Much Ado About Nothing raises many important issues concerning the institution of marriage. Perhaps Shakespeare's purpose in writing this play was to question the existing approach to relationships and marriage. Shakespeare reveals the faults of the process through the characters of Hero and Claudio and also Hero's father, Leonato. Shakespeare also may be suggesting an alternative approach to marriage and relationships through the characters of Beatrice and Benedick.
In Shakespeare’s play, Much Ado About Nothing, there are two couples: Claudio and Hero, and Benedick and Beatrice, both couples met in different ways and both act very differently. In this essay, I will describe how these couples are similar and different.
Much Ado About Nothing presents a picturesque love story between two characters that meet us as individuals full of hate, and leave us as an inseparable pair. These two characters are Benedick and Beatrice and act to us as sweethearts who have fallen deeply and passionately IN love in a way that we would all fantasize over- slowly, and then all at once. Their relationship in Shakespeare’s play has been presented through their matching characteristics, the way they speak and the way the language has been written to show their affection, the events that occur to push them together, other people influencing a bond, the connections between how Shakespeare has presented love in his other plays and finally the different versions of this
Marriage not only ends the war between Benedick and Beatrice but also maintains the purity of the blood of the upper class. During the time when the play was written, it was unlikely for one, especially a woman of the lower class, to marry one’s social status up. The concept of marriage between members of the same class is unconsciously promoted so that the blood of the lower class would not enter and stain that of the upper class. In granting the consent to Claudio to marry his daughter Hero, Leonato comments, “his
In this Shakespearean comedy ‘Much Ado about Nothing’ two similarly obstinate characters of Beatrice and Benedick are presented between the rather normal relationship of characters Hero and Claudio. Shakespeare presents Beatrice and Benedick’s obstinacy towards the rather obligatory act of marriage and also their particularly similar personalities that cause reason for their familiar act of squabbling; he does this whilst also presenting two characters that are completely interested in marriage and who are hardly intellectually capable of squabbling in a similar manner. As the play unfolds both characters remain combative with one another but as love becomes the better of them, they begin to reveal that somewhat secretive sensitivity
Benedick’s attitude to love & marriage in ‘‘Much Ado About Nothing’’ In the play ‘‘Much Ado About Nothing’’ by William Shakespeare, the character of Benedick shows mixed emotions towards loves and marriage throughout. In the two extracts we studied, Benedick shows a large contrast of opinions: In Act 1 Scene 1, Benedick portrays strong feelings of contempt towards love and marriage, whereas by Act 2 Scene 3, Benedick has completely changed his views and he is prepared to make the commitment and marry Beatrice, a woman he appeared to dislike in the beginning of the play and who seemed to have mutual feelings towards Benedick. Act 1 Scene 1 portrays that Benedick has a very negative attitude towards love and marriage. When conversing with
In Shakespeare’s play Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare uses Claudio and Hero to showcase the original ways of marriage and uses Benedick and Beatrice in order to show and untraditional way of love and marriage.
In Shakespeare’s play, Much Ado About Nothing, written in the early 15th century, the relationships between Benedick and Beatrice and Hero and Claudio are the key to the play and create a lot of tension and comedy. The two relationships are interesting in different ways, and this essay will explore this in terms of the language used, the plot, characterisation and how the two relationships stand thematically.
Based on an anonymous quote, “you can’t love someone you don’t know”, relates too many people in today’s world. This is the same case for the relationship between Hero and Claudio, who although knew little about the other, are more realistic to modern day relationships. The obstacles the couple went through, throughout the play were very similar to the ones many people go through nowadays. Some examples are how, they fell for each others appearance, the couple did not establish trust within each other and how they returned to those who had hurt them. This case shows how many relationships are created and how there are many events to go through before getting into a relationship. Overall, Hero and Claudio’s relationship is most realistic to the modern day relationship.
Identity also plays a major role in both plays. In Romeo and Juliet, the lovers would never expect to fall in love because they have been raised to hate each other’s families. Romeo never would have taken it upon himself to court someone in Juliet’s family because in those two families it is considered forbidden. Beatrice and Benedick from Much Ado About Nothing insulted each other every chance they could. They considered their relationship as a friendly one, but until their friends set Beatrice and Benedick up, they never thought they would fall in love with each other. Had both couples taken their relationships at face value, they would never gotten together.
If Claudio and Hero can be accepted as the perfect models of courtly love, than Beatrice and Benedick's love is easily proven as a flawless example of true love both through an understanding of their characters as well as their interaction. Benedick, a young lord of Padua, is, like Claudio, a gallant gentleman, but this is where their similarities cease. Benedick is baffled by the emotions which seize him
In Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, Beatrice and Benedict rant about marriage for most of the beginning of the play, while Claudio raves about how wonderful it will be being married to Hero. Yet in the end, Claudio exchanges his marriage to Hero for an opportunity to bash her in public, while Beatrice and Benedick marry despite that they were mortal enemies for most of the first three acts. How did the situation swing around to this degree? Beatrice and Benedick had been using the most extreme metaphors to demonstrate their scorn of each other and of marriage, and Claudio had been doing the same to demonstrate his love of Hero. Not only did none of these three
The play Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare consists of many themes which grow out of the game of love'. The two main themes consist of perception and deception. Through the plot complications, character development and dramatic techniques these themes can be explored. In the play deception is shown on both good and evil sides, the game of love between Beatrice and Benedick and the Don John plot to split up Hero and Claudio. Perception is a theme used in most of Shakespeare's plays. Perceptive views by the characters help portray the game of love. Hero is perceived as dead which then Claudio is sorry and feels for her. Beatrice and Benedick's loved is clouded by each other's perceptions and arguments.
True love is a bond shared by few and dreamed of by everyone. The appearance of a relationship may not accurately depict the true reality of the situation. The bond between Claudio and Hero appears far stronger than that of Beatrice and Benedict, yet events of the play provide evidence for the converse. In Shakespeare's comedy Much Ado About Nothing, the masked emotions of two couples are evoked through subterfuge.
Much Ado about Nothing predominately revolves around the endeavours of two couples, the younger of which in more distinction; Claudio and Hero. As many could say that another element of Shakespearean comedies could be love, it would seem a more defined term is the love between two younger people, this young couple in particular then faces hindrances that are thrown their way, eventually working through them. Whereas there is still Beatrice and Benedick who work to overcome their egomaniacal ways and eventually initiate a romance, it would seem Claudio and Hero’s complications seem to have more significance to the storyline of the play. This is also due to the fact that the elements of comedy and key plot points are in relation to their complications, such as being the younger couple and facing the mistaken identity ordeal. Nevertheless, Hero and Claudio, being the young couple, face a string of tribulations in which define them as a couple, the majority of these, come from Don John’s