How does Shakespeare present relationships between men and woman in Much A do About Nothing, and how might a modern audience respond to this?

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How does Shakespeare present relationships between men and woman in Much A do About Nothing, and how might a modern audience respond to this?

The purpose of the essay is to show how Shakespeare portrays relationships and how he uses the theme love and marriage through out the play. I will also analyse how a modern audience would interpret the play.

Much Ado About Nothing shows us different sorts of relationships between men and woman, this mainly being in the form of Beatrice and Benedick, whose relationship is of unrequited love, then there is Claudio and hero whose relationship is that of courtly love. The basic pattern of romantic comedy is that love creates discord in society. We can see this from the beginning of the play when the troubles of war is over and the characters have time to relax, and so their thoughts turn to amusement and love.

One would argue that Claudio's love to Hero is true and that of pureness, but I believe that Claudio's so called 'love for Hero' is actually mistaken for 'lust'. I also believe that his love for Hero is based on only physical attraction, as he falls in love with Hero when only seeing her once and without event talking to her. Even if he did love Hero he still asks Benedick for his opinion of Hero, this is shown in act 1 scene 1.1 This shows weakness in his love for Hero as a true person in love would not need other people's opinions, but I believe he relies on them. Benedick only ridicules Claudio for his love and this is where he mentions his beliefs on marriage and love. This is shown in act 1 scen1.2 Here he is talking of marriage as a burden. During most of the play Benedick is very against marriage and love. I believe a modern audience could relate to this, as a stereotypical male nowadays is seen as afraid as commitment. But to a renaissance audience they would find this hard to believe as Benedick would be seen as out of place, where as Claudio's 'love at first sight' would seem quite typical.
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Beatrice and Benedick's discussions are very energetic, biting and flirtatious. Each claim to be immune to the ravishes of love, this is shown with Benedick in act 2 scene 3.3 And shown with Beatrice in act 2 scene 1.4 They defiantly have similarities between them but still find it hard to agree on issues. This is proven when they both refer to falling in love as foolish and that they will not be made a fool of; this is shown for Beatrice in act 2 scene1.5 And is shown in act 1 scene 1 for Benedick.6 Both talk ...

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