Benedick: “This can be no trick”

What is happening, what every line means, how to perform it, and how to use it in an audition, with the full text.

The Offbook team

Oct 8, 2026

What is happening

This is Act 2, Scene 3 of Much Ado About Nothing, in Leonato’s orchard in Messina. Benedick, a gentleman from Padua and a soldier, has just come back from the wars with Don Pedro, the prince, and his friend Claudio. He has sworn he will live a bachelor, and he keeps up what Leonato calls a “merry war” of insults with Beatrice, Leonato’s niece. Don Pedro has decided to trick the two of them into falling in love.

At the start of this scene Benedick, alone, mocked Claudio for falling in love and listed every virtue a woman would need before he would look at her. When the prince arrived he hid in the arbour. Don Pedro, Claudio and Leonato, knowing he was listening, talked solemnly about how Beatrice is desperately in love with Benedick but would rather die than tell him, and how he would only mock her if she did. They also said he has a scornful spirit and is not worthy of her. Benedick, hiding, thought it might be a trick, but decided it could not be, because the white-bearded Leonato was saying it.

The three men leave, planning to send Beatrice to call him in to dinner. Benedick comes out of hiding and talks it through with the audience. At the end he sees Beatrice coming. She is rude to him, and he finds hidden love in every word she says.

Lines: 13
Words: 259
At 150 wpm: 1.7 min
Form: Prose

The speech, beat by beat

The full text in 7 beats. Under each beat: what it means in plain English, and a note for playing it.

Lines 1–3 · It must be true

1This can be no trick: the conference was sadly borne.
They have the truth of this from Hero.
They seem to pity the lady: it seems her affections have their full bent.

In plain English This can’t be a trick: they talked about it seriously. They got the story from Hero. They seem to feel sorry for Beatrice, and her love seems stretched to its limit.

Acting note He is building a case. The audience knows the whole scene was staged, and the comedy comes from how completely he is convinced.

Lines 4–4 · Love me!

4Love me! why, it must be requited.

In plain English Love me! Well then, it must be returned.

Acting note The turn of the whole speech. Two words of shock, then an instant decision. The speed is the joke, so don’t take long to make up your mind.

Lines 5–6 · What they say about me

5I hear how I am censured: they say I will bear myself proudly, if I perceive the love come from her; they say too that she will rather die than give any sign of affection.
I did never think to marry: I must not seem proud: happy are they that hear their detractions and can put them to mending.

In plain English I heard how they criticise me. They say I’ll be proud and scornful if I see that she loves me, and that she would rather die than show any sign of it. I never meant to marry. I mustn’t seem proud. Happy are the people who hear their faults spoken and can correct them.

Acting note The insults stung. This is vanity, but also a moment of honest self-examination. “I did never think to marry” can be a real admission.

Lines 7–7 · Fair, virtuous, wise

7They 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.── 60-second cut ends here ──

In plain English They say she is beautiful: true, I can vouch for that. And good: true, I can’t deny it. And wise, except for loving me. Honestly, loving me is no great proof of her intelligence, but it is no great proof of foolishness either, because I am going to be horribly in love with her.

Acting note He nearly insults himself, then rescues it. Each “’tis so” is a new concession. “Horribly” is the comic word: land it. The 60-second cut on this page ends here.

Lines 8–9 · Let them laugh

8I may chance have some odd quirks and remnants of wit broken on me, because I have railed so long against marriage: but doth not the appetite alter? a man loves the meat in his youth that he cannot endure in his age.
Shall quips and sentences and these paper bullets of the brain awe a man from the career of his humour?

In plain English People may crack a few jokes and leftover witticisms at my expense, because I have railed against marriage for so long. But don’t tastes change? A man loves food in his youth that he can’t stand when he is old. Should jokes and clever sayings, these paper bullets of the brain, scare a man off from following his desires?

Acting note He argues against the mockers he can already hear, and the loudest of them is his own past self. “Paper bullets of the brain” is exactly the kind of weapon he and Beatrice fire at each other.

Lines 10–11 · The world must be peopled

10No, the world must be peopled.
When I said I would die a bachelor, I did not think I should live till I were married.── 90-second cut ends here ──

In plain English No, the world must be populated. When I said I would die a bachelor, I didn’t think I would live until I got married.

Acting note Two of the biggest laughs in the speech, and both rest on ridiculous logic he finds completely convincing. Ask the question in line 9, answer it at once in line 10. The 90-second cut ends at line 11.

Lines 12–13 · Here comes Beatrice

12Here comes Beatrice.
By this day! she’s a fair lady: I do spy some marks of love in her.

In plain English Here comes Beatrice. By this day, she’s a beautiful lady. I can see some signs of love in her.

