Love And Love In Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing

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An Analysis of Much Ado About Nothing Written between 1598 and 1600 at the peak of Shakespeare 's skill in writing comedic work, Much Ado About Nothing is one of Shakespeare 's wittiest works. In this comedy, Shakespeare 's drama satirizes love and human courtliness between two couples who take very different paths to reach the same goal: making the connection between inward and outward beauty. Much Ado About Nothing shows different ways of how people are attracted to one another, and how their realization and definitions of "love" relate to their perceptions of inward and outward beauty. The play is set in Messina, Italy, a small province facing the Straits of Messina, in northeastern Sicily, at the estate of the governor of Messina, Leonato.
Towards the end of the play Bene*censored* proposes to Beatrice and kisses her before Claudio and Hero 's marriage, this shows that they had come a long way, with a little help from their friends. Claudio sees the inner beauty in Hero when he learns of her innocence, but Shakespeare makes it seem much less dramatic that that of Bene*censored* and Beatrice. One could say that Claudio fell in love at first sight, and then caught a glimpse of her inner beauty when her innocence was revealed, but his love of her wealth cannot be overlooked either. After learning of Hero 's innocence he agrees to marry one of Leonato 's nieces and says that he would even have an Ethiope for his wife. This could be interpreted as a desire of Claudio to marry into fortune, pursuance of his love wealth obscured by beauty. Both couples see inward and outward beauty by the end of the play, although they both end up learning practically opposite lessons in love (Brown 118). When we are not confident in our thoughts and ideas, we are hesitant and they do not translate them into actions thus the initial spark dies and we are blind to what could have been.

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