Benedick’s Change of Heart by the End of Act 2 Scene 3 of William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing

Benedick’s Change of Heart by the End of Act 2 Scene 3 of William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing

‘Much ado about nothing’ is one of William Shakespeare’s popular

comedy plays. With regards to the title of the play, the word

‘nothing’ in the title suggests it links with how characters in the

play create so much bother about nothing. Speculation has occurred

among people over the word ‘nothing’ in the play’s title. The word

‘nothing’ has a double meaning. Noting and nothing sounded identical

in Shakespeare’s time. ‘Noting’ and ‘nothing’ is spoken a lot of in

the play. ‘Noting’ (observing, overhearing) in the play may refer to

the importance of how characters perceive one another and how

characters are faced with how certain can they be from what they see,

or hear, or know is true? It is unknown whether Shakespeare meant to

use an obscure word such as ‘nothing’ that would have more than one

possible interpretation or meaning.

The play was approximately written between 1596 and 1599 and included

the themes of love, perception between others and the status of men

and women and the relationship between them in that period of time.

The themes that Shakespeare included are very much relevant to people

of today. The play also contains themes and moral issues that would

have been relevant to people of that time. The main theme involved in

this play is ‘love’ between different people. The play portrays how

quickly people fell in love with each other i.e. how Claudio falls in

love immediately after his return from war and how quickly he falls

out of love when he hears of Hero’s death. Another theme that was

included in the play was...

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...the married man’ is, in response

Benedick says ‘a college of witcrackers cannot flout me out of my

humour’, Benedick is so happy that a college of jokers could not mock

him and make him unhappy. This is a very different Benedick from the

start of the play who said he would be transformed in to ‘an oyster’

if he was to fall in love.

‘Let’s have dance ere we are married, that we may lighten our own

hearts’- Benedick is shown full of excitement now that he is married

at the end of the play. This quote in comparison to what Benedick

would have said earlier on the play about getting married shows how

Benedick has been transformed in to a man that does not fear love and

marriage.

The kiss between Benedick and Beatrice at the end of the play

symbolises that the couple are officially together and have found

love.