Shakespeare's Monologues
Shakespeare's Monologues
Beatrice is the niece of Leonato, a wealthy governor of Messina, and cousin to Hero, whom she is very close to. Beatrice sharp-tongued, witty, cynical, and confident. Though she appears rough around the edges, she can also be very vulnerable and sensitive. Beatrice has so far turned down every suitor that has come her way, stating she will not marry any man who is not an equal partner to herself, refusing to be with an inferior, controlling husband. Beatrice is fiercely loyal, showing this when Claudio humiliates Hero at their alter for speculations of being unfaithful, Beatrice explodes with rage at Claudio and all of society for the mistreatment and inequality of women. Beatrice is a great example of strong female characters in Shakespeare.
Beatrice and Benedick have just witnessed Claudio accuse Hero of being unfaithful and unchaste at their wedding in front of all those attended. Beatrice is immensely loyal to her cousin and knows how much her cousin, Hero, loves Claudio and would never do something so out of her character. Beatrice is declaring her hatred for Claudio and her heartbreak for Hero, all while trying to guilt and persuade Benedick to kill Claudio for what he has done.
Slander (Slandered) v. Misuse, disgrace, bring to ill repute
Slander [noun] Slanderer, disgraceful rouge
Unmitigated adj. Not reduced in intensity or severity; not softened (in feeling, brightness, harshness, etc.); unrelieved.
Rancour n. Deep-rooted and bitter ill feeling; resentment or animosity, esp. of long standing; an instance of this.
Comfect n. A sweetmeat made of some fruit, root, etc., preserved with sugar; now usually a small round or oval mass of sugar enclosing a caraway seed, almond, etc.; a sugar-plum.
Gallant adj. & n. Gorgeous or showy in appearance, finely-dressed, smart. archaic.
Character description, monologue synopsis, and monologue scoring provided by Dominique Baker-Lanning as part of the Spring 2019 THT 352 class.
Is he not approved in the height a villain, that
hath slandered, scorned, dishonoured my kinswoman? O
that I were a man! What, bear her in hand until they
come to take hands; and then, with public
accusation, uncovered slander, unmitigated rancour,
—O God, that I were a man! I would eat his heart
in the market-place.
Talk with a man out at a window! A proper saying!
Sweet Hero! She is wronged, she is slandered, she is undone.
Princes and counties! Surely, a princely testimony,
a goodly count, Count Comfect; a sweet gallant,
surely! O that I were a man for his sake! or that I
had any friend would be a man for my sake! But
manhood is melted into courtesies, valour into
compliment, and men are only turned into tongue, and
trim ones too: he is now as valiant as Hercules
that only tells a lie and swears it. I cannot be a
man with wishing, therefore I will die a woman with grieving.
| Number of Syllables | Scored Text | Meaning of Beat |
| 12 | Is he not approved in the height a villain, that | [Beginning of beat 1] To destroy |
| 12 | hath slandered, scorned, dishonoured my kinswoman? O | |
| 13 | that I were a man! What, bear her in hand until they | |
| 9 | come to take hands; and then, with public | |
| 16 | accusation, uncovered slander, unmitigated rancour, | |
| 17 | -O God, that I were a man! I would eat his heart in the market-place. | [End of beat 1] |
| 14 | Talk with a man out at a window! A proper saying! | [Beginning of beat 2] To convince, to coax |
| 14 | Sweet Hero! She is wronged, she is slandered, she is undone. | [End of beat 2] |
| 14 | Princes and counties! Surely, a princely testimony, | [Beginning of beat 3] To demean, to destroy, to attack |
| 11 | a goodly count, Count Comfect; a sweet gallant, | |
| 14 | surely! O that I were a man for his sake! or that I | |
| 12 | had any friend would be a man for my sake! But | |
| 13 | manhood is melted into courtesies, valour into | |
| 13 | compliment, and men are only turned into tongue, and | |
| 13 | trim ones too: he is now as valiant as Hercules | |
| 14 | that only tells a lie and swears it. I cannot be a | |
| 15 | man with wishing, therefore I will die a woman with grieving. | [End of beat 3] |
Definitions from David & Ben Crystal / Shakespeare's Words are under copyright, and may not be used without their express permission. All other definitions are from sources in the public domain.
Unless otherwise indicated, all other content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA) license.