Preview

Much Ado About Nothing - "Game of Love"

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
808 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Much Ado About Nothing - "Game of Love"
Much Ado About Nothing

The main love themes in the play, Much Ado About Nothing, can be considered as based on "The Game Of Love." Two themes in the plot are examples of this and they are: the situation where Don Pedro, Claudio and Leonardo are speaking loudly of a love possessed by Beatrice for Benedick, and overheard by Benedick (who had promised himself a life of bachelorhood) who consequently falls in deep love with Beatrice; and the situation where Don John (who gets a thrill from ruining the love between two people) plans the illusion of Hero acting in an unfaithful manner the night before her wedding.

Firstly, the "Game Of Love" is played out in Much Ado About Nothing in the theme of the trap to trick Benedick and Beatrice to fall in love with each other. The word "game" means something (with a plan) that is played out, sometimes with rules. This is what Leonardo, Claudio and Don Pedro are doing, creating a plan, to deceive both Benedick and Beatrice into believing that they are both in love with each other.
However, a turnabout in the ‘game', or a "Plot Complication," is when Beatrice uses this love in the wrong way and says to Benedick "If you love me, kill Claudio" –(in Act IV, Scene 1: Line 280). This means that the plan almost boomeranged on one of the planners, Claudio.
"Character Development" in regards to the Beatrice and Benedick situation is that they were both originally sworn bachelors and they obviously disliked each other completely. Then, after the plan or ‘game' is set to bring them together, they realise how much they love each other. Their characters developed further when they started plotting murder in the ‘name of love'. When Benedick admits to Beatrice that he loves her, Beatrice (who already had a hint about his feelings), tells Benedick that he must kill Claudio, then she will love him forever.
The "Dramatic Techniques" in Much Ado About Nothing, is also shown when the mood builds when Benedick and Beatrice admit to their

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    “You can tell an artist is excellent when he denies his own perfection.” (Shakespeare 78 -79) Based on the characters Beatrice and Benedick the conflict between the two is that they have trouble expressing their love for each other, throughout the book the foil insult each other until they realize they love one another. In Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare, Benedick serves as the foil character of Beatrice by which Beatrice’s reasonable taste are illuminated through Benedick’s bearing thoughts; thus, compound the twist and conflict to the plot.…

    • 606 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    example in Act 1, Scene 1, one of Beatrice’s first lines is a witty assault at Benedick’s…

    • 710 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing is a play involving by deception, disloyalty, trickery, eavesdropping, and hearsay. The main examples of deception we see are from the characters of Beatrice and Benedick.. We as the audience are exposed to their ‘merry war; ad they exchange witty and sarcastic banter, providing the humor throughout Shakespeare’s comedy and very interesting comparisons to be commented onIn act 1, we are introduced to Beatrice who Beatrice tends to take charge of every conversation, not reluctant to state her own views on a subject regardless of whom she addresses. Her wit and sarcasm are wasted on the messenger, who doesn't know what to make of her. Her uncle, Leonato, acknowledges her ongoing "merry war" with Benedick. Finally, she engages Benedick himself, who can give back as good as he gets.Benedick too is mentioned before he appears, but only by Beatrice, who is clearly bitter toward him, apparently as the result of previous experience with him. In his battle of words with Beatrice, Benedick puts up a noble fight, finally putting her on the defensive, but while Benedick has the last word this time, Beatrice ends the conversation…

    • 833 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Benedick Foil

    • 990 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Out of the 37 plays and 154 sonnets that Shakespeare wrote, “Much Ado About Nothing” has become one his most popular pieces. The comedy follows Don Pedro, Claudio, and Benedick after they return home from war. Upon meeting Hero, Claudio immediately falls in love with her, and with the help of Don Pedro, Hero agrees to marry him. As they prepare for the wedding, Don Pedro plans to get Beatrice and Benedick together while Don John plots to ruin Hero and Claudio’s relationship. Both succeed, as Beatrice and Benedick admit their love for each other, and Claudio shames Hero at their wedding, believing that she had cheated on him. By the next day, they discover that Don John had staged the scene, and Claudio and Hero still got married, and Benedick got engaged to Beatrice. Throughout the play, Shakespeare uses character foils to emphasize the traits of his characters, and add to his story. In the play, “Much Ado About Nothing” by William Shakespeare, Benedick and Claudio are foils of each other because of their personality traits, choices, and reaction.…

    • 990 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the novel, Benedick and Beatrice hate each other with all their might. They talk bad about each other to one another any chance they get. The first form of trickery in Much Ado About Nothing is when the Prince and Leonato plot a story to trick Benedick. They knew Benedick was listening to their conversation so they knew exactly what to say. Benedick believed their lies and began to change the way he saw Beatrice…

    • 424 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the play Much Ado About Nothing Shakespeare uses the theme of deceit to advance the plot between Beatrice and Benedick. There was a scene in the garden where Don Pedro, Claudio and Leonato set up Benedick to fall in love with Beatrice. Even though he already liked her but was unwilling to let her or anyone else know that. Don Pedro Claudio and Leonato use the idea that Beatrice already likes him but she will not say anything because she…

