The play “Much Ado About Nothing” by William Shakespeare is a comedy that tells the tale of two pairs of lovers: Hero and Claudio, and Beatrice and Benedict. Though the main plot of the story revolves around Hero and Claudio, Benedict and Beatrice’s romantic relationship is an important subplot to the story. In “Much Ado About Nothing”, Shakespeare uses irony, hyperbole, and use of language to illustrate Benedict and Beatrice as a nontraditional spin on the ideal couple through the strength and security of their love, as can be shown in dialogue not traditionally associated with love. The love story of Beatrice and Benedict, though the irony of how it was founded makes it non-traditional, has real feelings behind it, making them an ideal
They deceit Benedick by making him think that she likes him too, but she doesn’t express her love just because she is certain that he doesn’t like her back. They make this complot in the garden while Benedick was overhearing them but they continue talking as he was not, even though they know the he could hear them. In this way Benedick is persuaded by Don Pedro and Claudio that Beatrice likes him back so he must talk to her. This is a clear example of deception used to set two people together. In this case I believe that deception is justified and in a way positive because is done in order to spread love.
He helps Beatrice in three main ways: proposing to her, respecting her response to his proposal, and setting her up with Benedick. At the party, when Beatrice wallows in self-pity for not having a husband, the prince immediately responds with, “Lady Beatrice, I will get you one [husband]” (II, i, 273) and then offers himself to be her husband. Don Pedro, as a friend, clearly wants Beatrice to happy, and he acquiesces to Beatrice’s wishes to do so. Because Don Pedro feels this way towards Beatrice, he was sincere in his proposal. His spontaneous decision to become Beatrice’s husband shows that Don Pedro is willing to change his entire lifestyle to accommodate to someone else’s desires and feels strongly about Beatrice.
Beatrice is the type of woman that will always do as she pleases. In the play, Shakespeare created a wordplay between Beatrice and another character named, Beatrice and a character named, Benedick; who is also anti-marriage. Both these characters are in a battle of witts to make the other look stupid. In the end of the play, both are tricked by their
Shakespeare uses the differences and similarities in personality traits throughout Taming of the Shrew and the rest of his works to prove that men and women can have very similar and varying personalities. Bianca and Katherine Minola are portrayed in the beginning as the opposites of each other. The elder, Katherine is unruly, boisterous, and very quick-witted, as can be seen in the first meeting of Katherine and Petruchio, where the two have sharp, insulting, back-and-forth (Shakespeare, act 2, scene 1, lines 190-193). Bianca, on the other hand, is seen as a meek, obedient, and even childish, girl. In the first act, she speaks only once, to say "to your [Baptista's] pleasure humbly I subscribe."
In Shakespeare 's time, Beatrice and Benedicks relationship was rather unordinary. As the play first beings they show combativeness towards one another, but as love comes around they begin to reveal somewhat secretive sensitivity amongst the complications of their hearts. In this essay we are going to explore the changes in the characters and the techniques used to imply given ideas, as well as the fundamental scenes that contribute to this. Both Beatrice and Benedick are stubborn, they both don’t want to be married or want anything to do with the opposite sex and they made that clear and throughout the beginning of the play. They both have a mindset that seems almost unchangeable.
During my assessment I will be exploring how Beatrice and Benedick’s relationship develops throughout the play ‘much ado about nothing’. I will also explore how their relationship follows the conventions of a relationship in the Elizabethan era. Also how their relationship subverts conventions due to the common idea of looking at the outside appearance to fall in love, however they fall in love with each other due to their intellect; Claudio and Hero fall in love because of beauty. In the beginning of the play we see through Beatrice’s witty remarks on love of how she subverts normal conventions of marriage: “I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a man swear he loves me”. This emphasises how she subverts normal conventions, she does not want a man to love whereas most women seemed to want to marry.
Okay, so Benedick explains that in the beginning he was a man who was critical of women and thought they would always cheat on their husbands. Yeah, this was the reason why he would only marry the ideal woman who possessed qualities such as being rich, virtuous, wise, fair, mild, noble, a good conversationalist, and a musician. But now, he seems to regret his old views he held about women saying, “If you lose your identity as a man and devote yourself as a soldier, you fear love.” “Another man is a fool when he dedicates his behaviors to love,” says Benedick as he recalls when he was surprised by the changes in Claudio’s behavior, and thought that a man can be so easily fooled by love(Act 2, Scene 3). After that incident, Benedick reveals that he was jealous that Claudio was lighthearted, in a very happy mood, fashionable, and soft-spoken. And for a man who had kept Claudio as his best friend, Benedick was lonely after he was the only bachelor left.
Beatrice disrupts the conventional gender polarities, urging Hero to defy her father and putting Benedick on his mettle, although her role is ambiguous as she also yearns to exercise male power to avenge Hero. Benedick voices the traditional patriarchal ideology through
In the beginning of the play, Benedick, enjoying the life of a bachelor, swore against marriage. However, Shakespeare creates a dilemma that forces Benedick to make an unchangeable decision between his longtime friend, Claudio, and the love of his life, Beatrice. Driven into a corner, Benedick chose to follow the will of Beatrice rather than Claudio, the exact opposite of what he would have done at the start of the play. Shakespeare makes Benedick contemplate his options and consider whether his love for Beatrice is more valuable than his friendship with Claudio. From the moment of his introduction, Benedick was the man who would never fall in love, refusing to participate in the foolish activities of lovers that could cloud the mind from logic.