Act 4, Scene 1
William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing has been adapted in many different ways, allowing audiences to interpret the characters and relationships of the play through more than just Shakespeare's words alone. In this analysis, I will compare Shakespeare's original play with Kenneth Branagh's 1993 film adaptation. I will focus on Act 4, Scene 1, specifically the conversation between Beatrice and Benedick following Hero's public humiliation, when Claudio accuses her of being unfaithful. This scene is an important turning point for the two characters because their relationship takes a turn from playful conflict to an open declaration of love, and Beatrice's sadness over Hero leads Benedick to agree to challenge Claudio. By comparing the dialogue, cuts, body language, acting, and use of music, I will examine how each production creates a different emotional interpretation of Beatrice and Benedick's relationship.
Beatrice and Benedick's Relationship & Close Reading of the Scene
Shakespeare's original play
Beatrice is devastated by what happened to Hero while she explains to Benedick that she wishes there was someone who would do something for her cousin. Benedick listens to her until eventually declaring, "I do love nothing in the world so well as / you. Is not that strange" (4.1. 281- 282)? Beatrice at first has a hard time answering honestly to his confession, but they both eventually admit that they love each other. Their romantic moment turns complicated when Benedick tells Beatrice "Come, bid me do anything for thee" (4.1. 302). He is essentially offering to do whatever she wants, so she simply responds with, "Kill Claudio" (4.1.303). After going back and forth about whether Benedick is willing to do this for her, Beatrice becomes frustrated and wishes she were a man so she could handle it herself. Benedick agrees to challenge Claudio, and this makes the scene important to their relationship. Up until this moment they had not known how the other felt, and now they are expressing their love, which becomes connected to Benedick's willingness to prove it to Beatrice.
In the 1993 adaptation, the conversation between Beatrice and Benedick is almost exactly as it is in Shakespeare's original play. However, we get to see it acted out physically in a way that gives a different perspective of things like movement and expression. After Hero is humiliated at the wedding, Beatrice runs off to another room and kneels on both knees while she cries for her cousin. Benedick follows her and kneels down on one knee beside Beatrice while she cries, and they remain physically close like this during the beginning of the conversation, as Benedick listens to her emotions and finally declares his love. Their emotional connection becomes very physical as they kiss after both confessing their love. However, there is a major shift in the overall mood after, when Beatrice asks him to kill Claudio. Beatrice's expression changes from emotional and happy to cold and serious, and the romantic atmosphere almost disappears. She becomes increasingly angry at the situation until Benedick eventually agrees to act against Claudio. Branagh's version shows physical and emotional context that the audience can feel through the screen, as it allows us to see their physical closeness, intimate kiss, and the expressions on their face.
Changes to Shakespeare's Language/ Branagh's Cuts
Love confession
In Shakespeare's original play, there is a playful exchange between Beatrice and Benedick in this conversation. After he swears he loves her, Beatrice says "Will you not eat your word" (4. 1. 292)? Benedick then responds, "With no sauce that can be devised to it. I / protest I love thee"(4. 1. 293-294). Branagh cuts those lines and moves directly from Benedick's declaration and right to Beatrice saying, "Why then, God forgive me" (4. 1. 295). Although these lines are not necessary to understand the characters' feelings, they add humor, wit, and a playful context to the original conversation. By removing them, Branagh makes the love scene more direct and less playful, and it makes the transition into the kiss happen quicker. Instead of spending more time on their usual back- and- forth dynamic, the adaptation makes it a more direct, physical expression of their feelings.
Beatrice's Speech
Branagh also cuts a large portion of Beatrices speech from Shakespeare's original play where she says, "Princes and counties! Surely a princely tes- / timony, a goodly count..." (4. 1. 329-330) and instead begins at "He is now as valiant as Hercules / that only tells a lie and swears it" (4. 1. 335- 336). In the original play, Beatrice spends much more time criticizing men who are supposed to be brave and powerful. Shakespeare develops Beatrice's anger through a long rant before she focuses directly on Claudio. By cutting this section, Branagh shortens Beatrice's verbal expression of anger and moves the scene quickly toward Claudio as the specific target of her words. He relies more heavily on the actor's physical performance to communicate her anger. The original play also makes Beatrice's criticism seem more general and directed at men, while Branagh gets the audience straight to the point of the specific target, which is Claudio. This shows how cutting dialogue can actually change the focus of a scene and where the audience's attention is.
In Shakespeare's written play, readers do not necessarily know certain things like exactly how the characters look at each other, whether they touch, or how they physically react to what is being said. A performance allows the audience to see these choices, which can add meaning to Shakespeare's words. In Branagh's adaptation, Beatrice runs off to another room after the wedding and begins crying on the ground. Benedick follows her and gets down on one knee beside her, which makes the interaction seem more intimate and emotional as he is getting down to her level to comfort her. It is also clear through the adaptation that they are in a room completely alone, with just each other. As they confess their love, Benedick pulls Beatrice toward him and they kiss, making their newly expressed feelings physical rather than leaving them only in the dialogue.
Their physical interaction changes once Beatrice asks Benedick to kill Claudio. Her expression becomes cold and serious, and she shows feelings of rage increasingly as the conversation reaches why Claudio is seen as the enemy at the moment. Placing emphasis through heightened anger on this line of "Is he not approved in the height a villain that hath slandered, scorned, dishonored my kins- woman?", it gives the effect of showing the audience how angry she is for her cousin. When she says "unmitigated rancor", she pushes over a chair, making her anger even more visible in that moment and makes it more impactful. Benedick also physically stops her when she tries to leave after he initially refuses to challenge Claudio. These physical choices help represent the emotional changes in the scene without relying only on the dialogue. Branagh first uses closeness and physical affection to emphasize Beatrice and Benedick's romantic connection, and then uses distance, anger motivated expressions and movements, and physical interruption to emphasize the conflict surrounding Hero and Claudio.
Music and Mood:
In Branagh's adaptation, music helps establish and change the overall emotional mood of the scene. When Beatrice expresses her love for Benedick, the music becomes louder and builds towards their kiss. This makes the moment feel romantic and emotional and emphasizes the closeness between the characters. The music changes suddenly when Beatrice asks Benedick to kill Claudio. The romantic feeling is interrupted, creating a sharper contrast between the love confession and Beatrice's anger over what happened to Hero. Later, when Beatrice confirms her belief that Claudio wronged Hero, the music becomes darker and more unsettling. The changes in music therefore follow the emotional progression of the scene, moving from romance to tension and anger. When she confirms with Benedick, "Yea, as sure as I have a thought or a soul" (4. 1. 345), the music becomes creepier and darker.
From Love to Revenge:
Although Shakespeare's words establish the emotional turning point between Beatrice and Benedick, the adaptations show how much meaning can be created through performance. Branagh uses physical closeness, body language, music, changes in tone, and cuts to Shakespeare's dialogue to emphasize the emotional shift from Beatrice and Benedick's love confession, to the conflict surrounding Hero and Claudio. These differences demonstrate how the same scene can portray the relationship between Beatrice and Benedick in different ways while still maintaining Shakespeare's central conflict.
Works Cited
Shakespeare, William. Much Ado About Nothing. Edited by Paul Werstine. Folger Shakespeare Library Edition. January 2004.
Much Ado About Nothing. Directed by Kenneth Branagh. The Samuel Goldwyn Company. 1993.
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