is presented as a possibility, and those in which such a conclusion is not even hinted at. The Taming of the Shrew, Love's Labour's Lost and The Merry Wives of Windsor belong in the second category, while The Comedy of Errors, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Merchant of Venice all show Shakespeare experimenting with something which fascinated him throughout his career, the blending of tragic and comic elements within the same play. This was not to 'thrust in the clown by head and shoulders to play a part in majestical matters', giving rise to the 'mongrel tragi-comedy' censured by Sidney; 4.1 rather, it grew through the dark comedies to blossom in the romances, where the dramatist's maturer vision of life enabled him to resolve highly discordant elements in a harmonious conclusion, without any incongruity between tragic and comic modes. In the sequence of comedies from The Comedy of Errors to The Merchant of Venice the weight of tragedy which a comedy is expected to bear reaches its peak in The Merchant of Venice, where the comic conclusion is not merely deferred, as it was in Love's Labour's Lost, but is seriously marred by the unsatisfactory resolution of the central conflict. This, however, was to set the tone for many of the comedies which followed: the immediate successor, Much Ado about Nothing, has a considerable weight of serious action to carry, and comes perilously close to following the example set by The Merchant of Venice with its superficially happy ending.
Perhaps it is because of this increasing attention to the serious in his comedies that Shakespeare also gives greater importance to his sub-plots as he matures: Bottom and the fairies provide comic relief to the lovers' quarrels, while Falstaff and Shylock are central figures in their plays, despite belonging strictly to the sub-plots. In the world of opera the prominence given to the sub-plots has been noted by librettists and profitably exploited: Verdi's Falstaff and Vaughan Williams' Sir John in Love make their principal concerns clear in their titles, while Britten's opera, A Midsummer Night's Dream, followed the lead offered by Mendelssohn's incidental music over a century earlier, in devoting to the fairies and mechanicals much attention, and, in my opinion, the best music. In Much Ado about Nothing as well, the sub-plot captures our
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imagination: it is well known that Charles I wrote 'Benedik and Betrice' as an alternative title to the play in his copy of the Second Folio, 4.2 while Berlioz in his opera Béatrice et Bénédict omitted the main plot concerning Claudio and Hero in its entirety - and with it Dogberry and Verges. As in the three comedies which immediately preceded it, the relationship between plot and sub-plot in Much Ado about Nothing is complex, and the emphasis given to the sub-plot is deliberate. A variety of sources and analogues has been proposed for the main plot, and Neill has conveniently divided them into two groups, 4.3 those following Ariosto's plot in Orlando Furioso, and those following Bandello's twenty-second Novella. Neill observes that the 'fundamental conflict of both plots is the cruel dilemma in which the hero is placed: shall he trust in his lady or shall he believe the ocular proof of her guilt?'. 4.4 This conflict receives little attention in Much Ado about Nothing, where Claudio seems unaware of its existence: Shakespeare intended to portray him as other than the ideal romantic lover found in Ariosto, although in the early part of the play he is, like his romantic predecessors, Proteus and Valentine, preoccupied with his beloved whom he sees as a paragon. Despite Claudio's unquestioning acceptance of 'ocular proof', other conflicts permeate every aspect of this play, and most of them are related to that fundamental Elizabethan paradox, the discrepancy between appearance and reality. In fact, it would not be wrong to say that this is a play about conflict, and its major interest lies in the way its characters react to the differences they create, discover and resolve among themselves.
That the central concern of the play is conflict becomes apparent in the opening scene, in which several contentious issues are introduced. The first is a recently concluded war, apparently brought to a happy end:
Leon.
How many Gentlemen haue you lost in this action?
Mess.
But few of any sort, and none of name.
Leon.
A victorie is twice it selfe, when the atchieuer brings home full numbers.
(I.i.5-8) 4.5
The offhand response by the Messenger to Leonato's question should not be construed as callous indifference to the fate of those who have died: rather, it is intended to persuade us that all is well, with the war successfully concluded. Leonato's joyful comment on the bringing home of 'full numbers' goes even further by ignoring death altogether, and leads us, and the company on the stage, to believe that Don Pedro is indeed victorious. As events turn out, however, his victory is one of
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appearance only. We are never told what was the cause of the conflict, but it transpires that Don Pedro has been fighting his brother, Don John:
Leon.
... let me bid you welcome, my Lord, being reconciled to the Prince your brother: I owe you all duetie.
Iohn.
I thanke you, I am not of many words, but I thanke you.
(I.i.143-147)
Don John's taciturn reply, particularly in this scene where so many happy people have been free with words, is the first indication of the smouldering resentment he feels towards those responsible for his losses in the war: it should leave the audience suspicious about his presence and motives among the festive characters introduced so far. Justification for such a response comes at the close of the first act, where Don John is berated by Conrade for his ill-advised lack of civility:
Con.
... you haue of late stood out against your brother, and hee hath tane you newly into his grace, where it is impossible you should take root, but by the faire weather that you make your selfe ....
Iohn.
I had rather be a canker in a hedge, then a rose in his grace, and it better fits my bloud to be disdain'd of all, then to fashion a carriage to rob loue from any: in this ... it must not be denied but I am a plaine dealing villaine.
(I.iii.19-30)
The acclamations of victory which opened the play now have a hollow ring, since Don John, far from being reconciled with his brother, is still seriously at odds with him, and so the close of the exposition confirms for us the hostile reality behind the opening appearance of harmony. Little motivation for Don John's misanthropy is given, but a clue as to how Shakespeare conceived him is given in the stage directions for his first two entrances, where he is referred to as 'Iohn the bastard' (I.i.87) and 'Sir Iohn the Bastard' (I.iii.0), and as Humphries notes, 'Not until IV.i.188, after his last appearance, is Don John's bastardy spoken of, but throughout it forms part of the tenor of his character'. 4.6 This may explain his conflict with Don Pedro: the social stigma against bastardy in Shakespeare's time motivates Edmund in King Lear, and probably motivates Don John. Edmund's thoughts on the matter are apt:
... wherefore should I
Stand in the plague of custome, and permit
The curiosity of Nations, to depriue me?
...
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... Why brand they vs
With Base? With basenes Barstadie? Base, Base?
