Marriage in Much Ado About Nothing

In Much Ado About Nothing, Benedick's attitude about marriage and initial feelings about Beatrice are quite contrary to how he feels in the ending.

In the first scene, Benedick is talking to Don Pedro and Claudio when he makes an 'anti-marriage' comment. He says he will do himself the right to not trust any woman, rather than doing women wrong by not trusting any. He goes further to say "And the fine is, for the which I may go the finer, I will live a bachelor" (1.1.240-242). It seems obvious that Benedick is distrustful of women and would rather not be involved with a woman. A few lines later, Don Pedro hints that although Benedick is unsuited to marriage, he will eventually be 'tamed' and able to accept marriage: "in time the savage bull doth bear thy yoke" (1.1.256). This foreshadows the fact that Benedick will eventually let himself fall for Beatrice.

At the masked ball, Benedick uses Beatrice's entrance as an opportunity to display his wit. He indicates to his friends that he would rather be miles away than be around Beatrice any longer. He says to the prince, "Will your grace command me any service to the world's end?" (2.1.259-260).

Later in the play, Benedick muses to himself, critiquing Claudio. He wonders how a man can think another man is a fool, and laugh at them, for falling in love, and then fall in love himself. He says that when this happens the man becomes the object of his own scorn, "and such a man is Claudio" (2.3.12-13). The ironic part of this statement is that Benedick will become the "argument of his own scorn" later in the play. He critiques Claudio for laughing at a man for being in love, and later falling in love. Benedick eventually does the very thing he critiques.

Benedick's feelings for Beatrice become clear when he challenges Claudio to duel to the death. Normally when a man accuses a woman of being unchaste, the man's friends are likely to be on his side. In this case, Benedick did not side with his close friend. He had to have felt strongly about Beatrice to side with her over Claudio, let alone be willing to duel to the death with Claudio.

In the very last scene of the play, when Claudio and Hero and Benedick and Beatrice are coupled again, Benedick's complete transformation regarding marriage is clear. He tells Don Pedro that since he intends to marry, he "will think nothing to any purpose that the world can say against it", and to not "flout" at him for what he has said against marriage, "for man is a giddy thing" (5.4.109-112). He glorifies marriage further when he says to Don Pedro "Get thee a wife. There is no staff more reverend than one tipped with horn" (5.4.126-127). The flouting comment is quite a departure from his comment about men mocking marriage and later becoming the object of their own scorn. He switched from criticizing those that mock married men and then marry to being one of the men that mocked marriage before getting married. The staff "tipped with horn" comment could be another allusion to bulls (or their horns, anyway).

Over the course of the play, Benedick has made a complete turnaround where his feelings about marriage and Beatrice are concerned. Even though this is due largely to others tricking the couple into love, the turnaround is a little ironic. His comments about Claudio in act 2 scene 3 function as a kind of self fulfilling prophecy.