Preview

Much Ado About Nothing: Love and Marriage

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
794 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Much Ado About Nothing: Love and Marriage
Even though love and marriage was a major ideal in Shakespearean England, we can get views from Much Ado about Nothing which oppose this idea. From the two main ‘couples' in this play we can understand their different views on commitment throughout and because of this we as readers and viewers can learn about each relationship separately and watch the thoughts and ideas change throughout the play.
<br>
<br>From the scene given we can make many assumptions on the Beatrice and Benedick relationship and how it may have grown throughout the previous acts and scenes. We can tell from this small passage that Beatrice and Benedick have a love/hate relationship which may have come from past relationship let downs…
<br>
<br>Beatrice: indeed my lord, he lent it me awhile, and I gave him use for it, a double heart for his single one. Marry, once before he won it off me with false dice, therefore your grace may well say I have lost it.
<br>
<br>The two seem to have the same ideas on marriage even though we learn through the play that this is not true, they both know it is important to get married but have different viewpoints on the matter, they both appear to want their individuality. We can see this idea in the passage provided and many other parts of the play…
<br>
<br>Beatrice: just, if he send me no husband; for the which blessing I am at him upon my knees every morning and evening. Lord, I could not endure a husband with a beard on his face I had rather lie in the woollen…
<br>
<br>Benedick: the savage bull may; but if the ever sensible Benedick bear it, pluck off the bulls horns and set them in my forehead; and let me be vilely painted, and in such great letters as they write ‘Here is a good horse to hire' let them signify under my name ‘Here you see Benedick the married man'…
<br>
<br>Each of the two know deep down that they do love each other and only when their friends plot against them do they end up declaring their love for each other. Benedick has protested in

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    Beatrice and Benedick are perhaps Shakespeare’s most famous characters that use brutality and violence on their words throughout the play. Neither ever lets the other say anything without countering it with a criticism. One notable characteristic of their attacks upon each other is their ability to include a metaphor in their dialogue. When Benedick calls Beatrice a “rare parrot-teacher,” Beatrice responds, “A bird of my tongue is better than a beast of yours” (Act 1, Scene 1). Benedick continues the reference to animals in his response, saying, “I would my horse had the speed of your tongue” (Act1, Scene1). It is as if each anticipates the other’s response. Though their insults are biting, their ability to maintain such clever, interconnected sparring seems to illustrate the existence of a strong bond between them, which is considered as “a kind of merry war betwist Signior Benedick and Beatrice. They never meet but there’s a skirmish of wit between them” (Act 1, Scene1), by Leonato. The conversations between these two characters, do not really mention to be hurtful. One could conclude that the bitterness, the cleverness, and the sarcasm between these two are not used to really hurt themselves, but just because they are really in love, but being afraid of admitting it, they criticize each other in order to make it seem they really don’t like one another. And that’s how Shakespeare reveals the intensity between these two characters.…

    • 991 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Benedick’s attitude towards love is that he does not love anyone and that it is a stupid idea to fall in love with someone. Then he further explains himself in, “Then is courtesy a turncoat. But it is certain I am loved of all ladies, only you excepted; and I would I could find in my heart that I had not a hard heart, for truly I love none” (Act 1, scene 1, lines 122-125, page 13). In this quote Benedick says that the woman’s courtesy is a traitor and that all ladies love him, except for Beatrice. He also states that it is to bad that he is so hard-hearted, because he really doesn’t love anyone. Beatrice’s attitude towards love is that she does not want to be married to a man that swears to love her, because she finds that very stupid. She then further explains herself by stating in, “A dear happiness to women. They would else have been troubled with a pernicious suitor. I thank god and my cold blood I am of your humor for that. I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a man swear he loves me” (Act 1, scene 1, lines 126-130, page 15). In this quote Beatrice is saying that Benedick would make a nasty suitor for women and that they both feel the same way about love. She also states that she would rather hear her dog bark at a crow than hear a man say that he loves her. And I find their courtship more appealing than Claudio and Hero’s, because it is more exciting and you can’t predict what they are going to say…

    • 820 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    As the dancing commences, we learn a great deal about their personalities. Beatrice, who recognizes her own rebelliousness and bluntness and their effects on others, especially men, has been hurt by Benedick sometime in the past; Benedick is vulnerable to Beatrice's insults (by the end of the scene, Benedick is at his most infuriated with Beatrice's insults, referring to her as a Harpy and as Lady Tongue; he asks Don Pedro to send him on any errand, no matter how ridiculous, just to get him away from Beatrice). This shows the clear divide in attitutdes however , if analysed deeper it seems as if there are evident similarities between Benedick and Beatrice. They’re both exposed to each other’s abuses and somehow feel threatened by…

    • 833 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Much Ado About Nothing

    • 520 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Once Hero and Claudio were engaged, they decided to decieve them, along with many others, by setting Beatrice and Benedick up. Beatrice was feisty and skeptical, while Benedick was one who disliked women and promised he would never marry. Claudio and Don Pedro see Benedick hiding behind the bushes and decieve him by speaking about how Beatrice thought he was dreamy. They said that she thought he was a sweet person and loved how he always had a witty remark to say back to her and if he ever found out, she would die of embarassment because she was madly in love with him. Hero had spoken to an older woman about how Benedick was madly in love with Beatrice and always had a place for her in his heart, knowing that Beatrice was hiding behind trees.…

