In the first scene of the play, Beatrice attempts to delay the date of her marriage to Alonzo, whom she does not love. She hopes to buy herself some time to find a way to marry Alsemero instead. Pushing back against her father’s suggestion that the marriage should take place in a week, she personifies the concept of virginity:
VERMANDERO : He’s hot preparing for this day of triumph,
Thou must be a bride within this sevennight.ALSEMERO [ aside ] : Ha!
BEATRICE : Nay, good sir, be not so violent, with speed
I cannot render satisfaction
Unto the dear companion of my soul,
Virginity, whom I thus long have lived with,
And part with it so rude and suddenly;
Can such friends divide, never to meet again,
Without a solemn farewell?VERMANDERO : Tush, tush, there’s a toy.
Her father, Vermandero, points to Alonzo’s impatience for his “day of triumph” when he can finally bed Beatrice. She, however, urges him not to be “so violent, with speed.” She personifies the abstract concept of virginity as a “dear companion” of her “soul” with whom she has “long” lived. Imploring her father to give her more time to prepare for the loss of her virginity, she imagines her virginity as a friend who she does not want to leave “so suddenly,” and requests more time for a “solemn farewell” befitting that long history of companionship. Her father, however, dismisses her rhetoric as a mere “toy.”
After seeing Beatrice in a church service, Alsemero, a visitor to Alicante, immediately confesses his love to her. Beatrice, however, is already betrothed to another man. She personifies the abstract concept of “judgement” in order to discourage his affections:
BEATRICE :
Be better advised, sir:
Our eyes are sentinels unto our judgements
And should give certain judgement what they see;
But they are rash sometimes, and tell us wonders
Of common things, which when our judgements find,
They can then check the eyes, and call them blind.ALSEMERO : But I am further, lady; yesterday
Was mine eyes’ employment, and hither now
They brought my judgement, where are both agreed.
Both houses then consenting, ’tis agreed;
Only there wants the confirmation
By the hand royal, that’s your part, lady.
Alsemero falls in love with Beatrice upon seeing her, but she warns him against placing too much faith in his own eyes. The “eyes,” she argues, are “sentinels unto our judgments.” In other words, then, the eyes pass along important warnings to the faculty of “judgement,” who, like a political leader, then makes decisions based upon this information. The eyes, however, are “rash sometimes,” and give a false or exaggerated report to the sense of judgment, which can lead to poor decisions. Alsemero continues his act of personification, arguing that his eyes and sense of judgment agree upon the virtue and beauty of Beatrice.
Alsemero, deeply suspicious of Beatrice after hearing reports of her friendly and flirtatious behavior towards De Flores, interrogates his new wife. In her response, Beatrice personifies the abstract idea of “innocence” as a young woman:
ALSEMERO : None can so sure. Are you honest?
BEATRICE : Ha, ha, ha! That’s a broad question, my lord.
ALSEMERO : But that’s not a modest answer, my lady, –
Do you laugh? My doubts are strong upon me.BEATRICE : ’Tis innocence that smiles, and no rough brow
Can take away the dimple in her cheek.
Say I should strain a tear to fill the vault,
Which would you give the better faith to?
Beatrice responds inconclusively when Alsemero asks her if she is “honest,” feigning ignorance as to his true meaning and even laughing. This does little to assure Alsemero, who finds her laughter immodest. When he notes that his doubts concerning her faithfulness “are strong,” she responds with a defense of her behavior. “Innocence,” Beatrice claims, “smiles.” Further, no stern look or “rough brow” can take the smile off of the face of Innocence. By personifying the concept of innocence in this manner, Beatrice argues that a person who is truly innocent does not respond to questioning with suspicion or displeasure, as they are confident in their own honesty.
