Love in Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare

Love in Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare

Shakespeare is well known for presenting the full repertoire of human

emotions, and love is no exception. Much Ado About Nothing is

unquestionably a play about love. Shakespeare provides the audience

with a whole gamut of lovers from the banal Claudio and Hero to the

rebellious Beatrice and Benedick. It is this range which allows

Shakespeare to critique the conventions and perceptions within his

renaissance society This variance in love and lovers also serves to

inform the audience of the many different faces of love, and to

further the plot, for example it is Margaret's brand of free love that

causes the turning point in the play. The comparisons drawn between

Beatrice and Benedick's love and the superficial love of Hero and

Claudio are typical of the constant contrasts that Shakespeare builds

into this play, comical or otherwise. It is in this way that

Shakespeare manages to cross-reference almost all of his characters

with each other; ` the 'wise' Beatrice with the 'modest' Hero, the

'valiant' Benedick with 'Sir boy,' the young Claudio. This emphasises

their strengths and highlights their weaknesses respectively. By this

he makes them more interesting, and so more realistic, pointing out

things about the society in which the play was written, and about

human relationships as a whole.

One of the topics Shakespeare is especially fond of is that of Love

being a force for good in society, improving anyone who is infatuated

with it. During Act 2 Scene 3 Don Pedro comments that if Beatrice

loved him like she supposedly loves Benedick, 'I would have doffed all

other respects and ...

... middle of paper ...

...io and Hero signifying closure and restoring

order, which demonstrates that not only is their relationship

superficial, but also their presentation within the play.

Much Ado About Nothing explores the many nooks and crannies that lurk

in the dark theoretical world of love. Shakespeare captures the

essence of love, in his language, structure and content. The

presentation of love in this play is wide both in scope and in

application, including many relevant ideas. The structure of the play

helps convey these, and still maintains it as a comedy. There is a

sinister, evil tainted scene, followed by a comic one, balancing the

play, but still including all the negative points that Shakespeare

wants to convey. It is altogether a hugely impressive piece of

playwriting, and Shakespeare deserves the adulation he duly receives.