(Lear I.ii.180-181) 4.7
The 'plague of custome' and 'curiosity of Nations' 4.8 ensure that Edmund is a malcontent, and for similar reasons it is entirely appropriate that the cynical, discontented Thersites in Troilus and Cressida should proclaim himself 'Bastard begot, Bastard instructed, Bastard in minde, Bastard in valour, in euery thing illegitimate' (Troilus V.vii.17-18). 4.9 It is in this traditional mould that Don John is cast, and like Edmund he will go to any lengths to gratify his malevolence: 'Onely to despight them, I will endeauour any thing' (II.ii.31-32). His evil intentions towards Claudio are in keeping with his character as a malcontent:
... that young start-vp hath all the glorie of my ouerthrow: if I can crosse him any way, I blesse my selfe euery way.
(I.iii.62-64)
From this we gather that Claudio played a significant part in Don John's defeat in the recent war, and we should not forget the praise given him in the opening scene:
... he hath borne himselfe beyond the promise of his age, doing in the figure of a Lambe, the feats of a Lion, he hath indeede better bettred expectation, then you must expect of me to tell you how.
(I.i.12-16)
Much of the point of this speech is the emphasis of Claudio's youth and inexperience, which make his achievements all the more praiseworthy, but also make him susceptible to the wiles of the evil Don John. Shakespeare has used the conflict between the brothers to provide the motivation for Don John's disruption of the action of the main plot, making him the principal agent of disorder in the comedy. Thus the disorder, conflict and violence associated with the war have been used by Shakespeare to introduce Don John as the main agent of disorder, as well as giving us insight to the character of Claudio.
Hunter has observed that 'What Don John stands for is present and
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potentially ascendant in all the characters of the play', 4.10 and this supports my contention that conflict is a central concern of this comedy. Hunter's remark is well illustrated in the principal characters of the sub-plot, Beatrice and Benedick, who are perpetually in an attitude of conflict. The stance they adopt towards each other is typified in Beatrice's first speech, which contains a barbed reference to Benedick: 'I pray you, is Signior Mountanto return'd from the warres, or no?' (I.i.28-29). Humphreys glosses the name 'Signior Mountanto' as 'fencer, deullist', 4.11 but an Elizabethan audience would have associated it more directly with violence, as it derives from the fencing term, 'montanto', describing a particular blow or thrust. 4.12 In addition to the violent connotations of Beatrice's choice of name for Benedick, the spelling found in both Quarto and Folio editions, 'Mountanto' as opposed to 'montanto', points to an association with 'mountant', 4.13 reflecting what she sees as the pride, or scorn for lower mortals, shown by Benedick. It is characteristic of their conflict that each sees the other as inferior, an object of derision, but we must not forget that this is 'a kind of merry war' (I.i.55-56) in which the outward appearance of hostility may not represent the true inner feelings. It is surely significant that when the men return from the war, the one person Beatrice enquires after is her old sparring partner, and he is the sole subject of her conversation in the first part of the scene. Furthermore, all that she says about him is light-hearted, improbable slander, and when he enters with Don Pedro she becomes suddenly silent until she can single him out for the first 'skirmish of wit between them' (I.i.57-58).
Beatrice's second speech, in which she refers to Benedick, deserves some comment, as it introduces an important aspect of the play:
He set vp his bils here in Messina, & challeng'd Cupid at the Flight: and my Vnckles foole reading the Challenge, subscrib'd for Cupid, and challeng'd him at the Burbolt.
(I.i.35-38)
The 'Flight' and 'Burbolt' were types of arrows, the former used in long-distance shooting, and the latter, properly called a 'bird-bolt', was a short, blunt arrow used for shooting birds; the two terms could also be used to refer to the art of shooting with the particular types of arrow concerned. 4.14 The bird-bolt was the safer of the two, and it was this weapon that Cupid is reputed to have used to claim his victims. 4.15 Beatrice's joke is aimed at Benedick's pride in his prowess in matters of war, but must also be related to his attitude to women. His challenge to
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Cupid is overbearing, for the blind boy, accustomed to using the bird-bolt, could not be expected to handle the more powerful flight-arrow, and this aspect of Beatrice's jibe recalls and emphasises the haughtiness implied in her name for him, 'Signior Mountanto'. The return of the challenge is insulting, firstly because it is taken up by a fool, and secondly because the fool assumes that Benedick will be competent only at the bird-bolt. The joke does, however, have its serious side: Cupid is the god of love, and the challenge related by Beatrice typifies Benedick's rejection of women and love; furthermore, I feel that it is an enigmatic reference to an affair between the two which ended unhappily, with feelings being hurt. Evidence for such a relationship comes in the masque scene, in which Beatrice says of Benedick, 'I am sure he is in the Fleet, I would he had boorded me' (II.i.132-133), a Freudian slip with sexual overtones; then later she is more direct, in referring to Benedick's heart:
Indeed my Lord, hee lent it me a while, and I gaue him vse for it, a double heart for a single one, marry once before he wonne it of mee, with false dice, therefore your Grace may well say I haue lost it.
(II.i.261-264)
Also, after the successful deceptions of the couple, Don Pedro says of Benedick,
... he hath twice or thrice cut Cupid's bow-string, and the little hang-man dare not shoot at him,
(III.ii.9-11)
which may allude to earlier romantic ties with Beatrice, thus justifying her connecting Cupid with the conflict and violence of a challenge. This is made more direct by her juxtaposition of the bird-bolt story with death:
I pray you, how many hath hee kil'd and eaten in these wars? But how many hath he kil'd? for indeed, I promis'd to eate all of his killing.
(I.i.38-41)
With her 'kil'd and eaten' she ascribes excessive violence, with a degree of braggartism, to Benedick, an idea which she immediately comically reverses, implying by her promise 'to eate all of his killing' that he will not have killed anyone at all. The use of violence in this opening scene is carefully controlled: the losses in the war were 'But few of any sort, and none of name'; and the gory answer to Beatrice's question as to
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how many Benedick has killed is quietly averted by the messenger: 'He hath done good service Lady in these wars' (I.i.44). The verbal violence used by Beatrice to express her feelings towards Benedick strikes us more forcefully than the background violence of war: Shakespeare deliberately emphasises her animosity to heighten our interest and expectation as we eagerly await the moment of their first meeting.
Beatrice has introduced the theme of love and its conflicts by her mention of Cupid, and shortly afterwards in her continuing attack on Benedick we find her talking of friendship, in which, if we are to believe her, he is particularly fickle:
Bea.
... Who is his companion now? He hath euery month a new sworne brother.
Mess.
I'st possible?
Beat.
Very easily possible: he weares his faith but as the fashion of his hat, it euer changes with ye next block.
Mess.
I see (Lady) the Gentleman is not in your bookes.
