Benedick Love And Hate Love Analysis

In William Shakespeare 's comedy "Much Ado About Nothing", the characters Beatrice and Benedick are involved in what could only be called a "love/hate" relationship. The play is a classic example of this type of relationship, and allows us to view one from the outside looking in. Both Beatrice and Benedick are strong-willed, intelligent characters, who fear that falling in love will lead to a loss of freedom and eventually heartbreak. This causes them to deny their love for each other and it is only through the machinations of other characters in the play that their true feelings emerge. When these feelings are finally acknowledged, both characters are changed, but the changes are subtle. They are neither drastic nor monumental.

URSULA: But are you sure That Benedick loves Beatrice so entirely?

HERO: So says the prince and my new-trothed lord.

The fact that the other characters in the play arranged this "trick" leads the

reader to believe that they are more aware of the true nature of the

relationship between Beatrice and Benedick than they themselves are. This is

most likely due to the fact that they (Beatrice & Benedick) are so caught up in

bickering and denial that they cannot see their relationship for what it truly

is. It takes their friends and family to force them to realize that for them,

all they show is the opposite of what they feel.

At the end of the play, both characters have admitted their love for each

other, Act II; Scene iii and are to be wed. Their views on both love and

marriage have changed as much as their opinions/thoughts of each other. They

both readily admit their love for each other, and yet still hold on to the

strength they showed in the earlier parts of the play. The way that they speak

to each other has changed but little, they still throw quick jibes and quasi-

insults back and forth almost quicker than the reader can follow. What