The 'pre-history' of Beatrice and Benedick in Much Ado about Nothing

In Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare implies in a fascinating way that before the main action of the play there was what I shall call a 'pre-history', namely a story of an earlier involvement between Benedick and Beatrice. It is this `prehistory' which I wish to examine and clarify here, as I think that it is usually overlooked, or at least not adequately understood. The implied scenario logically fits in with – and is fundamental in presenting – Shakespeare's view of gender issues in Much Ado. It is hinted at in a series of passages of unusual linguistic complexity, which today need painstaking analysis to extricate their meaning. Before considering Benedick's and Beatrice's 'pre-history' specifically, I shall first provide a wider view of its context. One of the striking aspects of Much Ado About Nothing is its concern with gender differences, by which I mean differences in conduct or psychology which can be imputed to the gender of a person rather than that person's individual characteristics. I believe that, for example, both Claudio and Benedick, as would-be male lovers, differ greatly from Hero and Beatrice, and that Shakespeare portrays the difference as due to gender, not character. It is difficult to know whether Shakespeare saw differences between the genders as inherent or as the result of conditioning, and I shall not be concerned to try and distinguish between those two important matters. I do think, however, that Shakespeare considered the psychology of men to be very different from that of women, for whatever reason, and it is one aspect of that psychological difference which I wish to draw attention to, viz. the ability of young women to commit themselves readily and wholeheartedly to a member of the opposite sex, whereas young men are incapable of doing so. Shakespeare portrays this difference between young women and young men in a good many of his plays. For example, in Romeo and Juliet, Juliet is still very young at the beginning of the play and has never given marriage a thought, but as soon as she meets Romeo she falls in love with him, and it is she who first broaches the subject of marriage. Romeo is not slow to fall in love when he meets her, but before that moment he saw himself as in love with another young