I’m reading a monologue for an audition this evening and would like to know just what the old bard means by this.
This is Benedick in Act 2, Scene 3 of Much Ado About Nothing.
“I will not be sworn, but love my transform me to an oyster; but I’ll take my oath on it, till he have made an oyster of me, he shall never make me such a fool.”
The heck does that mean?
And just to be polite, here’s a link to the complete scene.
Don’t have my copy with me, but I do have a suggestion.
Oysters are a food associated with love, and have traditionally been thought of as an aphrodisiac.
The allusion to an aphrodisiac makes me wonder if BENEDICK wants to become attractive to females.
I will not be sworn, but love my transform me to an oyster; but I’ll take my oath on it, till he have made an oyster of me, he shall never make me such a fool.
He has seen love make fools of men, and swears that he will not be made a fool of by love, until he first becomes attractive to the opposite sex. Does he not also state that he expects to die a bachelor, seems like a very pessimistic fellow, I doubt he expects to become attractive anytime soon, and therefore does not expect to be made a fool of.
Although he wouldn’t mind being a fool, as long as the female was equally foolish.
I wonder…
Just a guess, but perhaps this is referring to the ability of oysters to turn sand into pearls? He’s talking about how Claudio used to speak plainly, but now speaks very elegantly. Benedick states that he wants to be “so converted and see with these eyes.” Perhaps he wishes to also be able to take ordinary wordsand turn it into elegant speech, as an oyster turns sand into a pearl?
I don’t see anything in the text that suggests he wants to be an oyster or envies Claudio. In fact, he calls him a fool. It looks to me like he’s saying there’s as much chance of him becoming a fool for love as there is of him turning into an oyster – that is, none. Of course, that means he’s about to be made a fool.
I think the oyster is something closed up inside its shell and quiet. Benedick is known for being outgoing and constantly talking. He fears love will make him shy–the opposite of what he is.
This is a discussion from 8 years ago, so it’s entirely possible that no one’s paying attention anymore…
But just in case, I’ll throw out there that many actors, including Kenneth Branagh in his much lauded film performance, give the line interpretation as just an absurd example of something that love might transform a man into. He might as well have said a boot, or a piece of string. The point being that he didn’t think it terribly likely that love would transform him into ____, but if it did, it hadn’t yet, and until it did transform him into a ____, damned if he was going to act as foolish as Claudio was acting.
Can’t find Branagh’s clip, but here’s a young man who does not a terrible job with the monologue, using “oyster” in just this way: Much Ado About Nothing (Benedick Act 2, Scene 3) - YouTube
Oysters were a common theatre snack in Shakespeare’s time. So they were quite familiar to his audience and the association would have been that oysters were something you chowed down on.
There’s another more famous mention of oysters in Shakespeare, from The Merry Wives Of Windsor:
Falstaff: I will not lend thee a penny.
Pistol: Why then the world’s mine oyster, Which I with sword will open.
Here we see oysters being used as a metaphor for something being plundered.
Oysters were metaphorically something that was weak and defenseless - an easy target for the taking. So Benedick’s intent by saying that love might transform him into an oyster is that he’s normally on guard but emotions could make him vulnerable.
It’s a theory anyway.
Oysters used to be “poor people food”. They were so plentiful and easy to harvest, that they were a very inexpensive food stuff.
I wonder if Johnny Bravo got the part?
He did!
So…you tell us! What did it mean when you said it?
I thought (like CCBlueDevil) that the oyster is used metaphorically for someone close-mouthed (like the phrase “clam up”). Maybe it meant something else in Shakespeare’s day, though.