'She would infect to the north star' Much Ado About Nothing, Act 2, Scene 1
Bullying and The Hostile Environment
BENEDICK
O, she misused me past the endurance of a block!
an oak but with one green leaf on it would have
answered her; my very visor began to assume life and
scold with her. She told me, not thinking I had been
myself, that I was the prince's jester, that I was
duller than a great thaw; huddling jest upon jest
with such impossible conveyance upon me that I stood
like a man at a mark, with a whole army shooting at
me. She speaks poniards, and every word stabs:
if her breath were as terrible as her terminations,
there were no living near her; she would infect to
the north star. I would not marry her, though she
were endowed with all that Adam had left him before
he transgressed: she would have made Hercules have
turned spit, yea, and have cleft his club to make
the fire too. Come, talk not of her: you shall find
her the infernal Ate in good apparel. I would to God
some scholar would conjure her; for certainly, while
she is here, a man may live as quiet in hell as in a
sanctuary; and people sin upon purpose, because they
would go thither; so, indeed, all disquiet, horror
and perturbation follows her.
This week, I've simplified this feature by conducting a close reading into just one extract. In the passage above, Benedick rails against Beatrice, who has just dealt him some wicked insults at the masked ball. He appears horrified by her vivacious and vicious teasing, and goes on to dissect her behaviour and condemn it before his friends.
Benedick and Beatrice's witty war of words is one of the most celebrated and loved aspects of Much Ado About Nothing. Taken with their confessions of love in Act 5 Scene 2, their teasing is often seen as just that - a childish game that disguises their true feelings, akin to pulling pigtails in a school playground.
However, I believe there to be something more serious at work here. Even if spoken in jest, Benedick and Beatrice's combative behaviour may, from the outside, appear as verbal abuse, demonisation, or manipulation. I believe this creates a hostile environment within the play, one in which bullying is normalised, even celebrated. Other characters operating in this environment are given licence for their own acts of bullying, thus contributing to the hostility of the play that means not all of the characters are left as happy as Benedick and Beatrice.
Firstly, as is clear from the passage, Benedick demonises Beatrice. He does this in two ways: firstly, by using militaristic language to portray her as the enemy. Several words fall under this particular semantic field: Benedick is 'a man at a mark', while Beatrice is a 'whole army', who 'shoot[s]' and 'stabs' with words like 'poniards'. To speak of his arguments with Beatrice in such combative terms overstates the violence intended by her words - Beatrice is not just seen as a competitor, but as the enemy. As a seasoned soldier who has only just returned from war, it is worrying to think that Benedick is conflating Beatrice (an innocent civilian) with the opponents he has just been fighting and killing. Of course, Benedick understands the difference and never becomes physically violent, but he does increase his verbal hostility to counter hers. Thankfully, the war between these two characters is only a game, but for other characters with more serious motives, this 'stepping up' to match or surpass could have lead to fatal consequences.
The second way in which Benedick demonises Beatrice is far more literal: he uses classical and biblical allusions to portray her as corrupting, oppressive, and demonic. He claims he would avoid her even if she had 'all Adam had left him before he transgressed' [ie: paradise]: his phrasing suggests that she is nothing like paradise, but even if she were, she would still be undesirable as, like Eden, she would be inherently corrupting. He demonises her as a bully of legendary stature who would even terrorize Hercules; conflates her with Ate, the Greek goddess of conflict; and even with the Devil himself, claiming that her presence on Earth leaves Hell 'as quiet [as] a sanctuary'. By mixing the classical and the biblical, ranging from the earthly plain to the celestial, and by crossing pagan and Christian lore, Benedick suggests that Beatrice is inherently cruel, and that she is just the next in a long line of evil that has permeated the world since the beginning of time. It may appear melodramatic, but in making such varied references, Benedick sets Beatrice up as an object of hate that everyone can recognise, in one way or another.
As well as transferring hate onto Beatrice, Benedick also portrays himself as the victim in this particular argument. He validates his retaliation by claiming that any living thing would do the same, including non-human organisms ('an oak but with one green leaf'); he even argues inanimate objects, such as his 'visor' [ie: his mask] would become animate to retaliate as he did to Beatrice's bullying. Benedick is once again being melodramatic, but in doing so he denies culpability for his retaliations - his own bullying of Beatrice. Fortunately, this comes to no harm for this pair, but this act of behaving cruelly then refusing responsibility is unhealthy, and when emulated by other, less loving characters, could become damaging.
A reoccurring motif in this extract is the notion of infection, or the spreading of hostility. Benedick claims that Beatrice's venom would 'infect to the north star', and that 'all disquiet, horror and perturbation follows her' - this suggests that everything, both far and near, are affected by her cruelty. To further this notion of infection, Benedick condemns the way in which Beatrice's taunts relentlessly multiply: the line 'huddling jest upon jest with such impossible conveyance' evokes the superhuman growth of a virus.
Though Benedick speaks these analogies literally, and does so merely to further his demonisation of his tormentor, the notion of infection can itself be spread to the rest of the play. Benedick and Beatrice's squabbles, though harmless and coming from a place of affection, do contribute to the hostile environment which permeate the play at large. Though Benedick and Beatrice may sit at the centre of this, there are many other instances of bullying in Much Ado: Don Pedro and Claudio bully Benedick by gulling him; Hero and Ursula bully Beatrice in a similar fashion; Don Pedro bullies Don John by humiliating him in defeat; Don John bullies Claudio by tricking him; Claudio bullies Hero when he believes her to be false; Leonato bullies Hero in turn. Indeed Hero bares the brunt of much of the bullying, but Margaret it also misused when made to take part in the trick. There are also more minor instances of bullying which can be identified between Dogberry, Verges, Borachio, Conrade, and the members of the Watch.
When all this is considered, no matter what the ending may be, there can be no denying that there is a hostile environment in the play, contributed to in all manner of ways by almost all of the characters. It may be that the 'ado' between Benedick and Beatrice is considered 'nothing', but by normalising demonisation and refusing responsibility, it is entirely possible that what is teasing to them becomes, in the hands of other, less affectionate characters, mere bullying and abuse.
Photo credits:
David Tennant and Catherine Tate as Benedick and Beatrice at Wyndham's Theatre in 2011, found here and here.
Charles Edwards and Eve Best as Benedick and Beatrice at Shakespeare's Globe in 2011, found here (Donald Cooper) and here.
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