In the play Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare, love is an important and consistent topic. The topic of love advances throughout the play as the central characters go through the stages of their relationships. Love is important because, from a very young age people experience love as a natural part of life. People want to know what love is. How do I get it, and what does it feel like? It is something one anticipates and waits for, much like the experience of a first kiss or saying the words “I love you” for the first time. Love is made up of many different emotions: joy, pain, compassion, understanding, longing, and tears. All of these emotions are felt throughout the play by the main relationships: Hero and Claudio and Beatrice and Benedick. Through the ups and downs in relationships between Hero, Claudio, Benedick and Beatrice, Shakespeare uses the idea of love to show us how important trust and loyalty are in any relationship by creating distrust.
An important part of love is trust because it is the foundation. Trust is earned by demonstrating loyalty over time. Having it makes you feel secure in a relationship and provides the opportunity for a person to become vulnerable and share emotions, feelings, and memories without being taken advantage of. The visual map that’s been presented illustrates how hurt Claudio is when he finds out that Hero is not trustworthy. Claudio shows his hurt and longing for Hero in the tears of his eyes, while his anger is shown by the act him turning his back to her. When Hero passes out she is showing her sadness and confusion from all of the distrust and pressure that is being received from her father, Leonato, and her groom. With her arms reaching out, Hero conveys that s...
... middle of paper ...
...ally. Love brings out intense emotions and situations that reveal a lot about a character and their demeanor. Shakespeare uses love to show that it does not mean you have to change your personality, however, it does mean accepting another person for who they are regardless of the thoughts and opinions of others. Love is so vital to the play because it shows us that people need trust, loyalty, commitment, chemistry, forgiveness, patience, kindness, and honesty to have proper love. Once a person has these things he or she just needs to work to find love and work even harder to keep it.
Works Cited
Shakespeare, William. Much Ado about Nothing. Ed. Paul Werstine, Barbara A. Mowat, and Gail Kern. Paster. New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 1995. Print.
"Writing in the Disciplines: English." Writing in the Disciplines: English. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Jan. 2014.
“And when I lived, I was your other wife, And when you loved, you were my other husband(Shakespeare 60).” In the beginning of the play it was overwhelming, steeped in love at first sight between Hero and Claudio, until Don John’s evil-manner took a role in ruining the love between them. And because of this a conflict developed between them, but was resolved when their vigorous love for one another overcame the conflict. In Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare, Hero serves as the foil character of Claudio because of Hero’s dignified, well-mannered, eminent reputation is illuminated through Claudio’s insecure, accusing, and doubtful weakness; thereby, interminably influencing the conflict in the plot.
Much Ado About Nothing. The Riverside Shakespeare, 2nd ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1997. 366-398.
Shakespeare, William; Much Ado About Nothing; Washington Square Press; New York, NY; New Folger Edition May 1995
...ut Nothing is an extremely fast paced and witty play, Shakespeare very much has love as his central theme. There are two very different, yet equally compelling relationships that are explored in depth. They run through the play concurrently, allowing the reader to compare and contrast the different facets and complexities between the two. The playwright’s rich understanding of relationships, and particularly his understanding of the fact that love is not always as formulaic as many a writer would have us believe, makes for a fascinating read. In fact, by directly comparing a realistic couple, full of real world self doubt and a fear of rejection with a very stereotypical love-at-first-sight type of relationship, Shakespeare is possibly making the point that love and relationships have more depth than is often given credit.
Much Ado About Nothing. The Riverside Shakespeare, 2nd ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1997. 366-398.
The William Shakespeare tragedy Othello features various types of love, but none compare to the love we find between the protagonist and his wife. In this essay let us examine “love” as found in the play.
Much Ado About Nothing. The Riverside Shakespeare, 2nd ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1997. 366-398.
Wonder, for a moment, what Shakespeare means when he uses the word “love”, if it really does exist in any of the relationships in this play, particularly between Petruccio and Katherine. Is love not a certainty?
When love is in attendance it brings care, faith, affection and intimacy. This is proved true in the spectacular play A Midsummer Night's Dream written by William Shakespeare. This play displays the facts about lust, hatred, jealousy and their roles in something powerfully desirable. It is entitled love. Love is present everywhere, in every form, in every condition and even when one least expects it.
Scott, Mark W., ed. "Much Ado About Nothing." Shakespeare Criticism. Vol. VIII. Detroit, Michigan: Gale Research Co., 1989.
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.
In the play “Romeo and Juliet”, Shakespeare shows that love has power to control one’s actions, feelings, and the relationship itself through the bond between a destined couple. The passion between the pair grew strong enough to have the capability to do these mighty things. The predestined newlyweds are brought down a rocky road of obstacles learning love’s strength and the meaning of love.
Love is a powerful emotion, capable of turning reasonable people into fools. Out of love, ridiculous emotions arise, like jealousy and desperation. Love can shield us from the truth, narrowing a perspective to solely what the lover wants to see. Though beautiful and inspiring when requited, a love unreturned can be devastating and maddening. In his play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, William Shakespeare comically explores the flaws and suffering of lovers. Four young Athenians: Demetrius, Lysander, Hermia, and Helena, are confronted by love’s challenge, one that becomes increasingly difficult with the interference of the fairy world. Through specific word choice and word order, a struggle between lovers is revealed throughout the play. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare uses descriptive diction to emphasize the impact love has on reality and one’s own rationality, and how society’s desperate pursuit to find love can turn even strong individuals into fools.
However, Shakespeare also picks on love. Not only did Malvolio's confusion about his and Olivia's relationship prove to add to the comedy, but it rather showed how one can play with love, and use it for another's harm. Apart from this example, love is depicted as a light and lovely emotion.
What is love? In William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night love is nothing more than another disguise. It is an illusion that fools everyone. Orsino, Olivia, Sebastian, and Viola do any of them find love in the end? No, they find nothing more than a disguise, an illusion of love. By analyzing each of these characters, their thoughts and feelings of, and their experiences with love throughout this play, we can determine that in the end, none of them have found true, genuine love.