(I.i.65-71)
However, the messenger's reaction to Beatrice's implication, and her frivolous tone, indicate that the reverse is quite likely to be true, that Benedick is a faithful friend, particularly as he is 'A Lord to a Lord, a man to a man, stuft with all honourable vertues' (I.i.51-52). It turns out that Claudio is Benedick's newest friend, and the conflict between the demands of this friendship and those of love for Beatrice will play an important part later in the play; but for the present, the audience is left to assess from her general tone of levity, and other characters' reactions to her aspersions, the degree to which Beatrice is maligning her opponent. They have not been on the stage together long before Beatrice actively seeks out and engages Benedick in combat: 'I wonder that you will still be talking, signior Benedick, no body markes you' (I.i.107-108). Rossiter ascribes 'their incapacity to leave one another alone' to 'antagonism', 4.16 but if their hostility were serious, and so deep-seated as to give them sadistic pleasure in exercising it, it would no longer be comic. They use the conflict between them as a means of displaying their prowess in battles of wit, but there is little thought of inflicting suffering, physical or mental, and so we can enjoy their combats without the discomfort we would experience if they were sadistically motivated.
Beatrice's first words to Benedick are loaded with irony, as he has been almost exclusively the topic of her conversation so far, and it is humorously evident that her observation 'no body markes you' excludes
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herself. Hostile though their conversation is on the surface, its main theme in this first encounter is love, and it looks suspiciously as if the couple are hiding their true feelings for one another. There are indications that Benedick is attractive to women, for, apart from the praise bestowed on him by the messenger - 'stuft with all honourable vertues' - we have Leonato's witty retort:
Pedro.
... I think this is your daughter.
Leonato.
Her mother hath many times told me so.
Bened.
Were you in doubt that you askt her?
Leonato.
Signior Benedicke, no, for then you were a childe.
(I.i.95-99)
Benedick is aware of his own attractiveness, for he says
... it is certaine I am loued of all Ladies, onely you excepted: and I would I could finde in my heart that I had not a hard heart, for truely I loue none.
(I.i.114-117)
While this implies misogynistic tendencies in Benedick, it does so equivocally, since it also expresses his desire to be able to love, something which should be remembered when he becomes more outspoken in his protestations against love and marriage in his conversation with Claudio later in the scene. His dialogue with Beatrice contains little direct violence, and even this is tempered with humour, as when he refers to the possibility of Beatrice inflicting 'a predestinate scratcht face' (I.i.124-125) on her suitor. This is light-hearted, and comically rebuffed with 'Scratching could not make it worse, and 'twere such a face as yours were' (I.i.126-127), a retort typical of Beatrice's quick wit, which usually gives her the upper hand in her contests with Benedick.
After this first encounter between the two antagonists the stage is left to Benedick and Claudio, and there is a perceptible increase in the forcefulness of Benedick's language. When Claudio asks his opinion of Hero, Benedick is not sure if he should give a 'simple true iudgement' (I.i.155) or if he should follow his 'custome, as being a professed tyrant to their sexe' (I.i.156-157). While the word 'tyrant' is a particularly strong one to have used here, this speech confirms earlier suspicions that Benedick is hiding his true feelings behind a misogamistic front (as, for that matter, is Beatrice). He also lets slip an appraisal of Beatrice when he compares her with Hero: 'there's her cosin, and she were not possest with a furie, exceedes her as much in beautie, as the first of Maie doth the last of December' (I.i.177-179).
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The qualifying attribute of the 'furie' is as excessive as his idea of himself being a 'tyrant to their sexe', and both are part of Benedick's tactics of hiding his true feelings behind a screen of abuse. A similar observation applies to his opinion of Claudio's desire to marry Hero: 'thou wilt needes thrust thy necke into a yoke, weare the print of it, and sigh away sundaies' (I.i.186-187). Here Benedick relies on the cliché of the husband reduced to subservience by a nagging wife, an idea which, when applied to Claudio, becomes a comic over-statement.
Benedick's vehemence continues to increase as the scene progresses, growing more violent and vulgar. Of Hero he says
That I neither feele how shee should be loued, nor know how shee should be worthie, is the opinion that fire cannot melt out of me, I will die in it at the stake.
(I.i.213-216)
The violence of death by fire at the stake gives the assertion a surprisingly harsh tone, but it is lightened by a hidden double meaning in the words 'die' and 'stake': 'die' was a common Elizabethan euphemism for sexual orgasm, as in Pandarus' song, 'These Louers cry, oh ho they dye' (Troilus III.i.116); and 'stake' represented the male member, already encountered in a bawdy quibble of Gratiano's regarding the begetting of children, 'we shal nere win at that sport, and stake downe' (Merchant III.ii.216). 4.17 Thus, when Benedick says he will 'die in it at the stake', he implies not only that he would die a violent death before changing his opinion of Hero, but also that his opinion would change if ever he started loving women. The punning is continued by Claudio, who says Benedick 'neuer could maintaine his part, but in the force of his will' (I.i.219-220), where 'part' would be his role in sexual intercourse as well as the male member, and 'will' the famous sexual pun on his own name which Shakespeare used in Sonnets 135 and 136:
Wilt thou whose will is large and spatious,
Not once vouchsafe to hide my will in thine.
(Sonnet 135) 4.18
This humorous punning enlivens the conversation between the three men, pointing the sexual aspects of their conflict. It is brought to a climax in Benedick's next two speeches, where its blending with considerable violence gives it added force:
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That a woman conceiued me, I thanke her: that she brought me vp, I likewise giue her most humble thankes: but that I will haue a rechate winded in my forehead, or hang my bugle in an inuisible baldricke, all women shall pardon me.
(I.i.221-225)
The 'rechate' (or 'recheat') was a hunting call sounded on a horn during or after a hunt, 4.19 and the action suggested by Benedick, blowing such a call in the face or 'forehead', is a rude one; but this rudeness, together with the excitement and violence associated with the hunt, aptly expresses Benedick's distaste at the idea of cuckolding, for the cuckold's horns (here represented by a recheat played on the horn) were supposed to grow on the forehead. This echoes the rather jaundiced view of marriage Benedick had expressed earlier on, learning of Claudio's intention to marry Hero: 'hath not the world one man but he will weare his cap with suspition?' (I.i.183-184) - yet another reference to the cuckold's horns. 4.20 The sexual imagery continues with 'hang my bugle in an inuisible baldricke', which Partridge takes to denote sexual intercourse, 4.21 the 'bugle', by association with 'horn', being the male member, while the 'baldricke' is its female counterpart. Presumable the fact that the 'baldricke' is 'inuisible' would imply that the sexual relationship is furtive, not visible or open. Benedick argues that by rejecting women he avoids the possible fate of being cuckolded, but once again his excessive, almost angry expression of his ideas gives the lie to what he says: Gertrude's reaction to the Player Queen should be ours to Benedick, that he 'protests to much' (Hamlet III.ii.225), and his protestations have a hollow ring.