    • 765 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “There, Leonato, take her back again. Give not this rotten orange to your friend.”(Shakespeare 152). Hero, Beatrice's cousin, and Claudio, Benedicks friend, fall in love, but Don John creates a scheme framing Hero for not being a virgin, even though she is. This ultimately resolves, with them all finding out the truth and Benedick and Beatrice falling in love. In Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare, Beatrice provides as the foil character of Benedick, by which Benedick irrational decisions are balanced out by Beatrice's reasonable mind, therefore influencing the conflict within the plot.…

    • 491 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the play Much Ado about Nothing written by William Shakespeare in 1599 shows the concept of love and its different sides (tragedy, hope...). The two main couples that are formed throughout the play are Hero and Claudio and Beatrice and Benedick, each couple is unique as the four characters are very different and have very different personalities from one another. Beatrice and Benedick represent the ideal couple because they both take their time, and wait for the right person, the reader is able to see how they truly love each other and want the same things for their future even though they don’t always admit it. Throughout the play Beatrice and Benedick both realize that love changes people, and their points of view.…

    • 1031 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the play their are two couples. In the beginning of the play Shakespeare introduces us to the couple Claudio and Hero. They fall in love at first sight. Although, not all couples fall in love the same. Beatrice and Benedick have always argued. They seemed to hate each other. With the help of their friends deceptions they fell in love with each other through false information. After Benedick…

    • 539 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Well, this was signior Benedick that said so.”. (2.1.27-29) This quote is Beatrice acting as she does not know it is Benedick who is under that mask. It is debatable whether Beatrice knows that Benedick is the stranger behind the mask but if she does happen to know this then she is deceiving him to make a fool out of him. Of all of deception and trickery that runs through “Much Ado About Nothing” one of the most prominent is the love affair between Beatrice and Benedick. It starts of as “a merry war” that goes on with both Benedick and Beatrice denying the fact that they have romantic feelings towards each other. The signior Benedick and Beatrice first hide their love/feelings with each other. They have a love hate relationship in the beginning as Beatrice says, “What should I do with him? Dress him in my apparel and make him my waiting gentlewoman?” (2.1.34-35). Her meaning of this is that she has no interest in him only using him as a follower. This all changes with the help of being deceived by Hero, Ursula, Don Pedro, Claudio and Leonato lying telling Benedick and Beatrice are strongly in love with each other. With them thinking that the other is in love with them they start to show their true feelings towards each other on their…

    • 825 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The relationship between Beatrice and Benedick exposes the truth in a manner that removes the significance of the lies. Whereas Claudio and Hero’s connection still relies on the treacheries as a crucial property to flourish. These juxtaposing relationships illustrate how varied human relations can be when fabrications are at the center. As the play matures the relationships developed at different degrees into opposing situations: one growing stronger while the other was weakened due to the deceptions. In these final lines, Shakespeare is exposing how circumstances can contrast even amongst comparable conditions. While lying ultimately unites one, it almost destroys the other couple. Trickery is depicted as neither wrong nor right through the scope of these…

    • 1092 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Much Ad About Nothing

    • 823 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare presents an interesting relationship between the characters of Beatrice and Benedick. We can compare their relationships with the poems ‘Sonnet 130’, ‘Sonnet 43’ and ‘Salome’ and the relationships presented in them. Although Shakespeare includes a conventional relationship between Hero and Claudio, he also decides to involve a different affair between Beatrice and Benedick.…

    • 823 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This essay talks about the role of love as it used in Shakespeare’s comedies. It directly talks about “Much Ado about Nothing” and “Twelfth Night”, and how they use love in their stories. “Shakespeare expects us to accept wonder as having some kind of value in itself and in its relations to the action that has gone before. We are presented with the wonderful as an incitement to knowledge and to pleasure; and we are asked also to consider the dramatic fact that those who participate in the happy ending must be ready to set aside their human confinement to the probable and accept an intrusion of the improbable into their lives.” (262-263) Wonder and love are on equal footing in Shakespeare. He expects us to accept that the characters fall in love with each other as well. Love is a vital part of every romantic comedy whether it’s a play written by Shakespeare or a movie like “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days”. The essay also makes a note of how the characters change through the plays and compares how it works in both stories. The author of the essay…

    • 301 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    To define true love, would be to ruin its purity, therefore, It has no definition. However, the Shakespearean play, Much Ado about Nothing, illustrates episodes of various defining moments on love in action. The contrasting views throughout the play about true love depict two sets of lovers Benedick and Beatrice, Claudio and Hero. Several governing actions by both sets of lovers set the tone as the pair search for the truth about love. Throughout the play examples of moments, views, and actions define 16th century true love.…

    • 794 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The theme of love is predominant throughout the entirety of ‘Romeo and Juliet’. Many forms of love are incorporated throughout the play and displayed through the relationships of different characters. Romantic love between Romeo and Juliet is contrasted by a sensual perception of love in the play, while themes of familial love and friendship are discussed with regards to the superficial and unrequited love Romeo experienced with Rosaline.…

    • 1204 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays