Comparing and Contrasting the Relationships of Beatrice and Benedick, and Hero and Claudio in Much Ado About Nothing

In Shakespeare’s play, Much Ado About Nothing, written in the early 15th century, the relationships between Benedick and Beatrice and Hero and Claudio are the key to the play and create a lot of tension and comedy. The two relationships are interesting in different ways, and this essay will explore this in terms of the language used, the plot, characterisation and how the two relationships stand thematically.

Beatrice and Benedick are interesting due to Shakespeare’s use of language. Confusion is created as to whether they love or hate each other owing to their snide comments, such as Beatrice’s response “A bird of my tongue is better than a beast of yours” (1.1.104), notably continuing the reference to animals, after Benedick insults her and calls her a “rare parrot- teacher” (1.1.103). This suggests that Benedick is capable of using words to provoke Beatrice. He also suggests that she always makes a repetitive squawking noise, of which she holds high esteem of herself for doing. This verbal sparring between the couple increases the mystery early on in the play. It could be that they love each other and, because of this, increases the chance of potential romance as they could be hiding their feelings for each other under this cloud of quick- fire exchanges. However, it can also show the level of contempt that Benedick has for Beatrice. Also, their ability to extend the metaphor and almost predict the next insult is a factor of their conversations that continue throughout the play. Their ability to maintain such intelligent sparring is witness to the strong bond that they share. During the masked ball scene, when Benedick doesn’t say who he is, Beatrice starts a rant about how annoying Benedick is- “He is the Prince’s jester...

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...ngly, when she is not in the presence of her father, Leonato, who has immense control over her life.

I agree with the view that Beatrice and Benedick’s relationship is of more dramatic interest for audiences to a certain extent. In terms of language, plot, characterisation and themes, there is always an argument as to why Claudio and Hero’s relationship could be seen as more interesting for the audience, whether it be in terms of language where Hero’s silence generates more interest in the couple or even in terms of plot or characterisation where their relationship can be seen to add diversity to the play. However, Benedick and Beatrice’s relationship is more appealing. With Hero and Claudio, the whole play would be monotonous because, to an Elizabethan audience who have seen many of Shakespeare’s plays, their relationship is a standard alpha male relationship.