The sexual innuendo and violence continue in his next speech:
... proue that euer I loose more blood with loue, then I will get againe with drinking, picke out mine eyes with a Ballet-makers penne, and hang me vp at the doore of a brothel-house for the signe of blinde Cupid.
(I.i.231-235)
Benedick is again asserting that he will never fall in love, and the idea that he is unlikely to lose any blood as a result of romantic ties implies that he does not see love as threatening, or capable of wounding him. The violent fate of being blinded by means of a 'Ballet-makers penne' is sufficiently horrible to give Benedick's rejection of love considerable force, and it is appropriate in that Cupid was himself blind, and love was a common subject for ballads. 4.22 This intensity of violence is maintained when Benedick yet again insists that he will never fall in love:
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If I do, hang me in a bottle like a Cat & shoot at me, and he that hit's me, let him be clapt on the shoulder, and cal'd Adam.
(I.i.238-240)
Here the allusion is to the cruel sport of using a cat suspended from a tree in a leather vessel as a target for shooting at, 4.23 and 'Adam' refers to Adam Bell, a famous archer. 4.24 The images used by Benedick (sounding of a 'rechate', blinding with a 'Ballet-makers penne' and hanging 'in a bottle like a Cat') steadily increase in violence in order to show his mounting agitation and hostility to love - but throughout the effect is modified by the humorous tone he adopts. The absurd notion that Benedick should risk being used as a target shows his supreme confidence in his ability to avoid love, while his reference to the renowned archer, Adam Bell, implies that he will not be an easy target to hit, should any attack be made. These vehement declarations by Benedick make his eventual falling in love all the more comic, and the effectiveness of the dialogue between the three men is enhanced, in retrospect, when Benedick leaves, and the racy violence of their prose gives way to gentler verse, used for the first time here, where Claudio reveals his love for Hero to Don Pedro.
Critics have remarked on the offhand names chosen by Shakespeare for the three comedies dealt with in this chapter, 4.25 and the title Much Ado about Nothing is not only offhand but also witty - 'teasingly full of meaning', as Humphreys says. 4.26 That there is a pun on 'noting' and 'nothing' seems fairly certain, 4.27 particularly in view of the appearance of the same pun within the play:
Balth.
Note this before my notes,
Theres not a note of mine that's worth the noting.
Prince.
Why these are very crotchets that he speaks,
Note notes forsooth, and nothing.
(II.iii.54-57)
Colman goes even further, suggesting 'a pudendal joke' in the title, 4.28 by association of 'nothing' with 'nought' and hence the letter 'O'. This would indicate that one of the themes of the play is, as might be expected in a comedy, the turmoil and disorder caused by love, while the pun on 'noting' and 'nothing' points to the many 'notings' or eavesdroppings and their associated conflicts which form a major part of the action of the play. The first two of these are reported in the two scenes which close the first act, and both instances promise outcomes which would threaten the ordered state of Messina with disruption. We
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are amused in I.ii by the conflict between appearance and reality when the elderly, interfering Antonio reports that Don Pedro is in love with Hero, which we know to be false. In I.iii Borachio tells Don John what he has heard by eavesdropping, and in this case the information is correct, leading to as yet unformulated plans for mischief by Don John, whose schemes are likely to be desperate: Conrade promises to help him 'To the death' (I.iii.66), while in Don John's case, even a mass poisoning is not entirely out of the question when he says 'would the cooke were of my mind' (Q I.iii.68-69). Both cases of 'noting' heighten our expectations, since Antonio's incorrect information could lead to conflicts between Hero, Don Pedro and Claudio, while Borachio's correct version of the romance at court sets Don John's evil schemes in motion.
There is considerable confusion in the stage directions and speech headings of the first scene of Act II, but a detailed discussion of the various possible interpretations would be out of place here; it will suffice to say that the first part of the scene is largely devoted to the masque which follows. During this time none of the players is masked, as there is no question of the identity of the various speakers; the men should mask at the entry of Don Pedro and his retinue. The masque itself relies heavily on the stage convention that a mask completely hides the identity of the wearer: Antonio, for example, is quite sure Ursula cannot recognise him, even though she was probably present when he masked. 4.29 The women are apparently not masked, as their identity is never in question: Don Pedro confidently courts Hero, and Benedick is sure that his insults to Beatrice have reached their target. The function of dances in Shakespeare's plays, as I have noted before, 4.30 is to depict harmony and order; this dance, however, is modified by the masks the men wear, and we are diverted by the minor conflicts presented when each of the various pairs of dances comes to the front of the stage for a brief conversation. Hero playfully rejects the Prince's advances; Margaret in a similar manner keeps Balthasar at bay in their bout of wit; Ursula and Antonio argue about the identity of the latter; but for Beatrice and Benedick in particular, the masque imposes a veneer of order, giving the appearance of harmony, while the true state of conflict manifests itself in the dialogue between them as they dance. When they first come to the fore Beatrice is evidently angry about reported insults from her masked partner, Benedick:
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Beat.
Will you not tell me who told you so?
Bene.
No, you shall pardon me.
Beat.
Nor will you not tell me who you are?
Bened.
Not now.
Beat.
That I was disdainfull, and that I had my good wit out of the hundred merry tales: well, this was Signior Benedicke that said so.
(II.i.115-121)
Benedick's taciturn responses intensify Beatrice's anger, and her revenge is quick in coming when she slanders him in her turn, calling him (among other things) 'the Princes ieaster, a very dull foole' (II.i.127). Although there is no indication in the text on this point, it is possible that Beatrice has penetrated Benedick's disguise, making her insults the more hurtful to her partner, but heightening our amusement by means of comic irony. The conflicts underlying the masque make the dance itself ironic, since instead of depicting order and harmony, it enhances discord, and the intensified state of disruption is no sooner achieved than the dance is brought to a close.
The masque over, Don John sets to work on his plan to disrupt the Messina community by telling Claudio that Don Pedro has won Hero for himself. For a while both Claudio and Benedick believe this, and two minor references to violence are indicative of the disordered state which ensues, with Claudio angry, but powerless to defend himself against the Prince. He rejects the consolation offered by Benedick, who remarks,
Ho now you strike like the blindman, 'twas the boy that stole your meate, and you'l beat the post.
