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In Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, what are Beatrice's feelings about marriage?

At the beginning of the play, Beatrice is strongly opposed to marrying. Her uncle Leonato laments that she will never marry because she is too picky and harsh, and she cheerfully agrees. First, she says that a perfect man would be a combination of the sour Don John and the talkative Benedick, but she raises the standard even further by adding a number of other qualities. Beatrice says the fact that she has no husband...

At the beginning of the play, Beatrice is strongly opposed to marrying. Her uncle Leonato laments that she will never marry because she is too picky and harsh, and she cheerfully agrees. First, she says that a perfect man would be a combination of the sour Don John and the talkative Benedick, but she raises the standard even further by adding a number of other qualities. Beatrice says the fact that she has no husband is a blessing from God, “for the which blessing I am at him upon my knees every morning and evening.”


She goes on to say that she wants neither a bearded man (“I had rather lie in the woollen”) nor an unbearded one (“What should I do with him? dress him in my apparel and make him my waiting-gentlewoman?”).  Beatrice wishes to remain single and go to heaven a maid, “where the bachelors sit, and there live we as merry as the day is long.” She continues to give all sorts of reasons against marriage, such as that men are made of dust (referring to Adam, the original man) and that all men are technically her kin, whom she refuses to marry.


Beatrice’s final criticism of marriage in this debate compares it to a jig, which begins in haste, proceeds in modesty, and then leads to repentance and exhaustion. She is indeed a hard critic of marriage, but, in the end, she falls for and marries her playful nemesis Benedick.

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