    • 520 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Much Ad About Nothing

    • 823 Words
    • 4 Pages

    One of these moments where we can begin to understand their relationship is during the First Meeting. In Act 1 Scene 1, Benedick uses imagery of a bird to mock Beatrice. On line 126, Benedick says to Beatrice “Well, you are a rare parrot-teacher”. Benedick could be mocking Beatrice by suggesting that she can’t say anything original and only copies what others say, therefore relating to the imagery of a parrot. However, the word ‘rare’ shows that Benedick recognises the unique characteristics of Beatrice and that she is standing out from the crowd, consequently hinting his disguised love for her. Additionally, this quotation also relates to the context of time as women, in those days, could be punished for talking too much. Benedick could be taking advantage of the conventions of time to put Beatrice in her place in their relationship with each other. The parrot imagery can also relate to a poem called Sonnet 130. This is because, in Sonnet 130, the poet says “I love to hear her speak, yet well i know, That music hath a far more pleasing sound;”. We can link the first phrase of Sonnet 130 with Benedicks quote of a ‘rare’ parrot-teacher. By including the word rare before the imagery of a bird, suggests that although Beatrice may talk too much, Benedick still enjoys listening to her speak hence relating to Sonnet 130 “I love…

    • 823 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The book Much Ado About Nothing is a surprisingly fascinating story. Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare is similar to his other work in which people fall in love. In this story people cause problems to break relationships and love apart. Nevertheless true love finds its way back. What makes Much Ado About Nothing unique is trickery and deceit plays a huge roll in romance.…

    • 825 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Act 2

    • 506 Words
    • 2 Pages

    5. How does Beatrice insult Benedick? A little latter, how does the reader know that Benedick is upset?…

    • 506 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Humans fall in love in mysterious ways but sometimes humans act like cupid and do whatever they can to make others fall in love with each other. In Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare tells two very distinct love stories. He gives many examples of trickery and deceit throughout his novel.…

    • 424 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Shakespeare clearly presents Beatrice and Benedick rooted in animosity towards one another. They frequently express their certainty of this; for example when Benedick labels Beatrice as ‘Lady Disdain’, so she retaliates by naming him as ‘pernicious’. Shakespeare shows conflict between two complicated characters in a transparent way through their ‘merry war’ of derision, which often descents into a brawl of weaponly words like ‘you are a rare parrot-teacher’ – the pomposity of which camouflages their raw doubts and uncertainties.…

    • 1911 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    ‘Much Ado about Nothing’ is another of Shakespeare’s romantic comedies. It primarily focuses on the unromantic spiteful relationship between the two main characters, Beatrice and Benedick. Beatrice, the niece of Leonato is a quick-witted, independent woman, who proclaims hers disdain of love and marriage. Despite her hate for love, from the events of the play she soon exposes a very vulnerable side of her and is a gentle and sweet person. During the play, the audience learns how she is tricked into falling in Benedick, and how her feeling towards love changes, making the play very appealing.…

    • 492 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Benedick’s hate for each other when Beatrice says to Benedick,”A bird of my tongue is…

    • 1281 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Beatrice says to Benedick’s face that he is “dull fool” and pretends that she doesn’t know that he is behind the mask at the masked ball. “Why he is the princes’ jester, a very dull fool”. When Beatrice is speaking to Benedick behind the mask, she carries on mocking him, the use of the word ‘dull’ shows that she thinks of him as boring, dull and not funny. (2, 1)…

    • 580 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Leonato, Claudio, Hero, and Don Pedro plan for Benedick and Beatrice each to overhear them talking about how much the other loves them. The plan is that by hearing that, they will accept their feelings and fall in love, eventually getting married.…

    • 2231 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    I first got the idea for the headcanon in the first scene of the play, when Benedick explicitly states he has never been in love: “And I would I could find in my heart that I had not a hard heart, for truly I love none.” (1.1) In the same scene, he implies that he doesn’t understand romantic attraction: “That I neither feel how [Hero] should be loved nor know how she should be worthy is the opinion that fire cannot melt out of me.” (1.1)…

    • 984 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In this play, the reader can compare the two different couples and quickly realizes that Beatrice and Benedick take their time, don’t rush, and compared to Hero and Claudio it wasn’t love at first sight. Right from the beginning of the play, during their first conversation they try to use a type of language that hides the real feelings they have behind for eachtoher. " What my Lady Disdain! Are you yet living? " This quote is said by Benedick to Beatrice, when he comes back to Messina. They try to be very unpleasant to each other and act like they don't care, as they don't want to admit it to the other but to themselves as well. It’s not until the end of the play that Benedick and Beatrice share their feelings and tell each other that they are in love, which shows how they took their time, and really waited for the right moment to let everything go. " Do not you love me? " " Why no, no more than a reason." This quote shows that they still hide their real feelings from each other until the last minute,when they finally feel like it's time to deliver their feelings. Those words said by Benedick show the delivery of all this secret " A miracle! Here's our own hands against our hearts. Come, I will…

    • 1031 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics