In lines eighteen to twenty one Benedick wonders what if love draws him into its jaws and then he suddenly dismisses this idea. “May I be so converted and see with these eyes?” At the end of this scene dramatic irony is created as both of his ideas come true.
The audiences will express amusement both in his first and last soliloquy because the whole purpose of his first soliloquy is to say that anyone who falls in love is a fool and in lines eighteen to twenty one he thinks of falling in love. In his last soliloquy he just cannot resist following in love so the audience would amuse even more to how quickly he gets fooled and changes his mind.
Benedick’s friends are the reason for the trick. They just want entertainment for a period of time and laugh at Benedick’s behaviour when he gets caught. Don Pedro, earlier on in the play, says “we are the only love god” there is perhaps a suggestion that shows how arrogant he is. He is misusing his power. Both the prince and Claudio do not care about anyone’s feelings. This is shown when Claudio comes to marry Hero and insults her and her dad in front of his guests. This is the same case in this scene. Don Pedro and Claudio do not care about Benedick. They want to laugh at his stupidity. In both cases the same thing is echoing “Men were deceivers ever”. His friends’ behaviour was always selfish and arrogant. When they first arrive at Leonato’s house Benedick makes jokes about love. Don john, prince’s evil brother, is always up to something evil. Claudio and Don Pedro along with Leonato plan to make Benedick and Beatrice fall in love. Later on in the play Claudio and the prince accuse Leonato without knowing the truth. Too much is given to them and they misuse it.
The use of language in this scene also has an effect and adds to importance of this scene. Shakespeare uses metaphors, connotations and other techniques to create some kind of visual humour. Benedick, in his first soliloquy, says “may I be so converted and see with these eyes?” In this rhetorical question Benedick is saying would I fall in love too? This idea of his seems ridiculous because in this same soliloquy his behaviours seem to be against love and suddenly he asks a rhetorical question. Benedick says how Claudio has “turned Orthography” this shows exactly how much Claudio has dedicated “his behaviours to love”. He also says that Claudio was a plain speaking person, and now “…his words are a fantastical banquet…” Claudio also uses metaphors for Benedick. He says “Bait the hook well, this fish will bite” This sentence is not supposed to be heard by Benedick and to the audience it would create a sense of humour because In Benedick’s speech he is criticising Claudio and now Claudio takes his chance to fight back. This metaphor makes him look like a fool; a fish that they’ve caught. Shakespeare also uses the pun of Benedick and Beatrice between the sheets. One of its meanings is that both Benedick and Beatrice are writing letters to each other and the other meaning of it is that they were on bed together.
Connotations were also used to create effectiveness. Benedick says “I will be horribly in love with her” although he means he will love her extremely but he is describing love in a bad way. Leonato also describes it in an unusual way, he says “…she hath in all outward behaviours seemed ever to abhor.”
Shakespearean audiences would generally expect some visual humour in his comedies. The use of metaphors to describe one’s foolishness works in his plays. When Benedick arrives at Leonato’s house he deliberately starts debating to Beatrice and even goes as far as to say “…my horse had the speed of your tongue” this creates utter amusement. Act 2 scene 3 is important because it is in this scene where the most comedy is concentrated and it is in this scene where Benedick changes from being a love-hatter to saying ‘the world must be peopled’ as if he were doing world a favour. Overall Benedick seems the most hilarious most stupid character in this play.
The second most important scene Act 4 scene 1 this is because this is the scene where Claudio accuses and insults Hero and her dad despite he does not know the truth.
The main themes of this play are love, comedy, marriage and betrayal.
The title of this play is “Much ado about nothing”. It can be interpreted as “Much to do about nothing”, “Much to do about noting”, “Much ado about no-thing”, and “Much fuss about noticing”. In Shakespearean times “nothing” would be pronounced “noting”. However all of the meanings relate to the play.
