Quote 7
BENEDICK
Come, come, we are friends. Let's have a
dance ere we are married, that we may lighten our
own hearts and our wives' heels.
LEONATO
We'll have dancing afterward.
BENEDICK
First, of my word! Therefore play, music.— (5.4.121-125)
This is a silly little scene that’s a bit bawdy: note that "light-heeled" is another way to say a woman is morally loose. Benedick teases that he’d like to dance with the women before the wedding, and make them light-heeled. Hence Leonato’s terse "Get married first!"
Benedick, perhaps to show that he’ll be mischievous even as a married man, insists on dancing first anyway. This is especially interesting given that Claudio has just teased that Benedick will have a wandering eye when married unless his wife keeps a close watch on him.
BENEDICK
Why, i' faith, methinks she's too low for a
high praise, too brown for a fair praise, and too
little for a great praise. Only this commendation I
can afford her, that were she other than she is, she
were unhandsome, and being no other but as she is,
I do not like her.
CLAUDIO
Thou thinkest I am in sport. I pray thee tell
me truly how thou lik'st her. (1.1.167-172)
Claudio can’t accept that Benedick has nothing more to say about Hero than that she’s short, dark, and too small. He thinks Benedick is lying about his honest feelings, which supports the notion that Benedick doesn’t often say what he thinks. Benedick prefers to deceive humorously over speaking truthfully.
CLAUDIO
Can the world buy such a jewel?
BENEDICK
Yea, and a case to put it into. But speak you
this with a sad brow? Or do you play the flouting
Jack, to tell us Cupid is a good hare-finder and
Vulcan a rare carpenter? Come, in what key shall a
man take you to go in the song? (1.1.177-182)
Benedick, in turn, can’t believe that Claudio is really being honest either—he wonders whether Claudio can possibly love this girl—maybe because the young man noticed her just ten minutes ago, maybe because Hero’s not attractive.