(II.i.185-186)
The allusion here is probably to a popular Elizabethan tale in which a servant, who stole a sausage from his blind master, takes violent revenge for the harsh punishment he received; 4.31 Benedick simply implies that Claudio's resentment is misdirected. The confusion is short-lived, however, and order is restored when Don Pedro reveals that he has won Hero not for himself, but for Claudio. Conflict has been used here to augment the portrait of inexperience we have already seen: Claudio is now shown to be gullible, which prepares us for his greater deception in the matter of Hero's faithfulness; 4.32 and it also alerts the audience to the possibility of unfortunate consequences when false information is believed as fact - as frequently happens in this play.
Meanwhile, the conflict between Beatrice and Benedick has intensified, for after their exchange of insults during the masque he threatens, 'Ile be reuenged as I may' (II.i.195), and this contemplation
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of revenge tells us that he has been genuinely hurt by her insults. His description of their encounter is humorously exaggerated, making use of violent imagery to give the impression of anger:
O she misusde me past the indurance of a block ... hudling iest vpon iest, with such impossible conueiance vpon me, that I stood like a man at a marke, with a whole army shooting at me: shee speakes poynyards, and euery word stabbes ... so indeed all disquiet, horror, and perturbation followes her.
(II.i.223-245)
It is shortly after this that Don Pedro decides to 'vndertake one of Hercules labors' (II.i.341-342) in devising a way to get Beatrice and Benedick to fall in love, when their antagonism is at its height. Although this plan would reduce the degree of conflict in the community, bringing harmony and order between the two antagonists, Don John's machinations threaten to destroy the newly established relationship between Hero and Claudio, and so dramatic tension is sustained as the various plans are put into action, with the misleading by false report of first Benedick, then Beatrice, and lastly Don Pedro and Claudio.
The first of these plots, Benedick's gulling, is the most comic. Initially, in a long soliloquy, Benedick protests at the change love has wrought in Claudio, comparison being made of his former military pursuits with his present amour; and inevitably Benedick reacts by claiming that he will never be made 'such a foole' (II.iii.26). Use had been made of the humorous conflict between love and war by Lyly in Endymion, where the miles gloriosus, Sir Tophas, insists that 'thys idle humor of loue ... tickleth not my lyuer' (Endymion I.iii.231-232), but finally succumbs by falling in love with Dipsas. In Much Ado about Nothing the conflict between war and love is equally comic, with Benedick at first resisting love, but like Sir Tophas, finally being conquered. In Shakespeare's play this conflict is inseparable from that between love and friendship, and in both clashes it is Benedick who feels the dissension most keenly. There is no doubt in Claudio's mind that loving Hero is preferable to the masculine pursuit of war, but Benedick, not wishing to lose his friend to a woman, vigorously opposes love, an attitude which contributes to the humour of the scene in which he is misled into believing Beatrice loves him. The song which precedes this, 'Sigh no more Ladies' (II.iii.62), serves to emphasise the sharp distinction between Benedick's cynicism and the romantic outlook of Claudio. It does this largely by means of the comic criticisms it draws from Benedick, and one characteristically violent comment, mocking the song and its singer, points the prophetic
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significance of the lyric:
And he had been a dog that should haue howld thus, they would haue hang'd him, and I pray God his bad voyce bode no mischiefe, I had as lief haue heard the night-rauen, come what plague could haue come after it.
(II.iii.79-83)
The words Balthasar sings contain a warning to women of the fickleness of men in love, a foreboding of Claudio's rejection of Hero on rather flimsy grounds. Implicit in this is the conflict between the sexes in matters of love, something the audience would notice despite the fact that Claudio and Don Pedro seem oblivious to it, preoccupied as they are with the gulling of Benedick.
The eavesdropping scene which follows depicts the supposed inner conflict of Beatrice-in-love with great vivacity, comically over-emphasising the violence of her passion:
Clau.
Then downe vpon her knees she falls, weepes, sobs, beates her heart, teares her hayre, praies, curses, O sweet Benedicke, God giue me patience.
Leon.
She doth indeed, my daughter saies so, and the extasie hath so much ouerborne her, that my daughter is sometime afeard she will doe a desperate out-rage to her selfe, it is very true.
(II.iii.144-150)
The humour of this description of Beatrice's distraction lies in the fact that we know it is false, but Benedick, because it is a matter concerning him directly, is unable to interpret it objectively: the gross exaggerations, a delight to both the deceivers and the audience, appear as simple fact to him. His passion receives much the same violent emphasis as Beatrice's had previously, and he attaches great moment to Beatrice's sharp wit, a realistic touch which makes its mark:
... if I should speake,
She would mocke me into ayre, O she would laugh me
Out of my selfe, press me to death with wit,
Therefore let Benedicke like couered fire,
Consume away in sighes, waste inwardly:
It were a better death, to die with mockes,
Which is as bad as die with tickling.
(III.i.74-80)
Although Benedick believes Beatrice loves him, he cannot reconcile this with her previous behaviour, and expects a scornful response should he make his love known. On the other hand, he is aware of the conflict between his own earlier behaviour and his changed attitude once he recognises his true feelings for her, and this discrepancy makes him
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vulnerable to mockery. We are amused by the ambivalent responses of the two lovers in their attempts to come to terms with their true feelings about one anther.
Of crucial importance to the success of the deceptions of both Benedick and Beatrice is the eavesdropping aspect, which gives credence to what is overheard; as Hero remarks when she is about to dupe Beatrice,
... of this matter,
Is little Cupids crafty arrow made,
That onely wounds by heare-say.
(III.i.21-23)
This metaphorical wounding by Cupid results in the violent turmoil, the inner conflict, experienced by the two antagonistic lovers, intensified once Hero has been denounced: both are forced to make a choice between loyalty to their friends and heterosexual love, a trial which is quite different from the testing of Claudio and Hero. Although Hero is helpless in the face of the accusations levelled at her, the difficulties she and Claudio experience do not concern us to the same extent as those of Beatrice and Benedick. This is because Borachio and Conrade are arrested by the Watch before the disruption of the wedding takes place, keeping us, as Leggatt notes, 'at some distance form the emotions of the church scene, assuring us that all will be well'. 4.33 Nevertheless, Shakespeare ensures that dramatic tension is maintained by making the Watch thoroughly incompetent, so much so that it remains in doubt whether they will ever succeed in bringing the slandering of Hero to light. The insufficiency of the Watch is established for the audience largely through their total dissociation from any situation likely to lead to conflict or violence, and also, as Leggatt puts it, their 'peculiar conception of law enforcement'. 4.34 For example, the discussion of their first obligation is as follows:
Dogb.
