Much Ado About Nothing - The Characters of Claudio and Benedick
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 different in both personality and manner, much like the two couples previously mentioned. The play ends with a double marriage--the union between a fair young woman and a heroic war soldier, and the passionate match of a firebrand spinster to her avowed bachelor. Ideas of loyalty and trust are interspersed throughout the Claudio-Hero union; Claudio shows little loyalty or trust but is made repentant before the marriage can take place. As for the Beatrice/Benedick union, there is a strong sense of the uncontrollable unpredictability of love. Neither would like to admit they have fallen for each other, but they have little if any choice in the matter.
Benedick is the egotistical soldier who is the butt of all of Beatrice's jokes. He is the other involved in the "merry war" with the woman he is secretly (to start with) in love. He is confident and I got the impression he believes he is God's gift to women. He doesn't know it, but he is in love with Beatrice. It takes the tricky ...
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...like. This gives a rounded view on both Benedick and Claudio, so the reader feels much more involved with the characters and in a sense, knows them better.
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; Washington Square Press; New York, NY; New Folger Edition May 1995
Vaughn, Jack A. Shakespeare's Comedies. New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Company, 1980
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.
Benedick and Beatrice both benefit from the deceit that they encounter. At first, both are enemies in a battle of insults and wit, until they are each fooled into thinking that the other loves them. When Benedick hears that Beatrice is supposedly attracted to him, he thinks that it is “a gull, but that the white-bearded fellow speaks it: knavery cannot, sure, hide itself in such reverence” (111). Little does he know, Leonato, the "white-bearded fellow," is also in on the joke (111). Benedick starts to admire her when he is aware that Beatrice might actually be attracted to himself, as well. She is also astonished when she first hears that he loves her. However, when Beatrice comes to terms with their affection, she hopes "Benedick [will] love on... And [she] Believe it better than reportingly" (134). In other words, she falls in love with Benedick as soon as she believes that he, too, is fond of her. They each start to fall in love with one another under the pretense that other was hiding their affection from them. Now that they are both in love, they start to open up to each other and prove that the deception they endured was worth it in the end.
Beatrice and Benedick show their apparent distaste for each other right from the first scene. Beatrice mocks Benedick to the Governor of Messina, claiming that she always beats him in a battle of wits and the last time they crossed paths Benedict’s “five wits went halting off, and now is the whole man governed by one” (1,1,50). Clearly relishing resuming their ‘merry war’, Beatrice cuts Benedick down at the first opportunity, telling him “I wonder that you still will be talking, Signor Benedick, nobody marks you” (1,1,105). Incredulously, Benedick retorts, “what my dear lady distain! Are you yet living?” (1,1,95). So, the dynamic of the two is set and it goes on from there in the same vein. Yet, the reader, even at this early stage may ponder if the lady doth protest too much.
Much Ado About Nothing. The Riverside Shakespeare, 2nd ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1997. 366-398. Ranald, Margaret Loftus.
William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing is a play involving by deception, disloyalty, trickery, eavesdropping, and hearsay. The play contains numerous examples of schemes that are used to manipulate the thoughts of other characters; it is the major theme that resonates throughout the play. Ironically, it is one of these themes that bring serenity to the chaos that encompasses most of the play.
"Much Ado About Nothing: Entire Play." Much Ado About Nothing: Entire Play. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Mar. 2014. .
A pathogen can be anything that causes a disease, including bacterium which causes meningitis, Viruses causing hepatitis A-C, and a fungus that cause athlete's foot. Plant pathology bacteria can serve economically damaging diseases, from spots, pustules on leaves and fruit, tuber rots to a plant's death. Some bacteria causes a hormone base distortion of leaves and shoots called fasciation. Fungi pathogens spread through plants to steal nutrients of living plants and carry out the part of the life cycle in soil. Mycorrhizae fungi make carbohydrates from plant roots, enhancing plant uptake of inorganic nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen. Cripps, C.L reported on mycorrhizae that “ The relationship is considered nonpathogenic, and of benefit to the plants involved.”- describing that the relationship between mycorrhizae and pathogens is nonpathogenic because mycorrhizae cancels out the disease. Over 85% of plants in nature have the mycorrhizae condition to keep pathogens away. This is why gardeners buy mycorrhizae fungi to help stop diseases of plants and for the safety of humans catching the disease through eating the plants. Food is one of the most important factors in the ecology life cycle and mycorrhizae makes it safe for these plants to take part in the
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.
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 ...
In response to the damage caused by Hurricane Isabel, Virginia Governor Mark Warner described it as, “Probably the worst storm in a generation” (Washington Post, Ambrose). This was certainly not an overstatement as the National Weather Service reported that Isabel created 925 million dollars of damage in the state of Virginia alone (Johnson). While Isabel was not the most intense storm once it reached the United States, the size of this storm and the population of the area it impacted was why it caused so much damage (Johnson). This paper will discuss the science behind the creation of this storm, the impact of the storm in Richmond, Virginia and its surrounding areas, and the efforts to decrease the effects of the storm along with what could have further prevented any damages.
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Much Ado About Nothing. The Riverside Shakespeare, 2nd ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1997. 366-398.
Hurricanes begin as tropical storms of the warm moist waters of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The beginning of a hurricane is a low-pressure area containing cloudiness and precipitation with no strong wings. Heavy rain can occur. There is a pressure drop in the center of the storm. Wind speed picks up and starts rotating in a patters, and heavy rainfall begins. Winds increase to speeds of thirty-nine to seventy-three miles per hour. The storm becomes more organized due to intensifying circulation around the center of the storm. A tropical storm is given a name once winds exceed thirty-nine miles per hour. A pronounced rotation develops around the center of the storm with winds of th...
Krause, Kennith R. Corporate Farming: importance, incentives, and state restrictions. Washington D.C: U.S. Govt. Printing Office, 1983.