Key Quotes ‘Much Ado About Nothing’

● Love And Marriage

Act 1 Scene 1
Messenger Tells Leonato About Don Pedro Coming To Messina. Benedick And Beatrice First Meet.
Benedick and Claudio discuss views on Hero and marriage. Don Pedro arrives and tells Claudio he can
marry Hero.
● ‘ Doing in the figure of a lamb the feats of a lion’ →Claudio is strong and brave but also
Young, Naive and Gullible, (Animal imagery). → Links to later in the play : ‘Sir Boy’ ‘My
Lord Lackbeard’ . → Claudio’s age is now mocked rather than celebrated as they are not at
war anymore so it doesn’t matter.
● ‘ How much better is it to weep at joy than to joy at weeping’ → Good Vs Bad
→Foreshadowing Don John’s attitude and deceptions → Links to later in the play (Act 4
Scene 1) where Claudio isn’t upset about Hero’s weeping, instead he finds it as an admission
of guilt.
● ‘ Is Signor Mountanto Returned from the wars or no?’ → Beatrice is ironic as she doesn’t
want to show anyone that she cares about Benedick →this is the first thing she says, she
checks if he is alive whilst wrapping it up in an insult foreshadowing the ‘Merry War’. →
Also suggests Sexual innuendo → ‘mountanto’ means Upwards Thrust in fencing terms
suggesting she is ridiculing his soldering → Links to later in the play (Act 4 Scene 1) , ‘Signor
Benedick’. → the way Beatrice addresses him through the play transforms.
● ‘Merry War … Skirmish Of Wit’ → The Oxymoron suggests that unlike the serious war that
has just ended, this war is more playful and less deadly. → Links to later on in the play (Act
2 Scene 1) → ‘I’ll be revenged as I may’ where the ‘Merry War’ becomes much less Merry.
● ‘ He hath every month a new sworn brother’ → Beatrice suggests that Benedick is disloyal
and that his words mean nothing → foreshadows their previous relationship → Links to
later in the play (Act 4 Scene 1) → ‘do not swear it and eat it’ → she can no longer trust his
words because she knows him too well.
● ‘I wonder that you will still be talking Signor Benedick, Nobody marks you’ → Ironic →she’s
the only person who’s paying attention to him.
● ‘My dear Lady Disdain, Are you yet Living’ → Compliments her then insults her, he is also
surprised she’s still disdainful →foreshadows change in their relationship. ‘My lady Tongue’
‘This Harpy’ ‘Lady Beatrice’ the way Benedick addresses her develops with their relationship
● ‘Courtesy itself must convert … then is courtesy a turn-coat’ →foreshadows change and
transformation of their relationship over the course of the play.
● ‘I am loved of all ladies, only you excepted’ →Ironic - She is the only person who loves him,
he also sees this as a challenge
● ‘I know you of old' → foreshadows their previous relationship ‘I know you of old’ → Links to
later in the play (Act 2 Scene 1) ‘He lent it me a while’ → their relationship was temporary
and it started the Merry War and caused Beatrice not to be able to trust him.
● ‘Didst thou note the daughter of Signor Leonato’ → Noting/Nothing → Appearance Vs
Reality, Introducing difference between attitudes of Benedick and Claudio in regards to love
→ Links to courtly love (Elizabethan Context)
● ‘Thrust thy neck into a yoke’ → believes that marriage is a trap also suggests that marriage
is a weight on him → Links to later in the play → 'the savage bull doth bear the yoke'
 ● 'Can the world buy such a jewel' → Objectification of Hero, she is an object to be won →
Links to later in the play (Act 4 Scene 1) →'this rich and precious gift' → Claudio is still
objectifying Hero but here it is much more harsh and aggressive due to the plosives in the
phrase.
