Due to this emphasis on physical appearance, all four characters describe and note all the things that were important in those times in acceptable society and what a man/woman should look for in a partner. Due to this pressure on young people, (woman in particular,) to get married and the lifestyle with which they lived, their social persona was a part of who they were.
Men were expected to be honourable, to fight in battle and to be a good husband and to uphold their honour. This importance in a man’s life is illustrated by Shakespeare at the very beginning of the play when Beatrice says that Benedick is “a good solider to a lady, but what is he to a lord?” meaning he is not a real man as he is “stuffed” and not at all virtuous. Benedick is especially proud of his virility and therefore distances himself as much as possible from marriage.” [He] will live a bachelor” but this is possibly due to his fear of losing his honour as he could be made a fool out of if he could not satisfy his wife, “[he] will wear his cap with suspicion”, meaning the cap would conceal the cuckold’s horns.
Women had equal pressure on them to behave according to society and here Shakespeare provides two contrasting characters: Hero, the perfect daughter, quiet and pretty in the company of men and “ruled by [her] father”, and Beatrice, outspoken and witty in front of men, sometimes showing them up, but both are still virgins. Virginity in young woman was very important as fathers had to marry off their daughters and a noble girl’s reputation is more important than a servant girls which is why there is such a reaction to accusations made against Hero. Equally, society creates a negative image of women who do not intend to marry, Beatrice being told “go you into hell” by Leonato when she does not comply with Leonato’s suggestions of marriage, however humorous, is a particularly harsh image of unmarried woman.
This picture of unmarried woman is particularly ironic as the queen of the time, Elizabeth I declared herself the Virgin Queen and would never marry. Shakespeare is perhaps criticising the hypocritical social system of the day, that it is all right for the queen, the highest member of society to be single, but not ordinary woman.
The great emphasis on appearances and the presentation of the characters is supported by the idea that seeing is believing. From the beginning of the play we are shown by Shakespeare that this is the mentality of the characters when Leonato acts immediately on hearsay when told the news that Don Pedro will ask Hero to marry him. This is demonstrated again in the last act when the sonnets written by Beatrice and Benedick are taken to be more meaningful then even their words. Both deny their love for one another, indicated by the coy response from Beatrice, “troth no, no more then reason” when Benedick asks if she loves him. Two sonnets are then produced, one “containing [Beatrice’s] affection”, and the other “fashioned to Beatrice”, and eventually, Benedick submits to his feelings and says “here’s our own hands against our hearts”. Perhaps this is what Beatrice and Benedick wanted to see so that what their minds wanted to believe, their eyes saw accordingly.
This cannot be entirely blamed on the individual as this particular society gives a great deal to noting and over-hearing and trusting in surface truths are the causes of many of the confusions and muddles in the play. The irony of this is the fact that whilst society pays so much attention to “noting” the characters fail to note what is happening around them, and this is only pointed out for the first time by the friar in Act 4 Scene and his choice of words, “by noting of the lady” is significant.
In “Much Ado About Nothing” Shakespeare draws a contrast between platonic love and sexual love in order to show the complexities involved in both. Sexual and platonic love fight for supremacy in the play and we constantly have to ask whether the characters are more loyal to their own or to the opposite sex.
Friendship is a theme that runs through out the play but varies in its strength and reality. There are many seemingly fickle friendships in the play, Hero and Beatrice, Claudio, Benedick and Don Pedro. We are told that Hero and Beatrice are close friends but there is little evidence of this until Act 4 Scene 1 when it is clear that Beatrice is distraught at her cousins’ name being slandered. However in Act 3 Scene 1 Hero enters into the fun of tricking Beatrice but insults her more than necessary for the plot to succeed describing her as “self- endeared” and “her wit values itself so highly that all matter else seems weak.” Hero is showing sharp perceptiveness, which before now has been equated with her cousin but like Claudio she is basing her comments on external appearance, criticising Beatrice sharply, and commenting only on her social, external persona. Her quiet and abiding appearance in public is in contrast to when she is alone with Don Pedro or with her women and her cousin. Here she is forthright, determined, contemptuous and even flirtatious and suggestive. When Don Pedro asks her to dance she replies in a seductive way and when asked if she would walk with him she says “I may say so, when I please”. This is quite provocative but whether these are her own inventions or those that Leonato has rehearsed for her response to the courting is not known.
Only conventional attitudes towards love, marriage and community ideas are praised in the patriachal society of Messina. There are ironies here, in that Shakespeare shows Beatrice and Benedick reacting to what is really unloving, their own behaviour, as they are ashamed of it. Their so-called friends are meanwhile betraying them so perhaps their love is not a romance, rather that two mature lovers who have been pushed together by a social conspiracy to make them marry, as Benedick states, “[they] are too wise to woo peaceably”.
Claudio and Benedicks’ friendship seems capricious but this is suggested from a female source rather than male. Benedick is called a fickle friend by Beatrice as she suggests that he “hath every month a new sworn brother…he wears his faith but as the fashion…it ever changes with the next block”. Benedicks friendship appears to be strong but in reality changes as often as the fashion. This is not quite the truth as although he seems to change his opinion, brotherhood is obviously an important part of his life, especially before realising he is in love with Beatrice. Additionally, both Beatrice and Benedick are shown to fear fickleness, and this is probably justified as the whole play revolves around the fickleness of society in which they live, which leads to the confusion and muddles of the play.
Benedick thinks Claudio a “honest man and soldier” but then later in the play does seem to fulfil what Beatrice said as he challenges Claudio to a duel. This could be seen as a fickle friendship, abandoning his friends for his love for Beatrice. In reality he is a most courageous person as he is only saying to his friend what he thinks is right and that they wrongly accused an innocent girl.
Claudio emerges a very fickle person in this play in many respects, not only in his love for Hero but also his ever altering feelings towards his friends. He is certain the “prince woes for himself” and is quick to dismiss his friendship but when he finds out he was wrong he swiftly alters his opinions. Similarly, his friendship with Don John is false but here he is not the only one. Everyone is very weary of being friends with Don John as he refuses to obey what he sees as pointless social rules but when these rules appear to have collapsed the ‘good’ characters seem helpless.
These fickle platonic and sexual friendships are helped to develop with the use of fashion which create the muddles and confusion that show the characters feelings. The most obvious example of this is when masks are used at the ball to let people take on different appearances and identities, and this is the second muddle of the play, Claudio took on the identity of Benedick and thought that Don Pedro wanted Hero for himself. The dance is a major symbol in the play as it is the conventional metaphor for the process of courtship. It also makes provision for another dramatic effect, the masking, a formalisation of this theme, the deception of appearances.
Fashion changes constantly, as do the characters. Benedick and Beatrice have a love-hate relationship, constantly changing according to other people. Leonato’s opinion of Hero changes when Claudio and Don Pedro tell him of Hero’s unfaithfulness which he believes but then in turn shifts from thinking Don Pedro and Claudio respectable young men, to villains who slandered his daughter’s name.
In Shakespeare’s time social persona was an important part of life and in this play he portrays the importance of them through the characters and the use of fashion as a source of imagery. Much Ado About Nothing is set in a real social world where rules are not subverted and as a result sexual and platonic relationships are constantly changing, being real or fictional.
