Much Ado About Nothing By Shakespeare

Much Ado About Nothing By Shakespeare

Shakespeare’s attitude toward courtship and romance combines mature

suspicion with an awareness that the social realities surrounding

courtship may detract from the fun of romance. The need to marry for

social superiority and to ensure inheritance, complicates romantic

relationships. Although this play is a comedy ending in multiple

marriages and is full of witty dialogue making for many comic moments,

it also addresses more serious events, including some that border on

tragedy. The personalities of Beatrice and Hero vary greatly, leading

them in opposite directions with their relationships, with Beatrice

headed towards a good relationship and Hero towards a bad one.

The conditions under which Beatrice's and Hero's marriages occur are

the effect of their personal beliefs, which relate to their

personalities. Beatrice's view on the circumstances under which

marriage should occur revolve around the fact that true love must be

present. This is shown when Beatrice says, “With a good leg and a good

foot, uncle, and money enough in his purse, such a man would win any

woman in the world, if I could get her good will.” (2.1.14-17)

Here, she is saying that a man can possess all these qualities, but he

can only have a woman is he can get her to love him. Beatrice believes

in the principle of true love because she wants her husband to be

faithful to her. This is obvious during a conversation between her and

her father Antonio:

Antonio: In faith, she's too curst.

Beatrice: Too curst is more than curst: I shall lessen God's sending

that way, for it is said, "God sends a curst cow short horns"; but...

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..., leading them in

opposite directions with their relationships, with Beatrice headed

towards a good relationship and Hero towards a bad one. The

circumstances under which their marriages occur, their statuses in

their relationships, and the ways their relationships started all play

a significant role in the probable outcomes of their relationships.

Beatrice's belief in marriage only under the principle of true love,

her authoritative status in the relationship, and the plot in which

she discovers her true feelings for Benedick all work together to help

her have a better relationship. Hero's contrasting beliefs of getting

married only in order to uphold family honor, her secondary status in

the relationship and her arranged relationship with Claudio lead her

in the opposite direction than Beatrice with her relationship.