● 'You speak this to fetch me in my lord' → Ironic - he lacks trust and he expects to be
deceived, he's later deceived twice and believes it instantly. → Links to later in the play (Act
3 Scene 2) ‘When you know what I know’ → Claudio has just been deceived by Don John and
yet still believes him instantly, shows that the people who are meant to be wise are often
fools and the fools are often wise when it counts the most.
● 'With anger,with sickness, or with hunger' → Links to marriage further on in the play → Also
Links to love sickness in Elizabethan Context

Act 1 Scene 2
Antonio thinks that Don Pedro is in love with Hero, There was Miscommunication and Misconception.
● 'We will hold it as a dream till it appear itself' → Appearance Vs Reality

Act 1 Scene 3
Don John talking to Conrade about his hatred of his brother. Barachio tells him about Claudio's
marriage to Hero.
● 'I cannot hide what I am' → can't hide his true self, he accepts that he is a villain → Links to
'I am A Plain-Dealing Villain'
● 'What is he for a fool who betroths himself to unquietness' → Sees women and marriage as
bad
● 'That young upstart hath all the glory of my overthrow' → Don John is jealous of Claudio as
Claudio gained reputation and appreciation from Don Pedro in the light of Don John's Defeat.

Act 2 Scene 1
Masked Ball Scene, Beatrice presents her views on men and marriage,Beatrice and Benedick Argue,
Claudio is deceived for the first time.
● ‘If a could get her good will’ →Beatrice still shows that the woman has a choice on who she
marries → Links to later in the play (Act 5 Scene 4) → ‘If you like of me’ Claudio takes on
Beatrice’s ideals and respects the women, he takes away power from itself and gives it to
Hero
● ‘He shows me where the bachelors sit, and there we live merry as the day is long’ →Beatrice
sees being equal to men as her idea of heaven, she has the power to make her own choices in
live despite what society tells her
● ‘It is my cousin's duty to make curtsy and say, father as it please you’ → Beatrice is aware
of the way society works and she knows that Leonato has total control over Hero due to their
reputations and status in society.
● ‘Make another curtsy and say,father as it please me’ → Beatrice encourages Hero to make
her own decisions as she knows that Hero could say no but wont as she is the typical
Elizabethan woman.
● ‘Would it not grieve a woman to be overmastered with a piece of valiant dust’ → Grieve at a
funeral → Beatrice believes that she would die if she married a man. All surface metaphor
valuing the woman → ‘Overmastered’ → she would lose all power if she married a man →
Links to later in the play (Act 5 Scene 4) →’Peace I will stop your mouth’ → After Beatrice
Marries Benedick she doesn’t have the same freedoms and speaks no more in the play.
● ‘Wooing,Wedding and Repenting’ → Wooing is exciting, Weddings are official, you will
regret men. Benedick also shares this view. → Links to Later in the play (Act 5 Scene 3), this
 quote foreshadows the direction of Claudio and Hero’s relationship throughout the play, → In
Act 1, he asks Don Pedro to woo Hero, In Act 4, they ‘’Wed’’ and in Act 5, he must repent for
‘’killing’’ Hero.
● ‘He both pleases men and angers them’ → the insult reflects her own mixed feelings about
Benedick whilst dismissing his later attacks.
● ‘He Is the prince’s jester, a very dull fool’ →Insults his wits,laughed at not with. Values his
friendship with Don Pedro and she devalues it and reduces him. → Links to earlier in the play
(Act 1 Scene 1) 'I know you of old' this proves that she does know him well as she is able to
hurt him precisely as she knows what he values.
● 'I would had he boarded me' → innuendo (subconsciously) → ready for battle → the
metaphor suggests sexual chemistry between them.
● 'But that my Lady Beatrice should know me and not know me' → change in address from
'Lady Disdain' →softening of Beatrice, his thoughts also turns to Beatrice
● 'I'll be revenged as I may' → He knows Beatrice has won this Skirmish, structural turning
point, the 'Merry War' shifts. →Links to later in the play (Act 4 Scene 1) ‘Enough I am
engaged’ where Benedick agrees to carry out Beatrice's revenge for her as society states she
can’t do it herself. This also shows her character growth over the course of the play
● ‘ Lines 115 -127’ → This is a quick deception by Don John which Shakespeare uses to show us
just how gullible Claudio is and to foreshadow the second deception.
