Shakespeare employs a wide range of literary techniques to define the characters of Beatrice and Benedick and to illustrate their evolving attitudes and relationship in the context of love.

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The play Much Ado About Nothing is attributed to the eminent playwright William Shakespeare and is generally assumed to have been written in later years of the sixteenth century. This light-hearted comedy is set in Messina, a bustling port in Sicily, during the Elizabethan Era, a time when strict social conventions governed the way men and women were expected to act. Throughout this play, Shakespeare employs a wide range of literary techniques to define the characters of Beatrice and Benedick and to illustrate their evolving attitudes and relationship in the context of love. The effective manipulation of wit, metaphor and soliloquy allow Shakespeare to portray Beatrice as a strong-willed and outspoken noblewoman who challenges the gender stereotype of the time. Through the liberal use of simile, hyperbole and soliloquy, Shakespeare deftly constructs the protagonist Benedick as a witty, self-assured nobleman who initially scorns the idea of love but whose attitudes are challenged as the play progresses.

Shakespeare’s use of wit is essential in depicting Beatrice as noblewomen who challenges the social conventions of her time and to express her cynicism towards men in general and   Benedick in particular. During her word spar with Benedick in the opening scene,  after Benedick accuses her of being “Lady Disdain” (1.1.88) Beatrice retorts“ Is it possible that Lady Disdain should die, while she hath such meet food to feed it, as Signor Benedick? (1.1.89-90). By using wit, Shakespeare reveals Beatrice’s intense derision towards Benedick. Her scathing remark about Benedick’s character, made in the presence of important nobleman highlights Beatrice’s confidence and complete disregard of social conventions. Beatrice’s mockery of Benedick positions the audience to see her as callous and cold-hearted whilst her aptitude to turn a phrase reveals her intelligence to the audience.

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In the early half of the play, Shakespeare depicts Beatrice as a staunch spinster who is deeply cynical about love. Through the use of simile Shakespeare elaborates the audience’s understanding of Beatrice’s scorn for matrimony. In the second scene, Beatrice offers her cousin Hero unsolicited advice about marriage, and cautions her saying that “Wooing, wedding and repenting, is as a Scotch jig, a measure and a cinquepace…” (2.1.52-53). With this remark Beatrice warns her cousin that love and marriage is as strictly controlled as the steps in dancing. This strengthens the audience’s belief that Beatrice is strongly opposed to the ...

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