A few lines later in the scene Claudio and Bendick are alone on the stage. Claudio has fallen hopelessly in love with Hero, and he foolishly asks Benedick what is his opinion of her. Benedick even admits that he is a "professed tyrant" against women (line 136). As editors suggest, the word tyrant can mean critic. But it definitely indicates that Benedick does not think too highly of women. His anger towards women, though, may actually have more to do with Beatrice specifically. His lashing out against all women may actually indicate his anger against losing Beatrice at some point in the past. Although Shakespeare does not indicate what had happened in the past, a misunderstanding between Beatrice and Benedick appears to have occurred. Their relationship ended leaving them both bitter. Neither really wanted that relationship to end.
But at this point in the play Benedick is a critic against all women and believes that no man should ever get married. So he asks Claudio if he is being serious when Claudio starts praising Hero:
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? (147-50)
The word sad means serious here, and the expression "flouting jack" suggests a sarcastic jester. Cupid, the Roman god of love, is not a good hare (or rabbit) finder because he is blind (or blind-folded). And Vulcan, another Roman god, is not a rare or excellent carpenter because he was not a carpenter at all: Vulcan was the blacksmith to the gods. In other words, Benedick is asking Claudio if he is saying the opposite of what he means. Claudio, metaphorically, is singing a song; but Benedick wants to know if it is a serious song or a comic song.
Claudio, though, is quite serious and declares Hero to be the most beautiful woman he has ever known. But Benedick does not think Hero is very beautiful, and he immediately begins to compare Hero with her cousin Beatrice:
There's her cousin, an she were not possessed with a fury, exceeds her as much in beauty as the first of May doth the last of December. (154-56)
The word an here means if. In Benedick's mind Beatrice is like the month of May, the beautiful springtime month when plants and flowers are at their most beautiful. By comparison, in his opinion, Hero is like December, the cold winter month when most plants and flowers look dull and dead. The audience learns two facts about Benedick from these seasonal metaphors. First, he believes that Beatrice is the most beautiful woman he has ever known. Second, Benedick cannot stop thinking about Beatrice. Although he claims to hate her, he cannot get her out of his head. And he cannot get her out of his head because he is hopelessly in love with her even though he cannot admit this even to himself.
In the conversation, though, Benedick continues his tirade (his critical speech) against women and regrets that all of the bachelors (unmarried men) seem to be disappearing: "Shall I never see a bachelor of three-score again?" (161-62). The word score means twenty, so three-score is sixty. Benedick is declaring that he wants to live his entire life without ever getting married, and he regrets that Claudio will give up his unmarried state so quickly.
At this point the Prince, Don Pedro, enters the conversation. But, unlike Benedick, Don Pedro supports Claudio in his desire to win Hero. Benedick continues to complain against women and marriage, and Claudio suggests that Benedick is being stubborn and unreasonable. But Benedick responds with the following words:
That a woman conceived me, I thank her; that she brought me up, I likewise give her most humble thanks. But that I will have a recheat winded in my forehead, or hang my bugle in an invisible baldrick, all women shall pardon me.
Because I will not do them the wrong to mistrust any, I will do myself the right to trust none. And the fine is -- for the which I may go the finer -- I will live a bachelor. (195-201)
The word recheat refers to a horn that was used as a bugle in hunting. A baldrick was a belt or sash to hold the horn.
According to medieval superstition, a man whose wife was having an affair grew horns on his head. Such a man was called a cuckold. The cuckold was usually a figure who was laughed at and ridiculed because he could not control his wife. Benedick is declaring that he does not want cuckold horns or an invisible baldrick. The invisibility of the baldrick symbolically means that the cuckold is blind to the situation -- he does not know that his wife is sleeping with another man. Benedick is, then, declaring that as long as he remains unmarried, he can never become a cuckold, he can never become a fool. And he is also asserting that any man who marries is a fool because he will become a cuckold. In other words, Benedick is declaring that all women cannot be trusted.
Once again these lines may be directly applied to Benedick's past relationship with Beatrice. In one way or another Benedick believes that Beatrice had been dishonest with him. He had lost his trust in her, and so he has lost trust in all women.