● ‘I stood like a man at a mark,with a whole army shooting at me’ →The simile suggests that
Benedick feels targeted by Beatrice; the use of Hyperbole suggests that the ‘Merry War’ is
changing. The Battle imagery used here also emphasises this.
● ‘She speaks poniards and every word stabs’ → The metaphor here suggests that Beatrice's
words never miss their target. Furthermore it also suggests that her insults are precise and
direct. Her words have also clearly hurt Benedick deeply as he not only feels vulnerable but
also he feels like a victim to her words
● ‘Come talk not of her’ → Ironic as he is the one talking about her. → Links to earlier in the
play (Act 1 Scene 1) → ‘nobody marks you’ → they both use the same phrasing suggesting a
link between them and they both clearly care about each other.
● ‘I would not marry her’ → His thoughts randomly turn to marriage even though no one
suggests or even implies it suggests that on a deep level he would marry beatrice. → Links to
later in the play (Act 2 Scene 3) where he again randomly starts describing the woman he
wants to marry.
● ‘He lent it me a while’ → He didn’t give his heart to her, suggesting that he wanted it back.
Furthermore it also suggests that the love was single sided. ‘A while’ suggests the transient
nature of their relationship.
● ‘A double heart for his single one’ → She gave him interest on his heart (Links to USURY,
common concept in Elizabethan times where a dowry was paid by the woman in order to
marry), He only gave her one heart, suggesting he didn’t love her properly.
● ‘He won it of me with false dice’ → he saw her love as a game,one which he cheated in, also
suggesting that he deceived her in order to win her heart. →Links to earlier in the play (Act
1 Scene 1) ‘he hath every month a new sworn brother’ ‘I know you of old’ → she knows that
he can’t be trusted at his word and we now have context to the ‘Merry War’
Act 2 Scene 2
Don John and Barachio come up with the plan to slander Hero’s reputation, Barachio tells Don John
that he will organise the deception but Don John has to tell people.
● ‘Contaminated Stale’ → Suggests that she’s and infectious prostitute → forshadows the
slanders of the wedding in Act 4 Scene 1, they also start referring to her as this even though
they know she’s done nothing wrong
● ‘Will be medicinable to me’ → Don John believes that ruining this marriage will make him
feel better about himself and his position in society → Contrasts with Benedick’s
transformation that love is a medicine → ’serve god,love me and mend’
● ‘He hath wronged his honour’ → If Hero is impure it will also affect Don Pedro’s reputation
as he ‘wooed’ Hero for Claudio. → Also links to key themes of honour and reputation in the
play. → Links to later in the play → Barachio predicts that Don Pedro will be dishonoured →
‘I stand here dishonoured to have gone about to link my friend to a common stale’
● ‘Misuse the prince, to Vex Claudio, to undo Hero and kill Leonato’ → foreshadows the
wedding as all of these things happen at the same time. → ‘most foul most fair’ → ‘I stand
here dishonoured to have gone about to link my dear friend to a common stale’ → ‘Hath no
man’s dagger here a point for me’ → ‘Sweet Hero … She is undone’

Act 2 Scene 3
Benedick Talks about love and marriage comparing Claudio before and after the war. Don
Pedro,Leonato and Claudio trick Benedick into thinking Beatrice is in love with him. Benedick realises
that he loves Beatrice.
● ‘Shallow Follies’→ Superficial and foolish → foreshadows him falling in love
● ‘Argument of his own scorn’ → love seen as foolish and unimportant → foreshadows him
falling in love
● ‘Drum and the fife … tabor and the pipe’ → Music,Clothing and speech → contrasting
symbols of military life and love
● ‘Strange dishes’ → love is seen as both familiar and unknown to Benedick → Links to his
previous relationship with Beatrice → he knows what love is but doesn’t know how to present
it.
● ‘May I be so converted’ → Language of change and transformation → foreshadows
Benedick’s transformation to a lover
● ‘Love may transform me to an oyster’ → love makes people clammed up and silent →
Metaphor is opposite to Benedick → suggests that he is scared to change
● ‘Yet I am well’ → He is content without love
● ‘The Song’ → suggests that men don’t want to commit → foreshadows Benedick’s change -
heavy use of language relating to transformation → the song itself symbolises harmony -
antithesis to conflict - end to the ‘merry war’ - foreshadows Benedick and Beatrice in
harmony → men have always deceived - deception - men are deceiving - irony → Benedick
is being deceived → men are unfaithful - wasn’t loyal and constant to Beatrice - ‘every
month he hath a new sworn brother’
● ‘For we would have it at the Lady Hero’s chamber window’ → sexual innuendo →
foreshadows Don John’s second deception.
● ‘This can be no trick’ → Ironic - It is a trick → Deception for good
● ‘Must be requited’ → Certainty suggests change → unrequited love before → he won't mess
with her this time
● ‘I did not think to marry’ → relationship with Beatrice mends him for the better
● ‘Mending’ → adjusting thoughts to changed feelings → less arrogant
 ● ‘I will be horribly in love with her’ → contrast to ‘I will live a bachelor’ his certainty has
absolutely shifted.
● ‘I have railed so long against marriage’ → Benedick has hatred everything and will act on it,
contrasts to self deception
● ‘Doth not the appetite alter’ → you can change over time → trying to defend himself
● ‘Paper bullets of the brain’ → weakness of words against power of emotion and duty
● ‘The world must be peopled’ → the teasing doesn’t matter anymore → making insults cares
less about others
● ‘I do spy some marks of love in her’ → Deceiving himself → sees what he wants to see

Act 3 Scene 1
Hero,Ursula and Margret trick Beatrice into thinking Benedick is in love with her. Hero speaks a lot in
this scene as she is in command here, as only women are present after patriarchy there is also a
social hierarchy which Hero is at the top of this structure,
● ‘Let it be thy part’ → Hero is in command here, Ursula and Margaret are only servants
● ‘Is little cupid’s crafty arrow made’ → deception for good → unthreatening → phrased in
affectionate terms to make it seem harmless
● ‘Enter Beatrice’ → Beatrice is silent → antithesis of usual behaviour → unsettled by
conversation, more than usually interested
● ‘Lapwing runs’ → bird that carries and searches → contrasts to beatrice’s behaviour so far
● ‘Treacherous bait’ → bait tricks the fish, deception → she likes the idea of Benedick
● ‘As haggards of the rock’ → like a hawk that is hard to train (like Beatrice usually) → links
to ‘taming my wild heart’ emphasises completeness of change in Beatrice
● ‘As full as fortunate a bed’ → suggestion of marriage bed → trying to tempt her
● ‘Nature never framed a woman’s heart Of prouder stuff than that of Beatrice’ → reverse
psychology and insults her to make her do the opposites → same tactics as Benedick →
highlights similarity
● ‘She’ll make sport of it’ → links to ‘[He’ll] but make sport of it’ they both value their their
wit and the ‘merry war’
● ‘So turns she every man the wrong side out’ → Presents Beatrice as fussy → Links to earlier
in the play (Act 2 Scene 1) ‘I could not endure a man with a beard’ → no man is good
enough for her
● ‘She would mock me into air’ → Beatrice’s wit is too harsh to even speak of love
● ‘Waste inwardly … die with mocks’ → no hope, plants some concern for Benedick
● ‘Honest Slanders, to stain my cousin with’ → Benedick must be put off → ironic as it
foreshadows the slandering of Hero
● ‘So rare a gentleman as Signor Benedick’ → everyone else wants him → she should act fast
so she doesn’t miss her chance
● ‘Some cupid kills with arrows,some with traps’ → mention of deception for good → hunting
imagery
● ‘Pride and scorn’ → Beatrice hears judgement of others → Links to ‘mending’ in Benedick’s
soliloquy
● ‘I will requite thee’ → mirrors Benedick’s certainty about requiting love
● ‘Taming my wild heart’ → continuous images of hunting/birds/animals tamed ‘haggard’ ,
‘Yoke’
● ‘Lines 107-116’ → Beatrice’s Soliloquy,sometimes called an unfinished sonnet (similar in
structure but not 14 lines) is unfinished as their love is not yet sealed
Act 3 Scene 2
Don Pedro,Claudio and Leonato mock Benedick. Don John tells Don Pedro and Claudio that he knows
that Hero has been disloyal. Claudio agrees that if he sees anything he will shame Hero at the
wedding.
