Theme Of Manipulation In Much Ado About Nothing

Love does not happen right away. It needs to be built up and has to develop, similar to how a flower blooms. Being in love also leaves one’s heart exposed and unguarded, and open to the influences of their lover, something which Benedick in Much Ado about Nothing was worried of. Even though he does submit to the will of love in the end, he did possess somewhat of a point. In Much Ado about Nothing (Shakespeare) and Getting on in the World (Callaghan), both Hero and Jean subtly manipulate men for the purpose of love.

On the first read through of these two texts, readers may often not detect the manipulation taking place, but after closer examination, the true intentions of the two aforementioned characters come to light. This is especially

We can however assume her attraction is existent from when Beatrice states “My cousin tells him in his ear that he is in her heart.” (Shakespeare, 29). Hero’s manipulative behavior differs from Jean’s manipulative eagerness, but manipulative is the descriptor nonetheless. Unlike Jean, Hero’s manipulation is not detected by her words, but rather by her lack thereof. When Hero is front of her father or other men, such as Claudio, she is very quiet, reserved, and polite. She does not speak to them often, and when she does, it is very eloquent, such as her exchange with Don Pedro at the masquerade dance: “So you walk softly and look sweetly and say nothing, I am yours for the walk; and especially when I walk away.” (21) However, her behavior changes noticeably when she is with her friends and when the men, notably Claudio, are away. An example of this is when she says, “My cousin 's a fool, and thou art another: I 'll wear none but this.”(58) to Margaret when choosing clothing to wear. This shift in language and behavior from one scene to another shows that when around the men, Hero is not being herself, and rather masking herself by being more reserved and quiet. One must question why she wears this mask however. Primarily, the reason that comes to mind is that she wants to seem more quietly feminine in front of the men in order to seem more alluring. Although this quiet femininity

Their relationship ending is tied to what happened between Jean and Eddie. Looking back to Jean, Callaghan describes her behavior with the quote: “With Jean laughing and talking a lot and showing off all her straightforward warm eagerness people used to turn and look at her as if they’d like to reach out their hands and touch her.” (Callaghan). This quote shows how others react to her warm and eager behavior. Eddie Convey is also influenced by this behavior, and states “She’s a nice-looking kid. Sort of fresh and-well…uh, fresh, that’s it… Maybe she’d like to go to a party at my place.” (Callaghan). From this quote we can see that Eddie is also interested in Jean as a result of her manipulative behavior, and believes she is nice-looking, although the meaning of “fresh” is unclear. At the end of the story, through Henry’s words of “So you stayed up there with him! Just like a tramp,” (Callaghan) it is believed that she did sexual things with Eddie. This quote also leads to the belief that Eddie wanted Jean only for that reason, and the eagerness Jean displays appealed to him because he thought she would be “easy”. These points are also supported by Eddie not being able to describe Jean in words other than nice-looking and fresh when he invites Jean to his party. However, what happened between Jean and Eddie is not stated clearly,