Benedick's gulling

Act 2 Scene 3 – Key Scene

In this scene, Don Pedro, with the help of Claudio and Leonato, begins his plan of making Benedick fall in love with Beatrice. The men have followed Benedick outside and, seeing him hide in the bushes, start talking about how much Beatrice loves him. They use the opportunity to make fun of Benedick when he can’t respond and afterwards we hear Benedick reflect on it.

Take a look at an extract from this scene and watch it in performance here. Using the following steps, remember to look at it line by line and if you’re looking at the scene for the first time, don’t worry if you don’t understand everything at once.

• Look

  Take a look at the scene. Who has the most lines? Are they using prose or verse? Actors at the RSC often put the language into their own words to help them understand what they are saying. We’ve added some definitions (in green), questions (in red) and paraphrased some sections (in blue) to help with this. You can click on the text that is highlighted for extra guidance.

  Close

  Don Pedro

  Come hither, Leonato. What was it you told me of today, that your niece Beatrice was in love with Signor Benedick?

  Claudio

  (Aside) O, ay; stalk on, stalk on, the fowl sits. - I did never think that lady would have loved any man.

  Close

  Claudio uses the image of a cat stalking a resting bird to tell the men they have caught Benedick’s attention.

  Leonato

  No, nor I neither; but most wonderful that she should so dote on Signor Benedick, whom she hath in all outward behaviors seemed ever to abhor.

  Close

  Which lines are intended to be overheard by Benedick and which are comments between the men themselves? Does this help us imagine the scene?

  Benedick

  (Aside) Is't possible? Sits the wind in that corner?

  Close

  Is that really the way things are?

  Leonato

  By my troth, my lord, I cannot tell what to think of it; but that she loves him with an enraged affection: it is past the infinite of thought.

  Don Pedro

  May be she doth but counterfeit.

  Claudio

  Faith, like enough.

  Leonato

  O God! Counterfeit? There was never counterfeit of passion came so near the life of passion as she discovers it.

  Close

  Beatrice can’t be faking her feelings as they seem too real. No one has ever faked passion as well as this.

  Don Pedro

  Why, what effects of passion shows she?

  Claudio

  (To DON PEDRO and LEONATO) Bait the hook well; this fish will bite.

  Leonato

  What effects, my lord? She will sit you - you heard my daughter tell you how.

  Close

  Does Leonato run out of things to say? How do the others cover for him to keep up the pretence?

  Claudio

  She did, indeed.

  Don Pedro

  How, how, pray you? You amaze me; I would have I thought her spirit had been invincible against all assaults of affection.

  Leonato

  I would have sworn it had, my lord, especially against Benedick.

  Benedick

  (Aside) I should think this a gull, but that the white-bearded fellow speaks it; knavery cannot, sure, hide himself in such reverence.

  Close

  A gull is another word for trick. Benedick can’t believe this is all a joke as someone as respected as Leonato is saying it.

  Claudio

  (To DON PEDRO and LEONATO) He hath ta'en the infection; hold it up.

  Close

  He believes us, keep going.

  Don Pedro

  Hath she made her affection known to Benedick?

  Leonato

  No, and swears she never will; that's her torment.

  Claudio

  'Tis true, indeed, so your daughter says. 'Shall I,' says she, 'that have so oft encountered him with scorn, write to him that I love him?’

  Leonato

  This says she now when she is beginning to write to him; for she'll be up twenty times a night, and there will she sit in her smock till she have writ a sheet of paper. My daughter tells us all.

  Close

  A ‘smock’ is a slip or nightdress. Mentioning Hero as a witness to Beatrice’s behaviour makes their story more believable.

• Listen

  Read the scene aloud. Are there any words or lines that really stand out? How do you think this scene might be staged for comic effect?

• Watch

  Take a look at the actors performing this scene. How do the characters come across in this version?

  

  Play scene in performance
• Imagine

  Explore some images from past versions of Much Ado at the RSC. Which sets and staging choices for the scene feel right to you? What connects them and are there any similarities?