● ‘I am not as I have been’ → transformation acknowledged by Benedick but still mocked by
others.
● ‘In love with some woman’ → dramatic irony (we know that they know he’s in love with
Beatrice
● ‘He looks younger than he did, by the loss of a beard’ → He’s trying to look good for
Beatrice → embracing his transformation by ‘mending’
● ‘The sweet youth’s in love’ → love is making him more youthful and excited rather than
cynical → hopeful and optimistic for the future
● ‘The two bears will not bite one another when they meet’ → animal imagery → suggests the
end of the ‘merry war’
● ‘Enter DON JOHN the bastard’ → mood change, Don John represents hate and deception →
shorter lines suggest more tension - less conversational - faster pace
● ‘When he knows what I Know’ → monosyballic,harsh,blunt → ‘knows’ has sexual
connotations - introduces deciet of Hero’s shame - we ‘know’ the truth - dramatic irony
emphasised by repetition.
● ‘Any impediment’ → from the marriage service → foreshadows Claudio’s discarding of hero
at the wedding → links to earlier in the play (Act 2 Scene 2) ‘any impediment will be
medicinable to me’
● ‘Suit ill-spent … Labour ill bestowed’ → introduction of the negative views of the coming
marriage
● ‘The lady is disloyal’ → Shock of the slander
● ‘Every man’s Hero’ → language builds to dishonour her - reflects contextual ideas of honour
patriarchy - owned by father + husband - no voice and lack of power
● ‘Even the night before her wedding day’ → the ultimate disloyalty - used to force Claudio’s
anger
● ‘May this be so’ → asks questions instead of defending her honour - so quickly persuaded to
shame Hero
● ‘There I will shame her’ → quick to condemn - deception, play within a play - wedding will
be used to shame her although the accusations are not proven yet - Hero has no voice here as
they don’t even ask her about it
● ‘Oh … Oh … Oh …’ → use of apostrophe shifts focus to the change in Hero’s reputation -
turning point
● ‘Plague right well prevented’ → links to idea about lovesickness and illness - Claudio was
never truly in love with Hero - marriage to Hero seen as dangerous - worse than a ‘yoke’ -
marriage to Hero will kill you - importance of reputation - more serious - Ironic - Don John
suggests that he has saved Claudio - foreshadows Hero’s death

Act 3 Scene 2
Dogberry arranges for the watch to go on duty. Barachio and Condrade,both drunk, start talking
about the deception and Hero’s disgrace. They are then arrested by the watch.
● ‘Dogberry lines’ → malapropisms - muddling words up in a comedic way
● ‘Conrade and Barachio’s Conversation’ → Conrade believes that Barachio is acting above his
class → this links to earlier in the play (Act 2 Scene 2) where Barachio uses a large amount
 of command/modal verbs with Don John although Don John is his superior. → also links to
Act 4 Scene 1 where Claudio and Don Pedro constantly act below his class.