... this is your charge: You shall comprehend all vagrom men, you are to bid any man stand in the Princes name.
Watch 2.
How if a will not stand?
Dogb.
Why then take no note of him, but let him go, and presently call the rest of the Watch together, and thanke God you are ridde of a knaue.
(III.iii.24-30)
In a similar manner sleeping is condoned (provided weapons are kept safe), since it causes least disturbance; a thief should be allowed to 'shew himselfe what he is, and steale out of your company' (III.iii.58-59); a crying child should be left to wake its nurse with its
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crying; and the final injunction (fortunately not strictly applied in the arrest of Conrade and Borachio, who prove relatively co-operative in the event), 'the watch ought to offend no man, and it is an offence to stay a man against his will' (III.iii.78-81). From all of this it is evident that the Watch, while not actively promoting disorder, cannot be relied on to maintain order. Despite this Dogberry and his crew almost forestall the repudiation of Hero, and it is a fine piece of dramatic irony that they do not succeed in doing so only because Leonato, in his hurry to get to the wedding, has no time to listen to their evidence.
As Shakespeare unfolds his plot our interest is sustained by the formation of new alliances between the dramatis personae: Beatrice and Benedick no longer quarrel, but are united in their defence against mocking friends; Claudio and Benedick cease to argue about love and friendship, being now at odds over the shaming of Hero; Claudio and Hero are estranged, with Claudio being supported by Don Pedro, and Hero being helped by Beatrice and Benedick. In fact, the denouncing of Hero has had the effect of polarising the Messina community, and equilibrium cannot be restored until Don Pedro, the head of the state, recognises his error in believing his evil brother's accusations. We anxiously await the éclaircissement which will result from the tedious process of law followed by Dogberry, but in the mean time we are amused by the complete reversal of roles suffered by Benedick and Claudio. Whereas Benedick was sceptical of love, mocking Claudio's infatuation with Hero, he is now subject to the taunts of his companions who have become disillusioned by Hero's supposed duplicity.
The climactic scene in the church initiates the transfer of loyalties, replacing love and friendship with the highest degree of animosity. Neill says of Claudio that this scene is 'the only place where he shows any real inner conflict', 4.35 but I would suggest that there is no real conflict even here: Claudio accepts the proof Don John offers him, and Hero's guilt is, as far as he is concerned, an accomplished fact. His attack on Hero in the church is premeditated and ruthless, and there is no indication in the text that he ever doubts the integrity of his actions, while his anger and sorrow, often bordering on self-pity, are evident enough. The free reign which Claudio gives to his emotions, coupled with the support he receives from Don Pedro and his evil brother, convince even Leonato of Hero's perfidy, and the seriousness of the situation is brought out by Leonato's threat of violence to himself, 'Hath no mans dagger here a point for me?' (IV.i.109), followed
immediately by Hero's swooning on seeing that her father, too, believes the lies against her.
The most moving episode in the play, where Benedick and Beatrice confess their love to each other for the first time, takes place in the church after the shaming of Hero. Instead of the hilarious confrontation anticipated by Don Pedro and the others in the gulling plot, the scene is emotionally charged because Beatrice, at last, exposes her finer womanly feelings, brought to the surface by the catastrophe of Hero's defamation. There is considerable emphasis on sex roles, with Beatrice, for once, feeling inadequate to meet the demands on her; 4.36 Benedick, on the other hand, is as manly as he has always been, and Beatrice is brought to realise that she must rely on him for the defence of Hero's name. The sacrifice by Beatrice of her total independence is a prerequisite for a harmonious relationship between the two, because, according to social norms, she must depend on, and be subservient to, her husband; but, like Katherina in The Taming of the Shrew, she retains her self-respect when she does so. Benedick, too, has a sacrifice to make before he can be accepted by Beatrice: he must renounce friendship in favour of love:
Beat.
I loue you with so much of my heart, that none is left to protest.
Bened.
Come bid me doe any thing for thee.
Beat.
Kill Claudio.
Bened.
Ha, not for the wide world.
Beat.
You kill me to deny it, farewell.
Bened.
Tarry sweete Beatrice.
(IV.i.285-291)
This climactic demand by Beatrice is met at first with stunned incomprehension, but almost immediately Benedick's loyalty to Claudio prompts his denial of her request. The requirement that he kill his friend is unreasonable, but gives Benedick's love for Beatrice its supreme test. As the wider implications dawn on him, the battle between love and friendship is waged briefly while he tries to detain the indignant and angry Beatrice. Inevitably, love wins, and Benedick is brought into direct confrontation with Claudio.
At this point disorder in the Messina community has reached its height, and we observe with pleasure as the incompetent Watch come into conflict with Borachio and Conrade whom they have arrested for their part in 'the most dangerous peece of lechery, that euer was knowne in the Common-wealth' (III.iii.161-162). Ironically this description of the crime is close to the truth: generally the confrontation with the law, apart from its central importance to the main plot, serves to provide
humour through the misuse and misunderstanding of words. While the prisoners put up little resistance to their arrest, they are not very co-operative during their examination, being 'both in a tale' (IV.ii.29-30) as far as the denial of their involvement is concerned. Finally, however, the members of the Watch give their damning account of what they had overheard, and some comic stage violence may be deduced from the somewhat jumbled text:
[Dog.]
Come, let them be opiniond.
Couley
Let them be in the hands
[Con.]
of[f] Coxcombe.
Kemp
Gods my life, wheres the Sexton? let him write down the Princes officer Coxcombe: come, bind them, thou naughty varlet.
[Con.]
Away, you are an asse, you are an asse.
(Q IV.ii.64-70) 4.37
Dogberry's 'let them be opiniond' should be accompanied by an attempt to bind the prisoners, who will resist, calling 'the Princes officer Coxcombe'. The restraining of Borachio and Conrade may be made more comic if it is unsuccessful: when Conrade calls Dogberry an ass, the offender is made to feel the full weight of Dogberry's wrath and mortification bearing upon him, and all thoughts of binding seem to be forgotten as the officer launches into a tirade concerning the dignity of his position as custodian of the peace. This interlude of conflict and violence is particularly effective coming, as it does, after the climactic scene in the church: Hero has been denounced and Benedick has promised to challenge Claudio at Beatrice's request. The need for the restoration of order has become more pressing, and the slow and unsure paths of justice pursued by the officers heighten dramatic tension considerably.
