Benedick

Benedick is a successful soldier and close companion of Don Pedro and Claudio. Unlike Claudio, he lacks respect for the Prince’s noble authority and adopts a cynical, somewhat mocking demeanour toward the outside world – although there is an undercurrent of vulnerability beneath this bravado. He shares Beatrice’s scornful view of marriage and seems exasperated with Claudio’s sudden decision to marry Hero. However, the aborted wedding causes him to reconsider his relationship to Beatric, and his place within the chauvinist masculine world in which her cousin was unfairly slandered.