Act 3 Scene 4
It’s the morning of the wedding and Hero and Margret are talking but their conversation soon turns
to sex. Beatrice has a cold but Margret mocks her as she believes that Beatrice is ‘Lovesick’ for
Benedick.
● ‘Exceeding Heavy’ → Foreboding → She’s worried about the wedding →Irony, She doesn’t
know whats about to happen
● ‘The weight of a man’ → Sexual innuendo → Links to suggested impurity
● ‘You look with your eyes as other women do’ → Benedick’s Converted and Margret is drawing
together conclusions
→Hero Knoes nothing about what’s going to happen she is innocent of the crim and the
knowledge
→ Dramatic Irony - ‘there I will shame her’
→ Quick reminder of Beatrice and Benedick’s Deception

Act 3 Scene 5
Dogberry and Verges try to warn Leonato about the deception and the wedding as well as the arrest
of Barachio and Conrade, however the message doesn’t get across due to Dogberry’s turn of phrase
and Leonato dismisses them.
● ‘Dogberry’ → Here Dogberry tries to elevate himself by using polysyballic words but gets it
wrong meaning the message does not get through
→ Dogberry discovers that Hero will be slandered but Don Pedro and Claudio are much wiser
and higher in society so Leonato bellieves them.

Act 4 Scene 1
The wedding scene where Claudio shames Hero. Then the Friar comes up with the deception of Hero’s
death. Then Beatrice and Benedick admit their love for each other.
● ‘Know you any Hero’ → Nobody knows anything → Don John’s deception creates dramatic
irony
● ‘Men…Do…Men…Do’ → monosyballic repetition emphasises the idea that men do things
simplistically without knowing → their actions are repeated → simple,unthinking, ‘men do’
the act rather than ‘know’ → envinced by the reactions of Don Pedro and Claudio to being
tricked.
● ‘Not knowing’ → use of monosylablles leads a truncated feel to the speech → like the
wedding →cut short → reflects the Harshness to Hero later in the scene
● ‘Give’ → Hero is given from man to man and owner to owner → contextual - objectification
‘to be given’
● ‘Worth’ → Hero’s ‘worth’ judged solely in terms of virtue and reputation → Context - women
can’t defend their own honour
● ‘This rich and precious gift’ → echoes ‘Jewel’ speech earlier in the play but here the language
is much more polosive and bitter
● ‘Rotten orange’ → Old/used →No longer pure
→ Beautiful on the outside but rotten in the inside → Apperaance Vs Reality
→ Diseased → STO
→ Ruined Reputation
→ Links to Prostitution → Oranges sold as reason to walk the streets
● ‘Sign…Semblance…Show…Cover…Exterior shows’ → Deceptive language → Appearance Vs
Reality
● ‘Comes not that blood as modest evidence to witness that simple virtue’ → Claudio misreads
her blushes → Don John’s deception leads him to distrust appearance → changes from ‘In
mine eye’ speech
● ‘I stand here dishonoured’ → Don Pedro sees Hero’s loss of reputation as damaging to his
own honour,he thinks that he has been deceived by her → Irony that the real deception leads
he and Claudio to dishonour her
● ‘Common Stale’ → Metaphor → ‘common’ → something known and used by all ‘every man’s
Hero’ → ‘stale’ →left out/gone off/no longer fresh or pleasant
● ‘Leonato,Stand I Here’ → omnipresence of deception → anyone can be deceived →status is
irrelevant
● ‘Is this the prince ?’ → repeated rhetorical questions imply he thinks he knows the answer
and that it should be obvious to all but he is wrong
● ‘Are our eyes our own’→ believes that he has seen Hero’s impurity with his own eyes → Don
John’s deception has made him see falsely
● ‘God Defend Me’ → Hero appeals to god as no one else will defend her
● ‘How I am beset’ → surrounded/hemmed in under the attack of the men, like an animal
● ‘But fare the well’ → Pun on fair/fare → Claudio says goodbye to her beauty
