Benedick Diary Before War
I often feel scary about war no matter how strong I look outwards. Who knows may be I am here today and by the time war is finished I will be on another world. Sometimes I feel it’s better to go to war than to fall in love and make silly promises to your partner just to make her happy. And won’t it be even worse if heart goes after such a demanding and tattling women like Beatrice. What a miserable life it would be – worse than dying in war. However she acts wise sometimes and if she changes her silly gossiping habit…. She is really witty and beautiful too… Oh what a fool I am, why I am thinking of her when I don’t like her. Oh what a fickle mind, a vagabond. To tame this mind is much more difficult than to win a war.
Benedick Diary on evening of Act One after “Skirmish of Wit’’
Oh what a piece of work is this woman. (Modification of Shakespeare phrase “What a piece of work is a man” ) She doesn’t know how to respect an honorable man who has just arrived from war with victory on his hand. Has she always been like that, with all the people alike or it’s only me that she is so rough with? Is there anything wrong with my personality, or attire? Perhaps I should not have bounce back her harsh words with referring her “Disdain”. But she really is disdain. May be I should have avoid to come across her. Oh Lord why I came across her. I am admired by all beautiful damsel (is not this old term for girl and lad for boys) of Messina expect her. And there falls another victim of Cupid- my dear comrade Claudio. Now he sees nothing expect Hero. Is not Hero better than Beatrice? But she is not my type; too shy, gentle and sophisticated to deal with.
Shakespeare’s character Benedick is just pretending to be carefree and immune to love but he is not. He too has a nice romantic attitude but is trying to create a persona indifferent to love and woman. For me he is some sort of victim of psychological dysfunction - a man might developed in which he mistakenly thinks that its hard to cope and go along with a women. As with love and marriage come commitments and responsibilities and to this Benedick is afraid of. Benedick remind me an another character Pro. Henry Higgins created by GB Shaw in his play Pygmalion. Like Higgins Benedick thoughts are parallel towards perception of woman, Higgins declares- “Woman upset everything. When you let them into your life, you find that woman is driving at one thing and you’re driving at another. The woman wants to live her own life and man wants to live his own and each tries to drag the other one the wrong track. One wants to go north and other south and the result is both have to go east.”( Act II ). Similar type of saying is declared by Benedick to Cladiuo when questioned about lady named Hero.
In spite of all stereotyping of woman by Benedick to be worthless and particularly of Beatrice, he is unknowingly attracted to her. And Beatrice too is attracted to Benedick. The straight conversation between them like Beatrice mentioning him to stop taking as nobody marks what he says and Benedick mentioning her as disdain and telling her directly how he dislike her excess tattering shows an intimacy between them. One does not comment on other in face to face if they are not close. Therefore I think that both of them are unaware about their mutual passion, emotion and love towards each other.
2 comments:
VERY good connection to Professor Higgins! Yes, Benedick is a "confirmed bachelor" and so it is very hard for him to think about changing his life for any woman.
I love how you say that Beatrice and Benedick are both "unaware about their mutual passion, emotion and love towards each other". I agree that they both put on some sort of front, pretending as though they couldn't care less about one another, while they bottle up the many emotions they may feel towards one another.
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