Sigh No More Lady (Pt 1)

Bea telling it like it is

1. A Choice to Live as an Old Maid

LEONATO

"Well then, go you into hell?"

BEATRICE

"No; but to the gate, and there will the devil meet me like an

old cuckold with horns on his head, and say 'Get you to heaven,

Beatrice, get you to heaven. Here's no place for you maids.' So

deliver I up my apes, and away to Saint Peter--for the heavens.

He shows me where the bachelors sit, and there live we as merry

as the day is long" (2.1.42).

-Beatrice jokes that she is so right with dying unmarried, that she would get to hell, be turned around and sent to heaven. She is sure that nothing is wrong with her and that she is happy to be single. Though it could be a front, it's a more positive attitude to have than weeping over being alone.

2. Losing Freedom Through Marriage

LEONATO

"Well, niece, I hope to see you one day fitted with a husband."

BEATRICE

"Not till God make men of some other metal than earth. Would

it not grieve a woman to be overmaster'd with a piece of valiant

dust? to make an account of her life to a clod of wayward marl?

No, uncle, I'll none. Adam's sons are my brethren, and truly I

hold it a sin to match in my kindred" (2.1.57)

-Beatrice does not truly believe she is blood related to all men; It is simple the easiest way to write off marriage. She claims that all men are kindred and equal and she is unwilling to become subservient of an equal (a man) as she believes marriage would force her to be. (Think about Benedick also worrying about losing his freedom..)

3. Say What You Wanna Say

ANTONIO

[to Hero] "Well, niece, I trust you will be ruled by your father."

BEATRICE

"Yes faith. It is my cousin's duty to make curtsy and say,

'Father, as it please you.' But yet for all that, cousin, let him

be a handsome fellow, or else make another curtsy, and say,

'Father, as it please me.'" (2.1.50)

-Familial love is expressed as a duty in the play and Hero is willing to obey her father out of love. Beatrice, also out of love, reminds Hero that with familial duty comes a little wiggle room for her own wants. This goes to show Beatrice's attitude towards men and marriage, not that it is out of question for her, just that there are certain criteria.

4. Smilin' Through the Pain

LEONATO

"There is little of melancholy element in her my lord. She is never sad but when she sleeps, and not ever sad then, for I have heard my daughter say she hath often dreamt of unhappiness and waked herself with laughing." (2.1.342)

-Leonato comments on how happy Beatrice always is and her ability to keep that happiness though she may have plenty to worry about. It is easier for her to laugh than cry about things she can't control.

5. Prove Em Wrong

"What fire is in mine ears? Can this be true? Stand I condemned for pride and scorn so much? Contempt, farewell! And maiden pride, adieu! No glory lives behind the back of such. And, Benedick, love on; I will requite thee, taming my wild hesrt to thy loving hand." (3.1.107)

-What moves Beatrice this most is that her friends seem to believe she is scornful and prideful. This pride however, is what leads her to be with Benedick, to improve herself and prove her friends wrong; that she can love.