Much Ado About Nothing

overmuch bunko About nullMuch Ado About Nothing has a very similar style to our contemporary romantic comedy. And while the romance and obstacles to the union of Claudio and Hero form the main plot, the action in Much Ado About Nothing is mainly about benedict and Beatrice, and their relationship. That sub-plot is about the merry war of the sexes between Beatrice and benedict who argon not teenagers, but possibly in their late twenties or older (Lukacs 92). This merry war (Much Ado About Nothing I.i.56) between the two is given through their humourous word playBenedick. What, my dear Lady Disdain are you yet living?Beatrice. Is it possible disdain should die while she hath such meet nutriment to feed it as Signior Benedick? Courtesy itself mustiness convert to disdain, if you come in her presence.Benedick. Then is courtesy a turncoat. But it is certain I am roll in the hayd of all ladies, only you excepted and I would I could find in my heart that I had not a hard heart fo r, truly, I love n mavin.Beatrice. A dear happiness to women they would else have been troubled with a pernicious suitor. (Much Ado About Nothing I. i. 111-120)The play suggests that Beatrice was in love with Benedick before the play but he had deceived her and their relationship ended. Benedick now claims that he will never get married. Beatrice is an intelligent girl. Meader asserts that Most of Shakespeares lovers appear to magnetic inclination in love at the first meeting and that Beatrice who has apparently been in love with Benedick before the action of Much Ado About Nothing, may have had formal courtship earlier (Meader 82)Pedro. Come, lady, come you have lost the heart of Signior Benedick.Beatrice. Indeed, my lord, he lent it me a while and I gave him example for it, a double heart for his single one marry, once before he won it of me with false dice, therefore your grace may well verbalize I have lost it. (Much Ado About Nothing II.i.266-272)Whenever Beatrice and Bene dick come together, they seem to have a fight through their witty insults. They are as if competing in intelligence. Beatrice, like Benedick, does not want to marry which is because she has not yet found the right man and because she does not want to give up her freedom with marriage. tally to Benedick, a man who gets married will wear his cap with suspicion (I.i.184), and will have doubts that his wife has once had otherwise lovers. He says, if the Count marries, the Count will thrust his neck into a yoke, wear the print of it and sigh away Sundays (I.i.186-87) (Friedman 78).Benedick speaks ill of marriage in the following(a) linesThe savage bull may but if ever the 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, hither is good horse to hire let them signify under my sign, Here you may see Benedick, the married man. (Much Ado About Nothing I.i.246-252)He imagines himself with ho rns on his head. Cuckoldry was very typical in the Renaissance He is worried that he will be cheated by women if he gets married. Friedman explains it asBenedicks fears of cuckoldry and emasculation through marriage tend to be confirmed by Beatrice, whom bust Pedro has picked out as an excellent wife for Benedick (2.1.329) Beatrice speaks openly and sharply of her preferences in a spouse, which draws the disapproval of her uncles Leonato and Antonio, who complain that she is shrewd of her tongue and too curst (2.1.17-18). Beatrice implies that, were she to marry, she would make her companion a cuckold, for she claims that she will have no horns only if God sends her no husband (2.1.23-24). (Friedman 81)As for Beatrice, her irreluctancy for marriage is stated as followsWhat should I do with him? garnishee him in my apparel, and make him my waiting- mollifywoman? He that hath a beard is more than a youth and he that hath no beard is less than a man and he that is more than a yo uth is not for me and he that is less than a man, I am not for him.(Much Ado About Nothing II.i.33-38)Through these lines, Beatrice explains why she should not marry. The reason for this is that there is no equal man for her. Beatrice states that she could not endure a masculine husband with a beard on his font (2.1.26-27), but a husband that hath no beard, who is therefore less than a man, is only fit to be dressed in womens apparel and employed as her waiting-gentlewoman (2.1.29-33) (Friedman 81).Both Benedick and Beatrice seem to avoid marriage. As Benedick says it is certain / I am loved of all ladies, only you excepted and I could find it in my heart that I had not a hard heart for, truly, I love none (Much Ado About Nothing I.i.116-119), Beatrice mocks him saying I had kinda hear my dog bark at a crow / than a man swear he loves me (Much Ado About Nothing I.i.123-124).While Claudio and Don Pedro play a trick on Benedick in be II scene iii, Ursula and Hero do the same o n Beatrice in practice III scene i. Those tricks are intentioned to make the two fall in love with each other. The interview knows that neither Beatrice nor Benedick wants to get married. Their friends trick is profitable at the end. They are both deceived to believe that one is in love with the other. In that case, Cahn states that the plays title word Nothing may be taken as a pun on noting, or overhearing, since much of the action involves eavesdropping and the partial discernment of truth (Cahn 629). Moreover, one must note that the overheard conversations are enough for both. According to Cahn, in many comedies of Shakespeare, love is influenced by perception and in