The Gullings

How does the form of the language in this gulling scene differ from that used in the scene with Benedick?

Language and the form of the language plays a big part in the play as a whole and especially in these two scenes where Beatrice and Benedick are being fooled by their friends in order to kindle a relationship between them. Yet the similarities difference between the two scenes in the language used and how it is used are done deliberately to show the similarities and differences of Beatrice and Benedick. 

Shakespeare has changed the language over the scenes to highlight the difference in sex as when Benedick is being deceived the script is written in prose and the language and comedy is more bawdy and covered with double meanings such as "she will die" which had both a serious note and a ruder connotation. Whereas when Beatrice is tricked by Hero and Ursula the script changes to the more poetic form of verse to show the purer, the more romantic and feminine side which contrasts the men. The critic Michael Mangan wrote that the play was "partly based on the theme of a battle of the sexes" and in these two scenes the behaviour of the two sexes are seen. Especially since the character of Hero, who is supposed to represent the belief of a perfect woman as seen in the Elizabethan days and who spends most of the play not talking takes a main role in this scene, showing that she is more than the quiet girl who waits for instruction. This may be Shakespeare's way of pointing out that the perfect woman according to John Knox and others of the time did not exist.

Power comes into the scenes quite a lot as Hero and Don Pedro try to take the power away from Beatrice and Benedick who are both known to be head-strong and independent characters. They try to take power through mockery and slander as they reveal truths about the characters that appear shocking to the characters own ears. In the first scene with Benedick however they mix up the insults with praise in order to make Benedick feel special and not just "any man" so that he would go after Beatrice. Camille Wells Slights says that language is used "as an articulation of power" and that it is the language that holds the power which is true to some extent in the book. However here Don Pedro gains the majority of his power from his status and even when Benedick thinks "this a gull" he continues to listen because "the white bearded fellow speaks it" showing that Don Pedro is the main power holder throughout the whole play. In the scene with Beatrice, Hero seems to talk the most and Beatrice who is known from earlier in the play to use wit to gain power is uncharacteristically quiet until the end of the scene.

Overall the language used in Beatrice's scene differs due to the difference in sex and the different approaches to the deception however their are also many similarities in the types of comedy and other aspects.