Here is an essay on Much Ado About Nothing that I wrote for a class a few years ago
Disease, Injury, and Medicinal Metaphor in Much Ado About Nothing
In William Shakespeare’s play Much Ado About Nothing, disease and injury are frequently used as metaphors in regards to social relationships. This is because of the contagious nature of disease and the fact that the injuries are frequently inflicted on one person by another. The linking of bodily harm and disharmony to the effects of relationships is telling of the vulnerability that necessities genuine intimacy. Love is referred to as a disease and slights made by loved ones are wounds. This is particularly demonstrated with the characters of Beatrice and Benedick— and one of the ways that the change in their relationship is shown is in how this metaphorical language evolves from accusing each other of disease and injury, to recognizing the need and ability for healing that they both possess for each other.
Beatrice’s first line of the play asks whether or not Bendick has survived the recent military skirmish that has killed “…few of any sort, and none of name” (1.1 7). However, she does not ask for him by name, instead referring to him by a derisive made-up name. When Beatrice does finally say Benedick’s name, she makes it a disease, saying “O Lord, he will hang upon him like a disease! He is sooner caught than the pestilence, and the taker runs presently mad. God help the noble Claudio! If he have caught the Benedick, it will cost him a thousand pound ere ‘a be cured” (1.1 81-85). According to Beatrice, Benedick’s personality is worse and more contagious than the bubonic plague. However, her initial inquiry regarding whether or not he was killed demonstrates a specific concern for him, and suggests that Beatrice does find Benedict catching in a way that does not denote something completely undesirable.
At the masquerade ball that night, in an exchange directly following the amiable pairings of Balthasar with Margaret and Antonio with Ursula, Beatrice belittles Benedict. He complains, “She told me, not thinking I had been myself, that I was the prince’s jester, that I was duller than a great thaw, huddling jest upon jest with such impossible conveyance upon me that I stood like a man at a mark, with a whole army shooting at me. She speaks poniards, and every word stabs” (2.1 222-227). Beatrice’s insults, though heard by no one else other than Benedick, devastate him so much that he refers to her words as if they were daggers and arrows wounding him. This highlights his insecurity and even suggests regard for Beatrice’s opinion of him.
When Claudio partakes in Don Pedro’s plot to trick Benedick and Beatrice into falling in love with each other, he says “[Benedick] hath ta’en th’infection” (2.3 122). The use of the word “infection” is another example of love being likened to a contagious disease. In this case, love is something literally caught from others. However, when Beatrice later says that she is sick Margaret tells her, “Get you some of this distilled cardus benedictus, and lay it to your heart; it is the only thing for a qualm” (3.4 67-69). The name of the medicinal plant is a pun on Benedick’s name. It also draws attention to the connection between Beatrice and Benedick that exists in the common Latin root both Beatrice and Benedick’s names share— blessing. This word reveals what their function should be to the world around them, including each other. The plant in both name and function also connects back to disease through a common belief of antiquity. Plagues and disease were seen as the result of immortality and God’s disfavor, a curse. Good health was taken as a sign of virtue and God’s favor, a blessing.
In a play full of deception — both the well-intentioned deception of Don Pedro and the malevolent deception of Don John — it is Friar Francis who comes up with the ploy that ultimately resolves the plot with his plan to declare that Hero died from the shock of being publicly accused of infidelity. He says, “For strange sores strangely they strain the cure” (4.1 264-265). Benedick echoes the friar’s words when he finally admits his love for Beatrice, declaring “I love nothing in the world so well as you. Is not that strange?” (4.1 277-278). This suggests that the pairing of Beatrice and Benedick is not only strange, but a salve for the injuries they have inflicted on each other.
The next day when Benedick asks Beatrice how she and Hero are doing, and Beatrice replies that they are both “very ill” (5.2 82, 84). This is a new honestly between them. At the beginning of the play they were reticent to show any trace of weakness. However, Beatrice’s use of the word “ill” describes not just her emotional state in relation to Hero’s plight, but also being in love, as she has “caught the Benedick” herself. Benedick replies, “Serve God, love me and mend” (5.2 85). The use of the word “mend,” like Margaret’s suggestion that Beatrice apply cardus benedictus to her heart, denotes that the new relationship between Beatrice and Benedick is medicinal and healing.
However, the new private intimacy that Beatrice and Benedick share does not easily cross over to a public setting. While they do openly agree to marry, they do so with the much of the same banter they employed earlier. In attempt to maintain the impression of mutual disregard in public, love is again linked to disease as Beatrice says “They swore that you were almost sick for me” (5.4 80). Her last line is a mock-insult in which she accepts Benedick’s proposal, saying “I will not deny you, but by this good day I yield upon great persuasion – and partly to save your life, for I was told you were in a consumption” (5.4 94-96). “Consumption” referred to a wasting disease, like tuberculosis. However, the structure of the word itself is similar to consummation. The two words share their first two root words: con, meaning “with,” and sum, meaning “total.” Consumption is with total devouring. Consummation is with total coming together. The use of the word “consumption” upon the engagement of Beatrice and Benedick implies and alludes to consummation— and concludes their conflation of disease with love.
Beatrice and Benedick are one of English literature’s most iconic couples because of their ability to exchange insults and manipulate language. They are also one of the most beloved couples because of their ability to change their minds and hearts— even when they themselves are being manipulated. Their relationship drastically changes as they go from begrudging acquaintances to a loving couple. The trajectory of this journey can be traced in their use of metaphorical illness, injury, and healing. Benedict is transformed from a disease Beatrice decries, to a remedy for her. Beatrice wounds Benedick, but later he advises her how to heal from her own hurt. In their final round of banter love may be a disease, but through Beatrice and Benedick’s mutual honesty and vulnerability they reveal a remedy for whatever harmful symptoms love causes.
