Amber Kellmer
19 October, 2015
Brother Waddell
ENG373 Analytical Paper
TITLE
The presence and display of love in Much Ado About Nothing is very different depending on which character or relationship one focuses on. Benedick and Beatrice show their love for each other like a school boy, who picks on his crush to show he likes her. In contrast, Hero and Claudio’s relationship is much more innocent and simple. Shakespeare shows the themes of love, the difference between appearance and reality, and deception, through Hero, Claudio, Beatrice, and Benedick and their relationships with each other.
Benedick and Beatrice have a constant battle of wits with each other throughout the play, which is very different from the “bashful sincerity and comely love” (4.1.54) between Hero and Claudio. In act one scene one lines 58-61, Claudio says about Benedick and Beatrice, “There is a kind of merry war betwixt Signor Benedick and her. They never meet but there’s a skirmish of wit between them,” (1.1.58-61). Shakespeare uses this childish “skirmish of wits” between Beatrice and Benedick as a “foil” against the pure love that Claudio and Hero, to make Claudio and Hero’s love seem even greater. The foil technique originally came from when people placed a hard shiny metal underneath a gem to make the gem shine even brighter. One theme of the play, love, is shown by contrasting these types of love between the characters. The two kinds of love between the couples are vastly different: the heartfelt
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.
All throughout the beginning of the play, both Beatrice and Benedick use sarcasm and hide their true feelings for each other, which is the first example of tricky in their relationship. Both of them have vowed never to marry anyone; Benedick stating: "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." (1.1.232–35), while Beatrice says, "No, uncle, I'll none. Adam's sons are my brethren, and truly I hold it a sin to match in my kindred." (2.1.59–60.) Their friends see that they are the perfect match for one another, and plan to trick them into confessing their love for each other. When Benedick is in the orchard, he overhears Don Pedro, Claudio, and Leonato talking about how Beatrice is in love with him but is afraid he will mock her if she tells him. Benedick believes them, saying, "This can be no trick." (2.3.217.) He then goes on to say, "I will be horribly in love with her." (2.3.230–31.) Later, Beatrice hears Hero and Ursula talking about how they can't tell her that Benedick loves her because she is a scornful person. After Hero and Ursula leave, Beatrice states:
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, 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.
In the play of Much Ado About Nothing, the characters of Benedick and Beatrice have a love-hate relationship. On the surface, it appears that their relationship is built on a war of wits and insults. However, in Benedick’s soliloquy, the reader discovers that at the core of their insults actually lie the true feelings of love. It is also apparent that Benedick even sees loving each other as a competition, in that he wants to love her to a point of outdoing her love for him. Not only is Benedick constantly warring with Beatrice, but he is also undergoing an internal struggle, which is made quite apparent in Benedick’s soliloquy in Act 2 Scene 3.
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.
William Shakespeare is known for being a marvelous playwright. This is because he used advanced techniques, such as character foil. A well known example of this is in his play, Much Ado About Nothing. The play is of one unlikely love story and another that has an unlikely ending. One main character foil shown in the play would be Claudio and Benedick. This character foil illuminates the story because even though they both change their view on love, they never see eye to eye. Benedick brings out Claudio’s at first lovingness to someone who gives up on love and Benedick from a shallow man that doesn’t care about woman to a caring person who cares about others.
In Much Ado About Nothing, William Shakespeare depicts both Benedick and Beatrice as characters with one major flaw: both are full of pride. With the use of the masquerade scene, as well as the orchard scenes, Shakespeare allows the characters to realize their awry characteristic. By realizing their erroneous pride, Benedick and Beatrice are able to correct this and not only become better citizens, but fall in love.
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
Much Ado About Nothing is one of William Shakespeare’s best comedies and love stories. What is not to like about a play that is hilarious, romantic, and has a happy ending? In this play the foremost and most intriguing character is Benedick, a man who is a devout bachelor and who does not believe he will ever find the perfect woman; --because perfect is exactly what he must have. This may seem to be a harsh and pessimistic outlook on life, but the way Shakespeare brings this character to life portrays Benedick as a funny and caring man who really is not that certain about what he wants for the future. Benedick’s counterpart in the play is Beatrice who is an independent woman
In many cases, a pair of foil characters can make reading the best way to spend your time. In Much Ado About Nothing, William Shakespeare introduces Benedick and Claudio, two tough soldiers who happen to be ruthless lovers that fall in and out of love with two mistresses related to the Governor of Messina. In the play, love takes over and ruins relationships; but in the end, these two remain friends and become married men, which shows that love strengthens friendships also. Benedick and Claudio are foils to each other in this play to show that love can strongly affect friendships, negatively and positively. First off, the character Benedick can be described as desperate and indecisive.
Beatrice and Benedick continually butt heads and are always arguing. After five acts, the two finally admit their love for eachother. In the book “Much Ado About Nothing” by William Shakespeare Beatrice is the foil of Benedick thus causing... frequent arguments and having them wait to admit their love.
Shakespeare's comedy, `Much Ado About Nothing' is a play revolved around the love and friendships of two young couples, integrated with each other through both friendship and love. Love and marriage are the two most prominent ideas in Shakespeare's comedies. The two couples are Benedick and Beatrice, an unpredicted match as they appear to be quite the opposite and are forever arguing in their poetic banter. The other couple is Claudio and Hero, the two who seem madly in love yet Claudio's untrusting and naive side takes power at one stage, in which the couple's relationship seems destined to be doomed. The two characters of Benedick and Claudio are very
In Much Ado About Nothing, written by William Shakespeare, binaries are created using different themes within the novel. Shakespeare develops characters that give the reader’s a full range of themes that have been discussed in this course, I have chosen the most uncertain character of this story, Beatrice, to discuss how she enacts love and hate in the plot. Ultimately, Beatrice moves from a strong, fiery passion of hate to an emotional state of love. She successfully resists change as she is uncertain and completely changes her “ideas” of love, concerning Benedict more specifically.
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