Many Facets of Love Explored in Much Ado About Nothing In Shakespeare's romantic comedy Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare focuses a great deal of time to the ideas of young, lustful, and intellectual love. Claudio and Hero, Borachio and Margaret, and Benedick and Beatrice, respectively, each represent one of the basic aspects of love. Shakespeare is careful to point out that not one path is better than another. The paths are merely different, and all end happily. Shakespeare also explores the different aspects of courtship, weddings, and the different facets of love. The aspect of courtship in Much Ado About Nothing plays a crucial role in the development of the characters and in the evolution of the play as a whole. The character that must undergo the greatest transformation during the courtship process is Beatrice. The first mention of courtship is in Act One, scene one, when Beatrice inquires about Benedick with fervor: "I pray you, is Signor Mountanto returned from the wars or no?" Beatrice loves Benedick, and he loves her, but she is too proud to admit that she has feelings for any man. She denies her true feelings to herself so often that it has gone from being a ruse to being the truth she believes: "Stand I condemned for pride and scorn so much? / Contempt, farewell, and maiden pride, adieu!" (III. ii. 108-109) There Beatrice realizes how scornful she has been and vows to cast off her steel armor for one made of chocolate. Now, it isn't the chocolate with nuts or the fudge chocolate or even milk chocolate, but the chocolate that is white and pure so she can impress upon it her requited love for Benedick: "I will requite thee, / Taming my wild heart to thy loving hand" (III. ii. 111-112). Beatrice has... ... middle of paper ... ... ceremonial aspect of relationships and how wrong they can go if given the leeway with Claudio and Hero's wedding. Finally, Shakespeare shows how powerful the physical attraction between two people can be; so powerful that one becomes totally subservient to the other's commands and requests. The moral of the play: Know thyself, and thy neighbor. Works Cited and Consulted: Barton, Anne. Introduction. Much Ado About Nothing. The Riverside Shakespeare, 2nd ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1997. 361-365. Lewalski, B. K. "Love, Appearance and Reality: Much Ado About Something" Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900 8 (1968): 235-251. Rossiter, A.P. "Much Ado About Nothing." William Shakespeare Comedies & Romances. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1986. Shakespeare, William. Much Ado About Nothing. Bevington 216-51.
Much Ado About Nothing. The Riverside Shakespeare, 2nd ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1997. 366-398.
In today's society, true love can be described as someone buying a sparkly present for the significant other, celebrating their special anniversary with a beautiful getaway from their hectic life, or even risking anything in the world for that one person. These are all real examples of true love but these are also the things that Claudio didn’t do to show his affection and love towards Hero. Instead, he chose to humiliate her on their wedding day, he didn’t trust her to stay faithful until marriage, and even “killed” her. In the play, Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare, the main characters, Hero, and Claudio, are not truly in love and their actions display that.
The Ways that Shakespeare Makes Act 1 Scene 5 of Romeo and Juliet Dramatically Effective
The Role of Act 3 Scene 1 and Act 3 Scene 5 in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet
The modernization of nearly outdated and cliché settings typically used for Shakespearian plays such as Much Ado helps enforce Whedon's attempt to make the film and play familiar, as well as creates accessibility for the audience regardless of how well they may understand Shakespeare's language. Both the ensemble and individual cast members assist in achieving Whedon's vision by creating an atmosphere that seems familiar if only that it could be our own family and friends throwing that same banter back and forth between each other. Their playful and occasionally raw performances combine with a spectacular setting to help make Whedon's Much Ado About Nothing a stellar film that is a nearly perfect modern translation of a classic, centuries old
“They offer comedy of both character and situation. The “merry war” between them is established in the opening scene: Beatrice piles comic insults on Benedick both before she sees him and to his face, yet there is no mistaking her interest in him, however it may be expressed; and although Benedick declares himself ‘ a professed tyrant to their sex’ (1.1.161) and an opponent to marriage, he tells Claudio that Beatrice ‘an she were not possessed with fury, exceeds’ Hero ‘as much in beauty as the first May doth the last of December’ (1.1.180-2). Beatrice, too, though she says she prays morn and night that God will send her no husband, admits that there is something to be said for Benedick, were it not for his perpetual tattling (2.1.6-26)” (Wells 167).
