Thursday, October 10, 2013
Love Is a Battlefield?
In the first scene on Much Ado About Nothing Leonato describes the relationship between his niece Beatrice and Benedick as "a kind of merry war . . . They never meet but there's a skirmish of wit between them"(1.1.59-62). Later in the play Benedick himself comments on his feelings about Beatrice, " . . . I stood like a man at a mark with a whole army shooting at me. She speaks poniards and every word stabs" (2.1.242-5). These metaphors and similes suggest a comparison between war and love -- or at least the relationship between the sexes (or at least Benedick and Beatrice's relationship). What do war and love have in common? What is the goal or purpose for each? What is the method? What is the value? Does this comparison provide an optimistic take on the eventual union of Beatrice and Benedick -- or suggest something more problematic?
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While love and war have different means to reach an end (war is killing, love is... loving), both are potential solutions to trying to reach a compromise between two people. With war, that compromise is reached through violence. With love, the compromise is reached through talking and listening to one another. Either way, the purpose is to reach a consensus.
ReplyDeleteBeatrice's and Benedick's metaphors about war work very well because love oftentimes feels like a war. The emotional pain involved in a relationship can be related to the physical pain felt when you're being shot at, or bombed, or in any sort of physical battle. I think the metaphors aren't just for Beatrice and Benedick; while they do snipe snide comments at each other very frequently, almost any relationship can feel like a war at certain times. For instance, in Act 1, Scene 1, Beatrice says, "[Benedick] is a very valiant trencherman; he hath an
excellent stomach."
I think the comparison means there will eventually be a good future for Beatrice and Benedick, romantically. War, one way or another, ends in compromise, no matter how much damage is done along the way. As soon as Beatrice and Benedick realize that they need to agree on something rather than attack each other, as the metaphors suggest, they have a very bright future ahead of them. The end goals are the same!
The other couples in the story are equally at each others throats, they just show it through actions rather than constant witty dialogue relating love to war. Claudio and Hero's relationship is so rocky that she literally fakes her own death because of him. Still, just as with love, war tends to end in compromise; I believe that these characters' relationships will too.
Similar to the connection of love and money in Merchant of Venice, in Much Ado About Nothing, there is a clear connection between love and war, most likely due to the recent war that Benedick, Claudio and Don Pedro have all come back from. One could argue that this relationship between love and war is a positive route to take for Beatrice and Benedick because knowing of Benedick’s recent victory in war, he will surely win in this battle of love. Also, As Leonato points out, the relationship between Beatrice and Benedick is often them battling. The first time we see them together, they engage in a battle of wits and while the winner can be debated over, there is clearly some war going on. Later, once they have already confessed their love for each other, Beatrice and Benedick have this exchange,
ReplyDelete“Beatrice: I love you with so much of my heart that none is left to protest.
Benedick: Come, bid me do anything for thee.
Beatrice: Kill Claudio.
Benedick: Ha! Not for the wide world.
Beatrice: You kill me to deny it. Farewell.” 4.1.300-305
Here, they both say that they love each other but when Benedick won’t “go to war” with Claudio, Beatrice “goes to war” with Benedick. We know that love comes with some fights and arguments but Beatrice and Benedick are clearly going to war with each other but in the end, they still love each other. Overall, Beatrice and Benedick show us how love and war can coexist in a relationship even if it is just in a Shakespearean comedy.
Much Ado About Nothing opens in the quite unique circumstance of the men returning from their wars and their relationships with the women they interact with when they return. The idea that love is a battlefield would be quite a small jump for the men, however for the women this can be quite shocking when the men approach love as brutally as they approach war, on the other hand the men are also shocked at the ability of the women to fight back in these wars of love. Leonato comments on this when he says "There is a kind of merry war betwixt Singnior Benedict and her. They never meet but there's a skirmish of wit between them"(1.1.59-62). As we know while Benedict and Beatrice while they do not realize it yet are one of the most enamored of the couples in Much Ado. For Benedict and beatrice this “merry war” will continue to define their relationship throughout the play(1.1.59-62). In fact it seems to help Benedict realize he has feelings for Beatrice even before their friends conspire to concrete the fluid union already in place between the two lovers. We first realize this feeling he has for Beatrice when he says “ . . . I stood like a man at a mark with a whole army shooting at me. She speaks poniards and every word stabs" after beatrice insults him thoroughly not knowing it is Benedict himself she speaks to (2.1.242-5). The fact that such a hard man as a soldier who has just returned from a successful war is hurt by insults from a woman whom he constantly jousts words with shows that in fact he cares what she thinks of him.
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