This can be no trick: the conference was sadly borne. They have
the truth of this from Hero. They seem to pity the lady: it seems
her affections have their full bent. Love me! why,
it must be requited. I hear how I am censured: they say
I will bear myself proudly, if I perceive the love come
from her; they say too that she will rather die than give
any sign of affection. I did never think to marry: I must
not seem proud: happy are they that hear their detractions
and can put them to mending. They say the lady
is fair;
'tis a truth, I can bear them witness; and virtuous;
'tis so, I cannot reprove it; and wise, but for loving
me; by my troth, it is no addition to her wit, nor no
great argument of her folly, for I will be horribly in
love with her. I may chance have some odd quirks
and remnants of wit broken on me, because I have railed
so long against marriage: but doth not the appetite alter?
a man loves the meat in his youth that he cannot
endure in his age. Shall quips and sentences and
these paper bullets of the brain awe a man from the
career of his humour? No, the world must be peopled.
When I said I would die a bachelor, I did not think I
should live till I were married. Here comes Beatrice.
By this day! she's a fair lady: I do spy some marks of
love in her.
Sadly borne Even though Benedick is full with excitement, he uses the phrase "sadly borne" which is quite ironic, because for him this conference should have been happily borne. However, this is Shakespeare's way of telling us that Benedick was sincerely tricked since the characters in on the "plan" were petending for this news to be sad. In literal terms, however, 'sadly borne' means soberly conducted, meaning what they are saying must be true since the speakers were sober
Full bent Full bent in this context means that Beatrice's affection is fully engaged and strecthed to the limit. Shakespeare uses this as a metaphor for archery. The bow has it's bent when it's pulled as far as it can go. Shakespeare uses the phrase "full bent" in a few of his other plays. For example,in Hamlet, "They fool me to the top of my bent." This implies that the speaker was fooled as much as can be and to the highest capacity.
Censured The word censured here means criticized or judged. At this point in his speech he realizes that all the wit and scorn that was happening between Beatrice and him was just love hiding. He decides to return that love and show all the ones he is being criticized by that he can truly love.
Rather die Shakespeare uses quite an exaggeration here when writing that Beatrice rather die than show affection and quit her role of being the tough maiden she is. This isn't the only time Shakespeare uses this exaggeration.In the tragedy Romeo and Juliet, Juliet is saying she'd rather die than marry Paris in Act 3 Scene 5. Since Romeo and Juliet is tragedy, however, Juliet does die in the end, however since Much Ado About Nothing is a comedy, it is clearly an exaggeration.
Detractions Benedick is telling himself here that he shouldn't look so happy. Detractions are the faults which people's detractors find in them. In this line Benedick is stating an important lesson: People who discover their faults and can then change them are the truly happy individuals.
Paper Bullets Shakespeare uses the term "paper bullets" instead of "words." It shows a deeper image of the kind of words Beatrice and Benedick exchange with eachother. Bullets on one hand are strong and harmful, while paper isn't. The term paper bullets is a paradox explainging that the harsh words and witty comments Beatrice exchanges with Benedick aren't all that hurtful, since she really loves him deep down.
Career of his humor here the words "career of his humor" really mean pursuit of his inclination. In other words, Benedick means that her quips and witty remarks should not stop him from getting what his heart desire. Shakespeare also included a pun here because in horsemanship, a "career" is a short gallop. A career isn't hard to do, so neither should be attaining what Benedick really wants.
I chose this exerpt because it was part of my favorite scene from the play Much Ado About Nothing. This speech is a turning point for Benedick. Earlier in the play, he vowed never to marry despite the attraction between him and Beatrice. However, both Benedick and Beatrice were too sharp witted and competitive for a functional relationship to develop. In this speech, Benedick drops his defenses for the first time and honestly contemplates his love for Beatrice. Additionally, the method Shakespeare uses to set up Beatrice and Benedick to fall in love shows a lot about human character. Only because they over heard their friends speaking about what they thought was the truth, they decided to reveal their feelings. This shows the power of gossip and Eves dropping, especially since it was all strategically planned out, I think it was super clever and taught me a lesson.Through gossip, someone can really influence anyone to beleive anything they want, if enough people say the same thing (even if it is completely false), other people will start to believe it too.