With its entangled double plots and eloquent use of words, Much Ado About Nothing is a story that has the ability to entertain the masses both young and old. Shakespeare’s use of figurative language along with situation creates such vivid imagery for which carries the drama from beginning to end. For example, when we look at Act 1 Scene 1 of the play ...
Analysing the Dramatic Significance of Act 3 Scene 5 of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet
In William Shakespeare’s play ‘Much Ado about Nothing’, there are many instances of trickery and deception, which seem to surround the whole of the play.
All of the characters in Much Ado About Nothing seemed to develop a personality of their own from the very first scene. It also helped that I saw the movie version of Much Ado About Nothing before we read the play so I could almost get a picture in my head as to what each character looked like. As the character's had their own personality, so did the two love relationships in the play. Benedick and Beatrice seemed to hate each other so much from the very start of the play that as the play carried on it almost seemed like the two went full circle in their relationship. But their relationship might not have changed for the better without help from Claudio, Don Pedro, Leonato, Ursula or Hero. In Claudio's and Hero's relationship seemed to be much more conventional in the way they came together. Claudio first saw Hero and instantly fell in love with her, while Hero stood by and took orders from her father, Leonato. Only when Don John devised his deception to break Claudio and Hero apart that I felt the relationship was in trouble, but even then I felt there was hope.
Much Ado About Nothing is a lighthearted play that Shakespeare wrote between 1598 and 1600. It has been described as one of his "more mature romantic comedies" (Bevington, 216). This play focuses on two different relationships, formed by two pairs of lovers. The comparison between how people went about getting married back then and how they do it now is similar in some ways. Much Ado About Nothing portrays the manner in which people fall in love, the way they interact with each other and how they manage to get through the rough times without changing their love for one another. The two couples include the young ladies, who are cousins, Beatrice and Hero, and the gentlemen, Claudio and Benedick. There is a lot of obvious love between Hero and Claudio and he has come to claim her as his own. However, there is some bad blood that runs between Benedick and his Beatrice. Little do they know that they are made for each other.
Set in the sixteenth century, Much Ado About Nothing is revolved around the thought of love and marriage. Primarily, this is prevalent in the two main characters, Beatrice and Benedick. They have once been courted which suggests more maturity than the majority of couples in Shakespeare’s various plays. In the duration of the play, the violent language between Benedick and Beatrice is most evident through their ridicule. Both characters always speak critically regardless of whether they are talking to each other or out loud about one another. This is highlighted when Beatrice exclaims, “What should I do with him—dress him in my apparel / and make him my waiting gentlewoman? He that hath a / beard is more than / a youth, and he that hath no beard is less than a/ man; and he that is more than a youth is not for me, and he that is less than a/ man, I am not for him...
Lewalski, B. K. "Love, Appearance and Reality: Much Ado About Something" Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900 8 (1968): 235-251.
An Inspector Calls was written in 1945 but set in 1912. The play shows the stark difference between 1912 and 1945. J. B. Priestley reveals the errors of society and the faults of capitalism as well as the bias of the upper class and social status. As a firm believer in the concepts of socialism, he uses this play to expose society’s poor attitudes to the working class of the period. The way they treat Eva Smith reflects on how many of the working class may have been treated by their social superiors. Eva was a victim in society as she was very low in the financial hierarchy as well as in reality where she was at the bottom of the classes. Women at that time were seen as being delicate, obedient to their husbands. The inspector is used to correct the
The Shakespearean play “Much Ado About Nothing” is considered to be a comedy that is filled with deception, love, public shaming, honor, and social grace. The main focus of this paper will be about the characters relationship and meaning of love in this story. By examining the characters relationships in the play Much Ado, we can see Shakespeare arguing that love is achieved through commitment, trust, and understanding.