#benedick

[davidtennantedits]

Catherine Tate and David Tennant in Wyndham's Theatre's Much Ado About Nothing (2011) Doctor Who 60th Anniversary's Wild Blue Yonder (2023)

[atropos-moth]

Much Ado About Nothing, Wyndhams (2011)

Act 2 Scene 3 aka the paint bit

[maybepassiveaggressive]

I succumbed to the brainrot.

[davidtennantgenderenvy]

I love how every time David Tennant plays literally any previously established character they just get a bit softer and a bit sadder and a bit more joyful and a bit more mentally ill

[aq2003]

david tennant and catherine tate have the range

[lovelyinspiration1463]

[rebelsafoot]

truly one of the most influential productions of our generation. i think about all the cunt they served daily

[emotinalsupportturtle]

..and he wrote them for David Tennant

[bethanydelleman]

Both Pride & Prejudice and Much Ado About Nothing work so well as enemies to lovers because despite surface animosity, it's clear that both end couples really respect each other and for good reasons. I think you could even argue that with Beatrice, she spars with Benedick because she considers him a worthy opponent.

When Hero and Ursuala plot to make Beatrice fall in love, Hero instructs her to speak of Benedick and "praise him more than ever man did merit" and yet when Beatrice finally speaks, she doesn't disagree with their high praise, she says of Benedick:

For others say thou dost deserve, and I Believe it better than reportingly.

Benedick likewise after his eavesdropping on Don Pedro, Leonato, and Claudio's praise Beatrice says:

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.

Similarly in Pride & Prejudice, once the misunderstanding about Wickham is cleared away, Elizabeth is able to acknowledge to herself how much she respects and likes Darcy:

She began now to comprehend that he was exactly the man who, in disposition and talents, would most suit her. His understanding and temper, though unlike her own, would have answered all her wishes. It was an union that must have been to the advantage of both: by her ease and liveliness, his mind might have been softened, his manners improved; and from his judgment, information, and knowledge of the world, she must have received benefit of greater importance.

Darcy also finds that he admires Elizabeth, after initially dismissing her:

But no sooner had he made it clear to himself and his friends that she had hardly a good feature in her face, than he began to find it was rendered uncommonly intelligent by the beautiful expression of her dark eyes. To this discovery succeeded some others equally mortifying. Though he had detected with a critical eye more than one failure of perfect symmetry in her form, he was forced to acknowledge her figure to be light and pleasing; and in spite of his asserting that her manners were not those of the fashionable world, he was caught by their easy playfulness.

All of these characters also hear and accept criticism of themselves. Both Benedick and Beatrice hear they are too proud to accept love, which they both overcome. Elizabeth learns that she judged Darcy without sufficient information and Darcy that his behaviour was not that of a gentleman. Their mutual acceptance of this criticism and their growth as people leads to their ultimate happiness.

Unfortunately, those who reproduce this trope often forget to build this foundation of respect and the acknowledgement, either personally or publically, that the characters have been wrong. Instead we get characters who mid argument begin ripping each other's clothes off. No growth, no understanding how they have been wrong, it just becomes "thin line between hatred and love" instead of "we grew towards each other".

[hamletteprinceofdenmark]

Much Ado About Nothing, Wyndhams (2011)

Act 4, Scene 1 aka

[cleverclove]

This generation has the Kenergy. But back in Shakespeare’s time, they had Benedick from Much Ado About Nothing.

They had the Benergy.

[jomarchswritingjacket]

fact: every single theater production can be improved by lesbians

[crowleybrekkers]

david tennant as benedick in much ado about nothing (2011)

[davidtennantgenderenvy]

Tier list of David Tennant characters ranked by how much I want them carnally . Will not be accepting constructive criticism.

[like-butterflies-and-glitter]

and her hair shall be re- OF WHAT COLOUR IT PLEASE GOD

-david tennant as benedick

[lovelyinspiration1463]

I'm somewhere between "How long do you have?" and "I don't know! Please, send help."