● ‘Most foul most fair’ → Oxymoron encapsulates the notion of appearance and reality,
Claudio believes she’s both foul and fair → Virgin Vs Whore
● Thou Pure impiety and impious purity’ → Her wickedness is pure/absolute/apparent, purity is
wicked, antithesis Apperance Vs Reality both things cutance. Epitomises Claudio’s confusion
→Polosives reveal emotion, anger instead of love at the wedding. Don John’s deception has
been successful
● ‘A point for me’→ Leonato believes it → his reputation is destroyed too. He would rather die
than have a ‘rotten’ daughter → Contextual shame of daughter → self pity. ‘Kill Leonato’
→Emphasises Barachio and Don John’s Succsess
● ‘Hero Falls’ → She is unable to defend herself → shame is harmful and destructive
● ‘Wherefore sink you down’ → Highlights the differences between the cousins → Beatrice
would fight to defend her honour whereas Hero just faints
● ‘Exeunt Don Pedro,Don John and Claudio’ → Benedick remains → shift of allegiance, signals
love for Beatrice and disapproval of mens actions
● ‘Do not live Hero,do not open thine eyes’ → harshness of his judgment and the worlds
judgment → monosyballic phrasing mirrors meaning → her life should be cut short as a
result of her shame →Irony as they all need to open their eyes to deception
● ‘Fallen into a pit of ink’ → fallen woman → blackness,disgraced,hell,stained → colour
symbolism, sinful,blackened reputation
● ‘In angel whitness’ →colour symbolism juxtaposes with colour symbolism in ‘pit of
ink’,opposition and innocence
● ‘Out of all eyes,tounges,minds and injury’ → People are the cause of herm,judgment of
others cause harm
● ‘The smallest twine may lead me’ → Irony → whole episode has been lead by the ‘smallest
twine’ of deception
● ‘Die to live’ → life or death → religious reputation will be restored → without reputation she
may as well be dead
● ‘It is a man’s office but not yours’→ men have a role for beatrice here → society doesn’t
allow women to do this → can’t ask him yet as they aren’t committed to each other yet
 ● ‘Do not swear and eat it’ → she doubts his oaths → Links to earlier in the play ‘every month
a new sworn brother’ → reiterates her distrust of him
● ‘Kill Claudio’ → harsh cutting sounds,mirror meaning →harsh violent words
● ‘Slandered,scorned,dishonored’ → links words together about Hero → reflects anger
● ‘Oh God, I were a man ! I would eat his heart in the marketplace’ → repetition heightens her
wish,appeals to god → she can no longer joke about men and women, furious about her
limitations → Public - humiliation suffering suffering for Claudio,Claudio has a cold heart,
he doesn’t deserve better than an animal in the market → removes his humanity
● ‘I will die a woman with grieving’ → Links to ‘Would it not grieve a woman’ → women’s
place in society always leads to grief
● ‘Use it for my love some other way than swearing it’ → Beatrice wants his words to become
action → she wants him to do what she can’t
● ‘Yea, as sure as I have a thought or a soul’ →this is convincing as throughout the play we
have seen numerous occasions where Beatrice has proved she has both thoughts and soul
● ‘Enough, I am engaged’ → Benedick has absolute faith and Beatrice’s thoughts and soul is all
he needs to be convinced, he is also quick to make his decision.→ Here Benedick successfully
becomes a lover as he is able to use words and actions to do what Beatrice wants, whereas
Claudio’s transformation from soldier to lover is drastically terrible and he ends up being a
fool. This had been foreshadowed throughout the play (eg ‘Very Forward March chick’)

Act 4 Scene 2
Borachio and Conrade’s trial, Don John’s villainy is finally revealed.
● ‘Disassembly’ → here Dogberry means to say assembly → disassembly means to deceive →
Borachio’s deception, here Dogberry subsequently links a theme → Don John Disassembles the
wedding