Much Ado About Nothing - Act 5

Much Ado About Nothing (Act 5)

In Act 5 of Much Ado About Nothing we find Benedick trying to write a sonnet to his love, Beatrice. However, this does not work out so well as Benedick himself says, “No, I was not born under a rhyming planet, nor I cannot woo in festival terms.” (lines 34-35) Benedick does indeed finish the sonnet, although we do not know how it turned out or what it encompassed. Yet, in a recent adaptation of the play by BBC the sonnet is read and is actually Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 116”. Looking at this sonnet I find that it is too well versed to come from Benedick and therefore disagree with the choice they made. Benedick is much cruder when it comes to words, and especially with Beatrice who spits such wit back at him. Therefore, I have picked a different sonnet that I believe would be better suited in place of “Sonnet 116”, which is “Three Sorts of Serpents to Resemble Thee” by the poet Drayton.

In this poem, Drayton explains his love for the woman in more of a way that his love for her is dangerous and almost against his will because she is seen as a siren. In this respect, we see how Benedick could have the potential to write this because although he does love Beatrice, he sees her wit as deadly to any man (and says so early on in the play). I could also see Benedick writing this due to it’s underlying complimentary tone in which he states that her wit is alluring; even though it seems deadly it is not so to him and he has fallen in love with her for it. Drayton’s sonnet seems to be a better fit than Shakespeare’s for Benedick, and I find it to be much more enticing in Benedick’s situation with Beatrice (meaning the trying of wits) than it would be if it were Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 116” being read.