HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY! FSC Board President, Kelly Stage, on Benedick and Beatrice

Kelly Stage with her partner, Tom.

 BENEDICK I do love nothing in the world so well as you. Is not that strange?

BEATRICE As strange as the thing I know not. It were as possible for me to say I loved nothing so well as you, but believe me not, and yet I lie not; I confess nothing, nor I deny nothing. I am sorry for my
cousin.

BENEDICK By my sword, Beatrice, thou lovest me!

BEATRICE Do not swear and eat it.

BENEDICK I will swear by it that you love me, and I will make him eat it that says I love not you.

BEATRICE Will you not eat your word?

BENEDICK With no sauce that can be devised to it. I protest I love thee.

BEATRICE Why then, God forgive me.

BENEDICK What offense, sweet Beatrice?

BEATRICE You have stayed me in a happy hour. I was about to protest I loved you.

BENEDICK And do it with all thy heart.

BEATRICE I love you with so much of my heart that none is left to protest

To me, this exchange between Beatrice and Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing perfectly expresses the absolute terror and elation of being vulnerable enough to truly love someone, and moreover, to admit and validate that love. While I love many Renaissance dramatists, Shakespeare’s ability to capture the human difficulty of being in love, believing in love, and realizing why it’s worth it, puts him in a class of his own.

In this scene, Beatrice and Benedick are alone together after a terrible disruption has disgraced Beatrice’s cousin’s intended wedding. In spite of all that is wrong in their world, in this moment, the two cannot help but finally tell each other how they feel—something that is not easy for either of them. After all, they have each sworn off the idea of love or marriage, and despite their vinegar natures, their friends have attempted to nudge them together. They both still fear what it will mean, to the world and to each other, if they become lovers. They also both fear what will happen if, in fact, they are wrong about the other person. In the past, verbally sparring with each other has allowed them to “keep distance” (a phrase I was taught in college fencing classes): they never quite lose each other but never come too close. In this scene, they close the distance and finally must express their mutual devotion.

For Benedick, his mere presence is an important one before he even says anything. While he arrived at the wedding with his male compatriots, he stays with Beatrice in this scene rather than departing with them. He signals that he has allied himself with her and not with his fellows, who have (inaccurately and under misinformation) slandered Beatrice’s family. But the words that must come next are the hardest part of love, as the halting and hilarious dialogue that ensues shows. The scene recognizes a very basic human fear, magnified by their energetic suppression of love leading to this point: “I love this person so much that I must tell them I love them, and yet, what if they don’t love me back?” When Benedick first tells Beatrice he loves her, he does so in a negative formulation: “I do love nothing in the world so well as you.” Beatrice’s response belies her brain and heart’s difficulty with the circumstance is even more pronounced: “It were as possible for me to say I loved nothing so well as you, but believe me not, and yet I lie not; I confess nothing, nor I deny nothing.” She struggles to figure out how and what to say, and even how to accept what has come from her own mouth. She has difficulty accepting that he is truthful; having faith in his word and losing it would be more painful than not having it at all. Yet, they finally get to the positive formulation: “I love thee.”

Their exchange reflects the overwhelming feeling that it’s impossible not to take the leap. Love is faith; it is confession. As Beatrice says, “I love you with so much of my heart that none is left to protest.” The whole conversation is humorous, but it is deeply resonant for me. The scene allows us to recognize the power of love that cannot be denied, even if denying it seems like the rational thing to do. This exchange, because of its fear, misgivings, and awkwardness—is what that first moment of truly being in love, together, feels like.