Beatrice is one of the main characters in the play. She is staying with her uncle Leonato and her cousin Hero. She is normally a witty person but when Benedick returns home whenever she sees him she is always bitter and spiteful. Although at the end of the play she is tricked into falling in love with Benedick, By falling in love her character does not change that much other than she tends not to bicker with Benedick quite so much.
One of the most dramatic changes for Beatrice in the play is showing her hate and disgust towards Benedick to then claiming that she loves him. There are many lines throughout the play that support both their hate and their love for one another, one main section of lines in the play shows how she does not believe she will ever marry. Beatrice says ‘No, but to the gate and there will the devil meet me like an old cuckold with horns on his head and say get you to heaven Beatrice get you to heaven, here’s no place for you maids.’ She says this to Leonato after they talk about her finding a husband. Beatrice means is that when she arrives in hell the devil will send her away claiming its no place for women like her. ‘So deliver up my apes and away to Saint Peter, for the heavens; he shows me where the bachelors sit, and there we live as merry as the day is long.’ This is a fairly straightforward quote it basically means that the devil sends her up to heaven where she meets St Peter and he shows her where all the single men are and they live happily ever after. I believe this quote is showing Beatrice’s side of never wanting to fall in love or get married and it does incorporate some humour in there as well. This also suites her witty personality, she answers the question which Leonato asks her which is ‘ well then, go you into hell’ with humour and also a well thought out statement of her saying that in heaven she will have a blast for not marrying. I think this also shows that she has an easy and carefree relationship with her uncle as she can joke around with him on a topic and also be fairly serious at the same time.
Beatrice then towards the end of play overhears hero and Ursula talking about how much Benedick is in love with her. This makes Beatrice realise that she does indeed love Benedick. She also overhears that Hero and Ursula believe that she would just turn him down and laugh in his face. She quietly exclaims to herself