Much Ado About Nothingin Act II scene iii, when Beatrice calls Benedick to dinner, Benedick manages in his own mind to twist her words so that they mean what he wants to hear (Cahn 636). At this time, it is apparent that while she is not in love with him, Benedick harbours a secret love for Beatrice (Friedman 83) .They are not actually deluded to regain they are in love with each other otherwise their friends tricks would not litigate since both of them are clever enough not to be deluded. They are actually trying to let them discover their present love to each other. Therefore, it is a kind of realization for both of them. Each decides to pity the other at first, however it is interesting they do it willingly. Benedick has made his decision to perform what the audience has long felt he has always wanted to do pursue Beatrice (Cahn 636). He has now changed his mind and wants to marry Beatrice. Beatrice, on the other hand, has also inflexible to change her mind, as clear in her own wordsStand I condemned for pride and scorn somuch?Contempt, farewell and maiden pride, goodbyeNo glory lives behind the back of such. (Much Ado About Nothing III.i.109-112)In Act IV scene i when Benedick and Beatrice are remaining alone in the church together, they confess their love to each other. According t o Lukacs By Act IV scene i, Benedick and Beatrice are the mature responsible adults who must bring this play to a resolution (Lukacs 92). The tone changes, however, when Benedick says that he will do anything for Beatrice Beatrices asking him to Kill Claudio (Much Ado About Nothing IV. i. 289) shocks Benedick. Benedicks refusal makes Beatrice incensed since she believes that Claudio has insulted Hero. Benedick soon changes his mind and agrees to challenge his friend Claudio both for Heros and for Beatrices sake. What Beatrice has wanted Benedick marks Beatrice as a lady imposing a love test as Maisan states. Benedick has to choose between love and friendship (Maisan 165). Meader asserts that Benedick, urged on by his beloved Beatrice, challenges his best friend Claudio to a duel and that courageousness was conspicuously an outward-looking virtue, as the Renaissance valued it (Meader 76).Benedick is in fact known with his loyalty as a friend but his love for Beatrice becomes stron g enough to challenge his friend to a fight and he soon challenges him to a duel. When Benedick accuses Claudio and Don Pedro for Heros death she has not really died but it is what they think, they think he is joking. Thus in Act V scene i, not only Heros innocence but also Benedicks loyalty to Benedick is proven. In Act V scene ii, Benedick tries to write poetry for Beatrice. However, he is not good at writing. What he nooky do best is simply his gentle insults which is also appealing to Beatrice. So they go on flirting and mocking each other.With the last scene of the play, Shakespeare brings a happy conclusion both of the couples in the play will married (Claudio and Hero, and Benedick and Beatrice). Now Beatrice and Benedick are happy to get married. Their hatred of the institution of marriage is finally brought to an end. Although the trick is not the main reason for their uniting, it has really been effective. Lukacs summarizes the relationship between Beatrice and Benedick asIn the end, Beatrice and Benedick grow up and mature. The world in Much Ado About Nothing that was out of balance is reined in and balance is achieved. Maturity brings self-knowledge and Beatrice and Benedick shine in the end they are now husband and wife. Beatrice duels with her wits in order to assert herself. The eye contact, the hint of a smile, the fleeting glance, or hand gesture sustain their encounters as these two function as one witty unit. Beatrice exclaims O God, that I were a man (4.1), but it is only when she reaches out to a man, Benedick, that she can defend her sisters honor and relinquish her alternate personae of a John Wayne-like character who strides about the stage in manly fashion, or of an immature schoolgirl. In the end, Much Ado About Nothing becomes much tizzy about everything that matters in life. (Lukacs 92)As a conclusion, Beatrice and Benedick have changed both in their attitudes towards the idea of marriage and towards each other since the beginn ing of the play. One can clearly notice the alikeness of their personalities which not only causes the merry war between them but also brings them together. The reason why Beatrice and Benedick could not go along with each other has been because each is too witty and intelligent. However, one must note that they will never get bored of each other while they are having their war so they are definetely a good match.Primary Source(s)Shakespeare, William. Much Ado About Nothing The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. Hertfordshire 1996. unessential SourcesCahn, Victor L. Shakespeare the Playwright A Companion to the Complete Tragedies, Histories, Comedies, and Romances. Praeger Westport, 1996.Friedman, Michael. The World Must Be Peopled Shakespeares Comedies of Forgiveness. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press Madison, NJ., 2002.Lukacs, Ann. Much Ado About Nothing Shakespeare Bulletin. pile 22. Issue 1 University of West Georgia, 2004.Maisan, Thomas. Deforming Sources Literary Antec edents and Their Traces in Much Ado about Nothing Shakespeare Studies. Volume 31, Associated University Presses, 2003.Meader, William G. Courtship in Shakespeare Its Relation to the Tradition of stately Love. Kings Crown Press New York, 1954.