To emphasise the urgency, Shakespeare returns us to the main plot, where the confrontation of Claudio and Don Pedro by Hero's supporters is imminent. Here conflict and violence struggle to be comic, but never quite succeed. To start with, Leonato expresses his grief, refusing to be consoled by Antonio; but grief gives way to anger, and anger to thoughts of revenge:
Brother.
Yet bend not all the harme vpon your selfe,
Make those that doe offend you, suffer too.
Leon.
There thou speak'st reason, nay I will doe so.
(V.i.39-41)
By the time Don Pedro and Claudio enter, the two old men have decided to
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confront them with Hero's innocence. Although the younger men refuse to be provoked, there is a sustained threat of violence throughout the encounter, with Antonio and, to a lesser extent, Leonato accusing them of villainy in wronging Hero, and cowardice in refusing to fight. The fact that if a fight were to develop it would be completely one-sided lends seriousness. The main function of the confrontation is not to provide humour, however, but to emphasise the complete conviction of Claudio and Don Pedro that they were in the right in rejecting Hero. Nevertheless humour is important, because it heightens our perception of the conflict. 4.38 This becomes apparent when Benedick enters to deliver his challenge to Claudio: not once does Benedick waver from his serious purpose, although his intention is only dimly perceived by the others. Claudio and Don Pedro, confident because of their ignorance, continue to jest in their accustomed manner; but for the audience, the humour is qualified by the knowledge that they are in the wrong, and a violent duel between Claudio and Benedick seems almost inevitable. After Benedick has left the stage the jesting continues in an uncomfortable, self-conscious manner:
Prin.
He is in earnest.
Clau.
In most profound earnest, and Ile warrant you, for the loue of Beatrice.
Prin.
And hath challeng'd thee.
Clau.
Most sincerely.
Prin.
What a prettie thing man is, when he goes in his doublet and hose, and leaues off his wit.
(V.i.191-197)
Don Pedro starts to realise the significance of what Benedick has said, but a full appreciation of the implications comes only when he hears Borachio's confession, and the conflict dissolves into feelings of shame and remorse.
The comic conclusion to the play demands that Claudio should humble himself publicly, acknowledging his misjudgement of Hero, affirming her virtue. The that penance is sufficient to achieve absolution is signified in Don Pedro's beautiful words near the close of the scene at Hero's tomb:
Good morrow masters, put your Torches out,
The wolues haue preied, and looke, the gentle day
Before the wheeles of Phoebus, round about
Dapples the drowsie East with spots of grey.
(V.iii.24-27)
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The action of the play, during which the central characters have undergone various trials to test and refine their relationships, has been like a disturbed night when 'The wolues haue preied'. This image of evil refers to Don John and his accomplices, but the dawn which 'Dapples the drowsie East' heralds a new beginning, auspicious as 'the gentle day'. When the two major deceptions of the play have been carried out successfully, Benedick the misogamist turns lover, a movement towards order and fecundity; Claudio, on the other hand, vows never to love again:
For thee Ile locke vp all the gates of Loue,
And on my eie-lids shall Coniecture hang,
To turne all beauty into thoughts of harme,
And neuer shall it more be gracious.
(IV.i.105-108)
This hostile, sterile attitude, and its primum mobile, the animosity between Don Pedro and Don John, must be transformed before order and fertility can be established at the close of the play. Claudio's public confession and humiliation confirm his change in outlook, and once Don John's schemes have been exposed we need not anticipate further disruption from him. The arrival of dawn at the tomb confirms that all is prepared for the comic denouement.
The love of Benedick is put to one final test: in two previous scenes we have seen him privately declare his love for Beatrice, 4.39 and the second of these is introduced by a lively discussion between Benedick and Margaret, full of violent, but comic, sexual innuendo, involving fencing and duelling terms, 4.40 an association which emphasises that sexual relationships are never without a degree of conflict:
Mar.
Giue vs the swords, wee haue bucklers of our owne.
Bene.
If you use them Margaret, you must put in the pikes with a vice, and they are dangerous weapons for Maides.
(V.ii.18-21)
This witty dialogue with Margaret recalls the earlier verbal contests between Beatrice and Benedick, except that Benedick makes an important observation about his own, signifying a change in his attitude to Beatrice: 'A most manly wit Margaret, it will not hurt a woman' (V.ii.15-16). We may be surprised that, having said this, Benedick, when he next encounters Beatrice, continues with the same repartee as in former scenes. His observation to her, 'Thou and I are too wise to wooe peaceablie' (V.ii.67) explains, however, that the conflict of wits
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between them does not necessarily signify animosity, as everyone has always assumed it does.
The final test for their love comes shortly before the close of the play, where, for the first time, it is made public. Initially neither of them is prepared to admit to loving the other: they are not only too proud to do so, but probably also afraid of the mocking which will follow. However, when love letters are produced in evidence, they have no option but to confess their true feelings, and Benedick wards off any jokes that might be made at his expense:
... since I doe purpose to marrie, I will think nothing to anie purpose that the world can saie against it. and therefore neuer flout at me, for what I haue said against it.
(Q V.iv.103-106)
When Beatrice persists in trying to explain her love in an effort to avoid its full, public declaration, Benedick's words, 'Peace I will stop your mouth' (V.iv.97), followed by a kiss, 4.41 do not merely signify the brushing aside of animosity, but also affirm his love for her. With the couples now in full amity, the play closes with a dance, strengthening our sense of harmony and order. Don John remains a figure of evil, still at odds with the Messina community, but not even a passing reference to the 'braue punishments' (V.iv.126) in store for him can dampen the joyous conclusion.
