There are many relationships in the play, some being good and some being bad the first one which I will describe for you is the one which involves both Beatrice and Benedick. This relationship is one that is like no other. They have a continuous “battle of wit”. From the story you can guess that there was a previous relationship between the two. You get that information when Beatrice says to Ursula “he is also a good soldier to a lady” this to me implies that there has been a previous relationship. Many of the other characters can see that they deep down enjoy the presence of one another, so midway through the play Hero, Beatrice’s cousin, and Ursula have a cunning plan, this also involves Don Pedro and Claudio. The plan is for Hero and Ursula to deceive Beatrice into thinking Benedick loves her, they do this in a very cunning way. They carry out their plan while the two plotters are walking on the other side of a hedge row and speak loudly between the two of them about how much Benedick loves Beatrice. They do this loudly so that Beatrice, who is listening to every word can hear what they are saying and will be deceived and think that Benedick loves her. The two men who are involved did the same to Benedick. This started one of the best relationships in the play.
Once Beatrice and Benedick fall in love this starts another relationship off. This one is between Claudio and Hero. As soon as he sees Hero he automatically falls in love with her. However he does not have the courage to ask her to marry him. So whilst at a masked dance, Claudio’s friend Don Pedro asks Hero to marry him. Don Pedro is pretending to be Claudio because Claudio is too frightened to ask her to marry him. However Hero accepts the proposal from Claudio and agrees to marry him. However there is a twist in the story and this is that Don John the evil twin brother of Don Pedro has his own evil plan so that the couple cannot be together. This plan involves Conrade and Borachio who are the evil sidekicks to Don John. The plan is that Conrade will sleep with Margaret on the eve of Claudio’s wedding night. Then whilst Conrade and Margaret are together Conrade will shout Hero’s name out of the window thus making Claudio who is walking past think that it is Hero in the room with Conrade. Whilst all this is happening Hero is asleep in one of the many rooms waiting what she thinks will be the greatest day of her life.
Claudio after hearing his soon to be wife’s name coming from a window asks his best friend who was with him at the time and heard the shouts of Hero’s name, what he should do. His friend Don Pedro answers that he should disgrace her at the alter tomorrow, Claudio agrees.
The next morning Claudio gets ready for his marriage. He knows what he is going to do and what he is going to say. When Hero arrives at the church she gets to the altar and when the vicar says to her does she want to take this man’s hand in marriage and she answers yes. However when it gets to Claudio’s turn he asks Hero whether she has any reason why he should not marry her. He then, when Hero says no, asks her if she can recall last night. He thinks that it was her last night who was with Conrade. He also asks her if she is still a virgin and she answers yes. He then reveals to everyone in the church what happened last night. Hero gob-smacked with what Claudio is saying faints.
After everyone has gone Hero who is still lying on the floor just recovering, asks the only person who is there what she should do. After a while the vicar and Benedick come in to the room and suggest a plan. Beatrice who is appalled by the actions of Claudio asks Benedick if he will kill Claudio. At first Benedick thinks that she is joking and laughs about it, but when he realises that she is being deadly serious he says no. Then when they are talking later on in the play, Beatrice says to him that if he really did love her then he would do this for her. He then agrees to kill Claudio. So then when Benedick next sees Claudio he challenges him to a duel. Claudio at first rejects his offer, thinking that Benedick is only joking. Then when he fully realises that he is being serious he doesn’t know what to say.
However then just as they are about to duel, Leanarto, Hero’s father tells Claudio, that if he does one thing for him then he will forgive him for killing his daughter. Claudio agrees to do this one task. The task is for him, Claudio, to marry Hero’s identical cousin. Claudio, when he gets to the altar having thought Hero was dead as everyone else thought, realises that it was not Hero’s identical cousin, but in fact it was Hero.
After he had married her they all carry on with their lives as per normal.
Thomas Parker
