- Then look at the differences / how there is complete reversal of accepted values / roles / how Shakespeare loves to stir things up and ridicule the norm / how easy it is to get men to make silly mistakes (Claudio thinks the prince has wood Hero for himself, and believes that Hero has betrayed his trust). Give examples of the ways in which this a timeless story.
- Conclude with comments about Shakespeare’s sense of humour / disdain at fixed roles / timelessness
Converts all your sounds of woe silly relationships
Into hey nonny nonny
research sources:
- Much Ado about nothing: cambridge school shakespeare <ISBN 0-521-61872-X>
Essay
Shakespeare’s “Much Ado about Nothing” is a play and a farce, and one whose audience today scarcely stop to consider the title. It is clear that in Shakespeare’s time more was alluded to: it has been suggested in the Cambridge University Translation (P63 6: Much Ado About virginity?) that there is sexual innuendo in the title and in the work as a whole, and this is almost completely lost to today’s audience. It is sure then that we are missing much more, and in a play whose subject is love, and in which we are given two such opposites as Beatrice & Benedick and Hero & Claudio part of the farce has to be in the behaviour of the individuals (relative to the norm) at the latter end of the 16th Century.
The conflict between how one is supposed to act (played by the younger couple) when contrasted with a more liberated couple (Beatrice and Benedick) is made abundantly clear from the off when Beatrice interrupts Benedick’s conversation shamelessly2 (Beatrice: I wonder that you will still be talking, Signore Benedick, nobody marks you – Act 1, Scene 1) – their acid wit and ‘Merry War’ is charming to 21st century viewers, though it must have been shameless to Shakespeare’s contemporaries; Beatrice being so forthwith and Benedick allowing himself so emasculated. Their relationship is very much self-satisfying, for personal gain, whereas Hero and Claudio’s is more noble, more archetypal, more perfect. The young couple have to be seen to be doing the right thing, no matter the cost, whereas the more experienced pair will settle only for what is satisfying to them, having we are told, both loved before, and by implication had their hearts broken. The fear that they show is mirrored completely by the young, naive love of the teenagers.
It’s not fair to accuse Benedick and Beatrice of pure bitterness though, as their interactions are much more complex: they are so comfortable around each other that passion has almost been replaced with the love of siblings – they both want to dominate the other, yet their contest is always playful in nature.(Act 5, Scene 4, Lines 90-115 – even at the end when they are married they deny their love!) This playfulness is a constant theme with Benedick: his foolish character, his refusal to take the responsibilities usually taken by a man (and get married), and his being given the only soliloquy. But Shakespeare still allows this untraditional couple to talk in verse, not just to give them status, but also we can argue, to give their interaction some credibility.
In contrast, the young, traditional couple hardly speak to each other – that they love each other (and we are never really shown what this means) is enough. Hero kisses Claudio when she cannot find words to express herself when they are initially paired (Beatrice: Speak, cousin, or (if you cannot) stop his mouth with a kiss.... Act2, Scene 1). One of the few occasions we hear Claudio talking from his heart is at Hero’s tomb, and we are not sure that the epitaph was even written by Claudio. He is clearly a young man, brave as a lion in battle, and aware of his role as a husband, but unable to woo Hero himself. He is presented as very unsure of himself (as a courter of women) when he asks Benedick’s opinion of Hero at the beginning of the play.
For Hero’s part, she is ‘the perfect woman’: demure, quiet, shy (but not without feminine wile and charm when she needs it to convince Beatrice of Benedick’s love). She hardly speaks, content to be a prize, and to suffer in virtual silence when she is rejected. Perversely, she is stronger than Claudio in this manner, and we can expect that the author was trying to make a point here: her power to forgive and to marry Claudio after his mistrust is far beyond what we can expect of a woman scorned today. At the dance, Leonato reminds Hero what her answer is if the Prince should woo her, even though she may have feelings for Claudio. She appreciated that her life is ‘to do the greater good” rather than to pursue her own personal comfort, and forgiving Claudio for doing what he thought was the right thing is just what we should expect of her. There are beautiful qualities and lessons that any audience can learn from. Compare this with how quickly Claudio believes he has been tricked and loses faith (Claudio, in verse: ...’Tis certain so, the prince woos for himself, Friendship is constant in all other things, Save in the office and affairs of love....Act 2, Scene1) - first by the Prince and then by Hero - and how he is unwilling to forgive (and unable to imagine he has seen anything other than the truth) in both cases until proved wrong. Perhaps Shakespeare is pointing at youth and showing us how impetuous, principled, and fickle it can be, and how a little experience may make one tread a little more carefully and seem a little ridiculous. If this is the case, we may conclude for all its hidden references, the ‘converting of woes into hey nonny nonny’ is a little more timeless than we might first realise.
