Much Ado About Nothing

Examine the differences between the ‘Hero and Claudio’ relationship and the relationship between ‘Beatrice and Benedick’.



Throughout lessons we have read one of Shakespeare’s well-known comedies, ‘Much Ado About Nothing’. The comedy is well known for its tragedies, deception, mischief and love stories.

  In this piece of coursework I will be examining and comparing the relationship between ‘Beatrice and Benedick’ and the relationship between ‘Hero and Claudio’, the two central couples in Shakespeare’s play.

  During the period when Shakespeare wrote ‘Much Ado About Nothing’, love and marriage was looked upon in a different way as it is today. In Elizabethan times it was not rare for arranged marriages to take place: especially within wealthier families. Marriage was often arranged between people depending on the wealth of both families. Fathers often arranged marriages between two people to gain more money, land or social status. In today’s society on the other hand, marriage is mostly based on love between two people not what the families can gain from one another.

In Elizabethan times there was a well known phrase called ‘courtly love.’ Courtly love was invariably adulterous, largely because upper-class marriage at the time was usually the result of economic interest or the seal of a power alliance. The courtly lover, who saw himself as enslaved by passion but fired by respect, faithfully served     and worshiped his lady-saint.

  Shakespeare is well known for his plays apposed to his poetry. Throughout Shakespeare’s comedies he often used comedy lines, love stories and tragedies. Shakespeare’s comedies often resulted in a couple getting married.

  Throughout ‘Much Ado About Nothing’, Shakespeare uses a variety of language styles; prose, poetry, wit and imagery. The language is also particularly rich in rhetoric.

  When Shakespeare uses poetry throughout “Much Ado About Nothing” it does not always...