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- - - NOTES: CHAPTER FOUR - - -
4.1 Philip Sidney, An Apology for Poetry, found in W.D. Maxwell-Mahon, ed., Critical Texts: Plato to the Present Day (Johannesburg: Perskor Publishers, 1979), p.60. return
4.2 See Palmer, pp.458-459, and William Shakespeare, Much Ado about Nothing, ed. A.R. Humphreys (London: Methuen, 1981), p.34. return
4.3 Kerby Neill, 'More Ado about Claudio: An Acquittal for the Slandered Groom', Shakespeare Quarterly, 3 (1952), 98. return
4.5 The line numbers are taken from the edition by Humphreys, cited above. return
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4.7 The line numbers are taken from William Shakespeare, King Lear, ed. Kenneth Muir, 9th ed. (London: Methuen, 1975). return
4.8 Here 'curiosity' means 'nicety'. O.E.D., IV, 143-144: 'curiosity ... I. ... 4. ... a. Undue niceness or fastidiousness as to food, clothing, matters of taste and behaviour ... c 1386'. return
4.9 Social stigma is also indicated in Perdita's rejection of 'Carnations, and streak'd Gilly-vors, | (Which some call Natures bastards)' (Winter's Tale IV.iv.82-83). return
4.10 Robert Grams Hunter, Shakespeare and the Comedy of Forgiveness (New York: Columbia University Press, 1965), p.94, hereafter cited as Hunter, Comedy. return
4.11 Humphreys, p.90 n. return
4.12 O.E.D., IX, 1040: 'montant2 ... A 'downright' blow or thrust. 1598'. The connection with fencing would have been easily made by the original audiences: Craig notes that 'there seem to have been in general use ... ten terms that are jargon words' (Horace S. Craig, 'Dueling Scenes and Terms in Shakespeare's Plays', University of California Publications in English, 9 (1940), 11); the Host in The Merry Wives of Windsor uses 'montant' as a 'jargon word' (his list includes three from Craig's): 'to see thee passe thy puncto, thy stock, thy reuerse, thy distance, thy montant' (Merry Wives II.iii.23-25); Bobadill in Jonson's Every Man in His Humour has a similar list: 'I would teach these nineteene, the speciall rules, as your Punto, your Reuerso, your Stoccata, your Imbroccata, your Passada, your Montanto' (Every Man in His Humour IV.iv.). Of Babadill's list, all except 'Montanto' appear in Craig's 'jargon words', and nowhere in his article does he mention 'montant' or 'montanto' - obviously an oversight. return
4.13 O.E.D., X, 16: 'mountant, a. and sb. ... B. adj. Mounting, rising. 1525'. return
4.14 Ibid., V, 1054-1055: 'flight ... sb.1 ... 10.a. A flight-arrow ... 1464 ... b. = FLIGHT-SHOOTING. 1557', and II, 25: 'bird-bolt ... A kind of blunt-headed arrow used for shooting birds. c 1440'; see also Humphreys, p.91 nn. return
4.15 In Love's Labour's Lost Berowne, on seeing that Navarre is in love, says 'Shot by heauen: proceede sweet Cupid, thou hast thumpt him with thy Birdbolt vnder the left pap' (Love's Labour's Lost IV.iii.21-22). return
4.16 A.P. Rossiter, Angel with Horns: Fifteen Lectures on Shakespeare, ed. Graham Storey (London: Longman, 1970), p.73. return
4.17 For the quibble on 'die' see Partridge, p.101, and Hoole, pp.66-67; for that on 'stake' see Partridge, p.193. return
4.18 William Shakespeare, Shake-Speare's Sonnets neuer before Imprinted (London: G. Eld for T.T., 1609). return
4.19 O.E.D., XIII, 326: 'recheat ... sb. ... a. The act of calling together the hounds to begin or continue the chase of a stag, or at the close of the hunt. ... b. The series of notes sounded on a horn for one or other of these purposes. 1470-85'. return
4.20 Humphreys, p.97 n. return
4.22 The sexual innuendo behind the violence relies on the doubles entendres in the use of the words 'eyes' and 'penne', the female and male sexual organs respectively: see Partridge pp.109 and 163. return
4.23 O.E.D., II, 430: 'bottle ... sb.2 ... 1.a. A vessel with a narrow neck for holding liquids, now usually made of glass; originally of leather. c 1375'. Humphreys suggests a 'wicker basket', p.100 n.; see also E. Cobham Brewer, A Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, new ed. (London: Cassell, n.d.), p.221, where the sport is said to have survived, slightly modified, at least until 1765. return
4.24 Humphreys, p.100 n.; Brewer, p.260 (entry under 'Clym of the Clough'). return
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4.25 See, for example, Barbara K. Lewalski, 'Love, Appearance and Reality: Much Ado about Something', Studies in English Literature 1500 - 1900, 8 (1968), 235; Dover Wilson, Comedies, p.121. return
4.27 Ibid., p.4. Humphreys, p.135 n., also cites similar puns on 'nothing' and 'noting' in The Winter's Tale (IV.iv.600) and The Tempest (III.ii.140). return
4.29 Her entry is not marked in Quarto or Folio, but its logical place is with Hero at the start of the scene, not with Don Pedro, later. Part of the humour of the conversation between Ursula and Antonio relies on the fact that she really does know who he is, but pretends she does not. return
4.31 Humphreys, pp.233-234. return
4.32 Karen Newman, Shakespeare's Rhetoric of Comic Character (London: Methuen, 1985), p.112. return
4.36 Beatrice wishes she were a man three times, at lines 301, 305 and 316; furthermore, she refers to the role of a man, or her own inadequacy in playing a man's role, at lines 265, 317 and 321-323. return
4.37 The first speech heading (line 64) is 'Constable' in Quarto; Rowe gave it to Dogberry, and I have adopted this reading on the grounds that the malapropism 'opiniond' is in character, as is the order itself. The speech headings 'Couley' (earlier found as 'Cowley' in Quarto) and 'Kemp' must refer to the actors who played Verges and Dogberry. Several emendations have been offered for lines 65 and 66; I have adopted Malone's as the simplest and most satisfactory: Quarto reads 'Couley Let them be in the hands of Coxcombe'. The final speech, line 70, is given to 'Couley' in Quarto, but Rowe gave it to Conrade, to whom it must belong. See Humphreys, pp.189-190 cols and nn. Folio is essentially the same as Quarto, except that it compounds the error in 'Let them be in the hands of Coxcombe' by giving it to 'Sex.'. return
4.38 A point made by Professor Ferguson. return
4.39 I have already discussed the first, that in which Beatrice demands that he kill Claudio. See p.183. return
4.40 The words 'swords', 'bucklers', 'pikes', 'vice' and 'dangerous weapons' (V.ii.17-20) all have sexual connotations here - see Humphreys, p.206 nn., and Partridge, p.199. return
4.41 There is no authority for this in the stage directions of Quarto or Folio. However, Benedick's words suggest the action, and they comically echo Beatrice's earlier frivolous suggestion to Hero, where the kiss was explicit: 'Speake cosin, or (if you cannot) stop his mouth with a kisse, and let not him speake neither' (II.i.292-293). return
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