MAAN Essay “Love isn’t something you find. Love is something that finds you.” According to Shakespeare this is true. When people aren't looking for love that's when they find it the most. In today's reality love is always finding people. People find relationships all the time. Sometimes relationships that start out as friends or maybe even enemies end up being more than that. In Shakespeare’s play, Much Ado About Nothing, the most modern and realistic couple is Benedick and Beatrice as oppose to Claudio and Hero who don’t portray a real relationship in today’s society. First Benedick and Beatrice. Benedick and Beatrice didn’t start liking each other at first. They also took things slowly. In the text Leonato says that there is a “merry war” …show more content…
Others in this play often say that Benedick and Beatrice didn't like each other at first, and disagreed with each other all the time. For instance the Prince did say to Benedick “The Lady Beatrice hath a quarrel with you.” These days couples are hardly completely agreeing with each other and don’t start as as friends before the date. Another reason Benedick and Beatrice relate to the modern couple is because they changed for each other. They both changed their morals for one another and looked past their differences. In the text Benedick and Beatrice state that “ . Later on Benedick and Beatrice discover love for each other and are willing to be together. Their love is very realistic today. For instance, people say that they are better single and don’t need a relationship, but once there find someone they love they change their mindset. Lastly Benedick and Beatrice did not follow other people's opinions and they stuck together. Unlike Hero and Claudio, who didn’t trust each other, Benedick and Beatrice did. Benedick didn’t humiliate Beatrice or called her impure, they trusted each other. …show more content…
Hero and Claudio don’t really show that they have known each other. They moved too fast into their relationship. In the text Leonato tells Hero that if the does tell her about Claudio she knows the answer. That could have meant that Hero might not have had a choice. She could have said yes because of Claudios financial situation. In modern times parents don’t force marriages. When people get married, they do it out of love and not because someone tells them to. Claudio and Hero don’t have trust in each other. Claudio believed something that wasn’t true. Claudio mistakes this woman kissing a man for Hero. Claudio shames her in front of her people and tells them she is too impure to marry. Now relationships depend on trust. With social media and how people are always posting about “fake news” we can’t always believe what we see. Also Hero and Claudio don’t communicate. Hero and Claudio hardly talk throughout this play. When they do talk, they only talk about their love for each other like Heros “fair looks”. If Hero and Claudio would have talked her would have realized his mistake. Now since couples can’t believe everything they see they need to communicate. With the technology we have now not only is communicating easier, but it's faster too. Claudio and Hero aren’t a couple that would portray a relationship in modern times because they moved to fast, the fact that they didn’t have trust, and their lack of
The difference between Beatrice,Benedick,and the other two Claudio and Hero though is that, these two are very headstrong characters with a different outlook on love, but have very much love for one another. Benedick believes in just being a bachelor and spending the rest of his life messing with as many women as he pleases, well as for Beatrice she believes there is no man good enough and willing to show her the love she wants so she much rather be left alone. But the fact that they honestly want to believe what they say is what makes this get way more interesting. What they don’t know is that they are going to soon become curious trying to figure out what they truly feel for one
Claudio cannot come out and just say that he has feelings for Hero, he has to seek approval from his male counterparts first. While talking to both Benedick and Don Pedro, Claudio describes his feelings as passion first (I.i.219-220), and then he says, “That I love her, I feel” (I.i.228), indicating that he knows he feels something for Hero, but he is unsure of exactly what his feelings mean.... ... middle of paper ... ...
Hero and Claudio represent the Elizabethan norm in marriage. Claudio is the shrewd, hardheaded fortune hunter and Hero is the modest maiden of conduct books and marriage manuals, a docile young woman. It is important to note that Claudio is more concerned with advancement in Don Pedro's army than he is with love. Therefore, Shakespeare illustrates to the reader through the near tragedy of mistaken identity that Claudio must learn that marriage is more than a business arrangement and become worthy of Hero's love and affection. Source: Ranald, Margaret Loftus. "As Marriage Binds, and Blood Breaks: English Marriage and Shakespeare". Shakespeare Quarterly. Vol 30, 1979: 68-81.
In was in Act 2 Scene 3, when Don John came up to both Claudio and his brother Don Pedro to discuss what he saw, Hero “supposedly” cheating on Claudio with another man the night before their wedding. Even though Claudio is naturally very gullible and naive, he first trusted Don John, who is known as the “Bastard,” when he was told that Hero was cheating on him and not Hero, herself. Also, in Act 4 Scene 1, the actual wedding day is when Claudio confronted her in front of an entire audience when Hero clearly states that what he speaks is completely false information given by Don John. Hero said, “I talk’d with no man at the hour, my lord.” (85) The non-exist amount of trust and loyalty they have for each other is unimaginable
Benedick and Beatrice both benefit from the deceit that they encounter. At first, both are enemies in a battle of insults and wit, until they are each fooled into thinking that the other loves them. When Benedick hears that Beatrice is supposedly attracted to him, he thinks that it is “a gull, but that the white-bearded fellow speaks it: knavery cannot, sure, hide itself in such reverence” (111). Little does he know, Leonato, the "white-bearded fellow," is also in on the joke (111). Benedick starts to admire her when he is aware that Beatrice might actually be attracted to himself, as well. She is also astonished when she first hears that he loves her. However, when Beatrice comes to terms with their affection, she hopes "Benedick [will] love on... And [she] Believe it better than reportingly" (134). In other words, she falls in love with Benedick as soon as she believes that he, too, is fond of her. They each start to fall in love with one another under the pretense that other was hiding their affection from them. Now that they are both in love, they start to open up to each other and prove that the deception they endured was worth it in the end.
