Love and Marriage in Much ado about nothing.

The two seem to have the same ideas on marriage even though we learn through the play that this is not true, they both know it is important to get married but have different viewpoints on the matter, they both appear to want their individuality. We can see this idea in the passage provided and many other parts of the play...

Beatrice: just, if he send me no husband; for the which blessing I am at him upon my knees every morning and evening. Lord, I could not endure a husband with a beard on his face I had rather lie in the woollen...

Benedick: the savage bull may; but if the ever sensible Benedick bear it, pluck off the bulls horns and set them in my forehead; and let me be vilely painted, and in such great letters as they write 'Here is a good horse to hire' let them signify under my name 'Here you see Benedick the married man'...

Each of the two know deep down that they do love each other and only when their friends plot against them do they end up declaring their love for each other. Benedick has protested in the past about loving Beatrice and we get this idea from this passage and numerous other passages throughout the play...

Benedick: Love me? Why, it must be requited. I hear how I am censured: they say I will bear myself proudly, if I perceive the love come from her; they say to that she would rather die than give any sign of affection.

Beatrice is also not happy about feeling love for Benedick and we get this feeling in the given passage...

Beatrice: As strange as the thing I know not. If it were possible for me to say I loved nothing so well as you, but believe me not, and yet I lie not. I confess nothing nor deny nothing. I am sorry for my cousin.

This passage also shows the confusion of Beatrice, she does not take Benedick seriously and is mainly thinking of Hero during this conversation.

The other viewpoints on marriage and commitment are from Hero and Claudio throughout the play. Although we do not hear of them during this passage we know their views from previous reading. Jealousy and love are a major part in Hero and Claudio's relationship, we can see this in numerous parts of the play and with this idea of sexual intercourse before marriage we can get ideas on how Elizabethans handled virginity. When Claudio finds that his love has been unfaithful he humiliates and embarrasses her in front of all the people attending their wedding. We can also tell from this part and the passage given the role of the women in deciding her fate and whom she marries.

Claudio: I would scarce trust myself, though I had sworn the contrary, if Hero would be my wife

From this passage we can see that women in the early 1600's had no authority and were given away to their husbands without a say in the situation. We mainly get this idea from the Hero and Claudio relationship, as during the play we learn nothing of Beatrice's father or mother.

From the given passage and throughout the book we as the reader can make many judgements and have many thoughts on marriage and relationships in the 1600's. From the two main couples we learn of family values and expectations, we learn of different attitudes to love and we also learn of relationships between different couples and how they may of handled their affections.