Why do Benedick and Beatrice agree to marry each other? Do you think they love each other? Why do they agree to marry for the reason they gave, and not for love?(Act 5)

A fundamental question that haunts the plot is whether Benedick and Beatrice really love each other. Many audiences have simply assumed that they harbor a deep-seated love that neither will admit. However, if we take them at their word then the likely answer is no. They are mature lovers who have been pushed together by a social conspiracy to make them marry. Benedick: "Thou and I are too wise to woo peaceably" (5.2.61). Later they both realize that their friends were plotting against them. "Do not you love me?" "Why no, no more than reason" (5.4.73-74). We expect tender words at this point but we get the opposite. The fact that we still think love wins out is because we willingly join the conspiracy against them both. The audience roots for them to fall in love and get married; the actual feelings of the two characters are irrelevant at the end.