Shakespeare’s introduction of the other couple in question is in stark contrast to the way in which Beatrice and Benedick were introduced. Claudio and Hero are amorously receptive to one and other from the very start. Upon laying eyes on Hero, Claudio remarks of her to Benedict “is she not a modest young lady?” (1.1.125). Clearly, by having Claudio express his fondness of Hero to Benedick, the playwright directly compares the older and more cynical to the more young and naive, allowing the reader to see the contrasting personas of the two men. This is reinforced by Benedick, who after finishing listening to Claudio’s rhetoric on the charms of the young Hero (“in m...
The next day Claudio does exactly as he had said, degrading Hero in front of all her family and friends. Because she did not cheat on him, she did not expect that kind of reaction. She is so dejected that she faints, and everyone assumes she is dead. Eventually Borrachio is overheard talking about Don John’s plan, and Don John is arrested. Later Claudio learns that Hero is not actually dead, and they are finally married.
The first sign of Claudio’s immaturity is how easily he falls in and out of love. In Act 1, Scene 1, Claudio says to Benedict, “I would scarce trust myself, though I had sworn the contrary, if Hero would be my wife” after merely taking in the beauty of Hero (Shakespeare 1.1.9). There is no real substance yet to his love for Hero other than outward appearance, much like any person young and naïve with love. When Claudio asks Don Pedro, “Hath Leonato any sons, my lord?” helps the reader develop a further understanding of Claudio and what could be his true motive for wanting to marry Hero, the only heir to her Leonato (1.1.13). Another sign of the fickleness of Claudio is when told by Don Jon, the bastard, that Hero has affections toward Don Pedro his best friend, he swears off his love for Hero by saying, “This is an accident of hourly proof. Which I mistrusted not. Farewell therefore Hero” (2.1.24). After having Don Pedro ask Leonato for his permissions to marry...
Hero is resembled by Claudio as a “well-mannered young lady” who is content with her own unchangeable, elegant personality. This quote shows Hero is matron, and consistent of her elegance throughout the book and it is because of her personality that causes Claudio to be drawn to her. Claudio on the other hand, admits to Don Pedro that he is “hasty in (his) emotions”, which resembles his skeptical and uncertain personality when it comes to actually admitting his love for Hero. This evidence supports how Claudio is unsure of himself, and because of Claudio’s doubtful and unsure qualities he is quick to believe Don John when he says Hero has been unfaithful.
When Benedick hears that Claudio has fallen in love for Hero, he is enraged. He thought that Claudio would live a bachelor’s life like him. Benedick tells him that men who are in love are not masculine. Near the end of Act IV, Benedick’s complete change is evident when Benedick chooses love over friendship. Benedick challenges Claudio, previously his closest friend in the world, to duel to the death over Claudio’s accusation as to Hero’s unethical behavior. After Beatrice complains to him about Claudio’s mistake, Benedick gives in, “Enough, I am engaged. I will challenge him.” At this point, there is no doubt that Benedick has switched his allegiances entirely over to Beatrice. But then again, Benedick was relieved that Hero was proved guilty so he would not have to fight his close friend Claudio.
Claudio ruined the wedding and almost killed Hero from a heartbreak, as he also destroyed her father’s faith in his daughter. If they got to know each other, then they would get to trust each other, understand each other’s personalities and finally become a loving
Don Pedro and his men return from the war and visit the house of Leonato and his brother, Antonio. This sudden meeting reunites Beatrice with her archrival, Benedick, and it is here that Claudio and Hero fall in love.
Once Claudio saw the display of adultery, he decided to not call off the wedding, but to publicly shame Hero in front of all of her friends and family. The next day at the wedding, Claudio exposes Hero for her
as they are told, and as Hero, Claudio’s future wife, had not been. faithful and therefore disrespectful, the blame was shifted to her. However, this was embarrassing for Claudio, and his anger was. great, making him seem aggressive. As the play begins to end.
...he other hand, Beatrice and Benedick are comedy-makers and Beatrice is not ruled by her father as Hero clearly is. It does take Don Pedro’s benevolent plot to bring Benedick and Beatrice together, however. A modern audience would prefer Beatrice to Hero as she is her own self and admirable. The relationships also differ because Benedick and Beatrice’s relationship slowly grew whereas Claudio and Hero’s relationship was love at first sight. Perhaps it was a little hasty as we see in Act 4 how their love turns sour.