Note to Much Ado About Nothing, 5.4.103: "if a man will be beaten with brains, 'a shall wear nothing handsome about him"


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Much Ado About Nothing,
Act 5, Scene 4, line 103.
if a man will be beaten with brains, 'a shall wear nothing handsome about him: i.e., if a man will allow himself to be cowed by witticisms, he will never wear anything handsome. —Persons could be "worn," as well as clothes. For instance, "win me and wear me" was a challenge to a fight, meaning, "if you beat me, you can brag about it." And a woman could be won (successfully wooed) and worn (as a wife). Benedick uses the word "wear" in this sense and in the more ordinary sense; he means that if a man bows to the witticisms of the crowd, he will be doomed to always wear boring clothes and never have a brilliant wife, such as Beatrice.