Beatrice and Benedick
Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre 2022
c. Manuel Harlan
Much Ado about Nothing – Footnotes (*)
The Footnotes to our episode on Much Ado About Nothing include more on the meaning of the title, the rhetoric in play in the verbal tennis of the dialogue, and the changing perception of Beatrice through the ages.
Not listened to the episode yet? You’ll find it here.
The Title
We talked in the podcast about the multiple connotations of the title, including particularly the double meaning of “nothing” and “noting”. We may have missed the most obvious meaning of the title, that much is made of Hero’s apparent illicit behaviour, which of course did not happen. A great deal was made about her having done nothing.
A war of words
Lucy noted in our conversation that more than 70% of the play’s lines are in prose rather than verse. She pointed out that prose enables a speed of wit, which we certainly see in the ongoing repartee between Beatrice and Benedick. As one critic described it: “repartee is a way of life for Beatrice and Benedick.”
Their dialogue consists of alternating, competitive ripostes, like a game of verbal tennis. In fact specific rhetorical devices are at work in their interplay, with each of them picking up on a word or image from the other, then twisting it and sending it back in a new form. This back and forth is particularly evident in their first encounter in Act 1, Scene 1, 112-139, where they exchange such targeted returns until Benedick runs out of ideas and reverts to simply calling her names.
In general the style of speech in the play is socially sophisticated, where conversation is a form of debate and the intent is to argue an antithetical position. The 3rd Arden edition of the text identifies this idiom as “euphuism”, which it defines as “eloquence in the service of persuasion.”
One of its characteristics is that the speaker is able to go on at length – perhaps simply to tire their opponent out. As Benedick says of Beatrice in their first extended exchange: “I would my horse had the speed of your tongue, and so good a continuer.” (1.1 135). The Arden’s observation that “conversation is both a dance and a form of combat”, describes the formal and elegant nature of the dialogue very well.
The perception of Beatrice
Beatrice is perceived to be exceptional as a woman in her time, not just because she eschews marriage, but because of her fiery tongue. In a world where banter is a standard idiom for men, she is remarkable in giving as good as she gets. The ideal woman in this patriarchal society would be much more modest and obedient. In fact in Renaissance literature there was perceived to be a link between verbal dexterity and sexual license, so that Beatrice becomes even more of a ‘loose cannon’, so to speak.
The perception of Beatrice has evolved over the centuries since she first challenged the patriarchy of Shakespeare’s Sicily. For long periods she was maligned as too much of a shrew, bitter in her failure to abide by the patriarchal conventions that still prevailed in the societies of the play’s audiences. In our own time, of course, we celebrate her intellectual superiority and fierce independence. She is now allowed to be the equal of the men, if not more than.
Lucy Phelps as Beatrice
Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre 2022
c. Manuel Harlan
113 – Arcadia by Tom Stoppard
Published 24th August
Tom Stoppard’s 1993 play, Arcadia is viewed by many as his finest play, renowned for the breadth of its intellectual interrogations and its formal invention. The play is a structural masterpiece of ideas, as well as a teasing detective story, joyous comedy, and emotionally rich exploration of love and loss.
As we record this episode a wonderful new production of Arcadia is playing at the Duke of York’s theatre in London’s West End, following its acclaimed run at the Old Vic theatre earlier this year. I am delighted to share the challenge and the pleasure of exploring Stoppard’s dazzling drama with the director of the new production, Carrie Cracknell.
112 – Glengarry Glen Ross by David Mamet
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David Mamet’s modern American classic, Glengarry Glen Ross, is a blistering commentary on the cut-throat reality of the American dream, and its poisonous impact on those who have bought into the myth and machismo of that dream. The play had its world premiere in the small Cottesloe theatre at the National Theatre in London in September 1983, and was first performed in New York the following year, winning the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Mamet also wrote the extended screenplay for the star-studded 1992 film version.
As we recorded this episode a new production of the play was playing at the Old Vic theatre in London, with an all-female cast. This is a particularly provocative idea, because one of the primary themes of this play is masculine identity, and the salesmen in this Chicago office do not hold back in their display of machismo.
To explore Mamet’s unflinching slice of 1980s dog-eat-dog capitalism, I am joined by arts journalist Mark Lawson.
111 – The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui by Bertolt Brecht
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Bertolt Brecht’s ‘gangster spectacle’, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, is both an exuberant and funny piece of theatre, and a chillingly topical political satire. Set in the 1930s Chicago of Al Capone, Brecht presents a parody of the rise of Hitler through the character of the gangster Arturo Ui. The play is a universal cry for vigilance against the rise of unscrupulous, populist leaders who threaten democratic societies and global peace.
As we recorded this episode a new production of the play by the Royal Shakespeare Company was playing in Stratford-upon-Avon, starring Mark Gatiss as the title character.
I am delighted to be joined by both the show’s translator, playwright Stephen Sharkey, and by Brecht scholar, Professor Tom Kuhn, to guide us through Brecht’s political parody.
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