Acting note She has been sent, against her will, to fetch him for dinner, and she is not pleased about it. The joke is that he reads love in what is really a scowl.

Hard words

Word	Line	Meaning
conference	1	conversation
sadly borne	1	carried on seriously
have their full bent	3	are stretched to the limit, like a fully drawn bow
requited	4	returned, paid back in kind
censured	5	judged, criticised
detractions	6	criticisms, things said against them
put them to mending	6	correct their faults
reprove	7	disprove, deny
by my troth	7	honestly, on my word
argument	7	proof
quirks and remnants of wit	8	jokes and leftover scraps of wit
broken on me	8	cracked at my expense
quips and sentences	9	jokes and wise sayings
paper bullets of the brain	9	words and jokes that sting but do no real harm
awe	9	frighten off, restrain
career of his humour	9	the full gallop of his inclination, following what he wants

How to perform it

Share it with the audience. Benedick is alone and thinking out loud, and the people watching are the ones who heard him swear never to marry. Seneca Learning points out that the humour comes from his total conviction while the audience knows it is a trick. Enjoy that gap, but don’t wink at it: he has to believe every word.
Play the objective: to persuade himself, and the audience, that changing his mind is perfectly reasonable. He argues like a lawyer against his own past speeches. Each new point should feel like a fresh discovery that wins the case a little more.
Ride the thought changes. StageMilk notes that the prose is full of quick, sometimes erratic changes of thought, and that the comedy comes from clarity and nimbleness between them. Line 7 is one sentence made of many small steps; give each its own idea.
Use question and answer. In lines 8 to 10 he asks himself questions and answers them at once (“doth not the appetite alter?”, “No, the world must be peopled.”). StageMilk calls this a gift: you work the problem out with the audience in the moment.
Breathe where the sentences end, not in the middle of the lists. Take a good breath before line 7, the longest sentence. The two short lines, 4 and 10, are where the laughs live, so arrive at them with energy rather than pausing to announce them.
Common mistakes: playing him smug from the first line (he starts shaken); putting on a comic voice instead of thinking; and rushing the big lines. Let line 11 land before Beatrice appears.

Using it in an audition

This is a strong comic piece in prose, useful when you need to show wit and timing next to a heavier verse speech. The full speech runs about 1.7 minutes at 150 words a minute, a little over a 90-second limit. The 90-second cut on this page ends at line 11, “I did not think I should live till I were married,” which is a natural punchline and loses only Beatrice’s entrance. The 60-second cut ends at line 7, on “I will be horribly in love with her,” which also gets a laugh. If you play the full version, place Beatrice clearly offstage so the last two lines have somewhere to go. The play does not give Benedick’s age; it suits adult actors across a wide range who can think quickly and play for real. For contrast, pair it with a dark verse soliloquy such as Macbeth’s “Is this a dagger which I see before me.”

Benedick, Much Ado About Nothing, Act 2, Scene 3. William Shakespeare. Public domain text.

How long it runs

Pace	Words a minute	Run time
Deliberate	130	2.0 minutes
Conversational	150	1.7 minutes
Brisk	170	1.5 minutes

These are speech times before pauses. To time your own run, paste the text into the monologue timer. The cut marks in the text stop at a full sentence near 60 seconds (line 7) and 90 seconds (line 11).

Practice it: first-letter version

Each word is cut to its first letter. Say the whole line from the letters, then check the text. Make cues from any script with the first-letter memorizer.

T c b n t: t c w s b.

T h t t o t f H.

T s t p t l: i s h a h t f b.

L m! w, i m b r.

I h h I a c: t s I w b m p, i I p t l c f h; t s t t s w r d t g a s o a.

I d n t t m: I m n s p: h a t t h t d a c p t t m.

T s t l i f; ’t a t, I c b t w; a v; ’t s, I c r i; a w, b f l m; b m t, i i n a t h w, n n g a o h f, f I w b h i l w h.

I m c h s o q a r o w b o m, b I h r s l a m: b d n t a a? a m l t m i h y t h c e i h a.

S q a s a t p b o t b a a m f t c o h h?

N, t w m b p.

W I s I w d a b, I d n t I s l t I w m.

H c B.

B t d! s a f l: I d s s m o l i h.

More from Much Ado About Nothing

More lists: Shakespeare monologues, Monologues for men, Comedic monologues.

Sources

Questions actors ask

How long is Benedick’s This can be no trick speech?

13 lines and 259 words. At 150 words a minute it runs about 1.7 minutes; a slower, more deliberate delivery at 130 takes about 2.0 minutes. Pauses add time, so time a full run out loud.

Is it a good audition monologue?

What is the fastest way to memorize it?

Learn it in sense units, not line by line: say each thought out loud until you can do it without looking, then add the next. The first-letter version below keeps the shape of every line in view while you test yourself.