The Role of Love in Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare

entirely in this scene as he stops thinking of love in a bad way as he

Claudio and Hero are the idealised Elizabethan couple in the book because of the patriarchal society that the story is based on. This is because Hero is shown as a weak and powerless young woman while Claudio is described as a powerful and honourable man. In the wedding Claudio decides to shame her and says ‘There, Leonato, take her back again Give not this rotten orange to your friend’. Even when Hero is being insulted and accused of being a prostitute she does not defend herself and says ‘Is my lord well, that he doth speak so wide?’ Instead of defending herself she asks if Claudio is alright which displays a sign of weakness in her.

Love in Much Ado About Nothing is a super-complicated topic. First of all, none of the characters explicitly seek love out—love is always second to something else in this play. Love might be the inadvertent result of hatred, or the incidental fact of marriage. Though the play is about romance, the plot seems to highlight the fact that love is only one of many factors that goes into a love affair. Love often comes with difficulty or complication from outside circumstances (like a scheming villain), but it’s just as often thwarted by lovers themselves.

Love is the biggest theme in both Romeo and Juliet and Much Ado About Nothing. In both plays, hate acts as a force that attempts to tear both lovers apart, but their love holds them together. In Romeo and Juliet,

Shakespeare has demonstrated the ramifications of human nature that have arisen through the misunderstandings of the characters. Shakespeare does this by effectively conveying the dramatic technique reversal. The purpose of the technique is to show the reader the complexities of human nature by demonstrating that even a common example of misunderstanding could change the direction of one's life, and the perception of an object. This is evident through the quote “That I love her, I feel” in Act 1 scene 1, said by Claudio about Hero, which is later contradicted with the quote “There, Leonato, take her back again. Give not this rotten orange to your friend”, who is referencing Claudio’s betrayal. Claudio believed that the person Borachio was making love to was Hero instead of Margaret, due to the succession of Don John’s master plan. During this scene, Claudio displays a sense of misunderstanding by falsely concluding that his fiancée had been ‘unfaithful’ to him. Reversal is shown when Claudio is enraged by the fictitious actions of Hero when he abandons her at the day of their wedding. Shakespeare has demonstrated misunderstanding through the dramatic technique, reversal to explore the complexities of human nature.

During the two gulling scenes, namely Act 2 Scene 3 and Act 3 Scene 1,

Characters in this play have experience love in different ways; starting with Claudio that falls in love with Hero from the first time he sees her, and decided to get married. “In mine eye she is the sweetest lady that ever I looked on,” (1,1,168) it would seem that the love Claudio has for Hero is a result of first attraction on looks, however, Claudio’s character seems to be immature and inexperienced. Later in the play, when Claudio is suspicious of her, he instantly forgets the love he had for her, and that love turned to a full of hatred. On the other hand, Hero’s willingness to forgive Claudio is just as disturbing as Claudio’s rejection of her. She does not fight for her pride after what Claudio did to her but instead marries him willingly. “And when I lived, I was your other wife, And when you loved, you were my other husband,” (62, 5, 4) this line shows how forgiving and innocent Hero is as a character.

  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 'Romeo and Juliet', Shakespeare portrays different aspects and types of love in many ways. The obvious love is the fateful love between Romeo and Juliet although the play also displays platonic love, maternal love and aspects of adolescent love.

The humiliation caused to Hero in the event would be inconceivable to an audience at the time, being accused of adultery would no doubt ruin a woman’s reputation and therefore create difficulty for her when finding a husband; especially for a woman of high status such as Hero. Claudio is being presented as a potential threat at this part in the play, contrasting with the gallant war hero we were first introduced to. This emphasizes how bitter and sinister Claudio has turned, consequently reminding the audience by irony that is he only interested in wealth and status when marrying Hero. Claudio’s shallow fickleness plays into the villain’s hands. Shakespeare uses the threat of Claudio to generate further anxiety in the audience and concern for Hero’s welfare. This scene shows the men of the play coinciding with each other in their response to the defamation of Hero. Don Pedro personally insults Hero during the commotion of this scene, “to link my dear friend to a common stale,” he suggests here that he believes her status has been lowered by what she has supposedly done and rendered her ‘common’. This personal attack on Hero which has come from someone who shouldn’t really be involved advocates the idea that she is isolated in a patriarchal society in which men group together to defend male interests. Hero’s reputation is being publicly ruined here, and at the time this would have ruined Hero’s life and her

Love is defined as the intense feeling of deep affection. In the play, Romeo and Juliet written by William Shakespeare, the attraction between the two protagonists, Romeo and Juliet, does not factually classify as true love. Meanwhile, lust is a concept in which is commonly mistaken for love, which is very apparent throughout this classic “love story” of Romeo and Juliet. While others could debate that Romeo and Juliet’s love, was love at first sight, it is debateable that their feelings towards one another were pure lust. Romeo and Juliet are too immature to fully understand the concept of love as they are too young and hormone-driven, they were both in search for escapism from their present troubles, and they had an excessive amount of

David Bevington in William Shakespeare: Four Tragedies describes how “love” is attacked from the outset of Othello:

In Shakespeare’s times, a playwright’s primary tool for communication was language and action. Language and action indeed help playwrights to reveal themes and ideas of the play. In the film Much Ado About Nothing, talks about two women Hero and Beatrice. Hero was a young daughter of leonato had an affair with Benedick whereas Beatrice was Hero’s cousin, courted by Claudio. On this blog, I will mainly discuss Hero’s perspective towards language and action. Hero’s use of language is very ironic and sarcastic. She says things that she doesn’t mean. When Hero and Benedick met, Hero told him to kill Claudio because of a miscommunication. She definitely knows that Claudio is Beatrice lover. There was a miscommunication and misinterpretation of

Much Ado about Nothing is a romantic comedy written by William Shakespeare. Deception is a repeated theme throughout the play and it performs an essential role in the matters relating to romance. There are two couples who unwittingly are participants in the matchmaking and the match breaking schemes of others. There is Claudio of Florence and Benedick of Padua who arrive at Leonato’s house in Messina with Don Pedro, after being away in battle. Then, there is Hero, Leonato’s daughter, and heir, as well as her devoted cousin, Beatrice. In Much Ado about Nothing Shakespeare uses language and literary devices to reassure the audience that love will persevere and prevail in the end. He achieves this by juxtaposing Benedick and Beatrice with Claudio and Hero.

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