Analyse Act Four, Scene One of Much Ado About Nothing to show how Shakespeare explores relationships between men and women and contemporary expectations of virginity, love and marriage.

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Analyse Act Four, Scene One of Much Ado About Nothing to show how Shakespeare explores relationships between men and women and contemporary expectations of virginity, love and marriage.

        The play “Much Ado About Nothing” incorporates love, villainy, friendship, parent-child relationships, society and customs and relationships between men and women.  Men dominated Elizabethan society and this play explores a wide range of men’s attitudes to the place of women in society.

At the beginning of Act four, Scene one, we immediately become aware that Leonato is displaying slight anxiety over the wedding ceremony and it seems he wants to fast track the procedure to get it out of the way.  At this point in the play, the audience know more than Leonato.  Previously, Dogberry, the constable of Messina, had tried to inform Leonato of how Hero would be humiliated publicly at the wedding.  However, Leonato is so preoccupied, he never receives this information and so is completely unaware of what is going to take place.

 As the scene begins, Friar Francis asks Claudio “You come hither, my lord, to marry this Lady?” Claudio’s response is a simple no.  Leonato becomes unsettled by the Friar’s disconcerting manner.  He says hastily “To be married to her: friar, you come to marry her.” This is an example of Leonato’s anxious behaviour. Earlier on in the play, he expresses that leaving the wedding for a week in the best idea, Act two, Scene one.  Now at the wedding, it seems he is contradicting his previous thoughts and wants to hurry it on.

As the scene continues, Claudio’s behaviour starts to become rather surprising and confusing.  The other characters are taken aback by his manner but from the audience’s perspective, it is to be expected. Although it is soon made clear to the other characters that Claudio is upset and angry, he fails to pinpoint the reasons for his outrageous accusations.  He speaks sarcastically, steps forward to everyone's shock and confusion and pushes Hero away, disgracing her and her family.

                                  "There, Leonato, take her back again,

                                   Give not this rotten orange to your friend,

                                   She's but the sign and semblance of her honour"

The phrase “rotten orange” that Claudio uses to describe Hero conveys that on the outside Hero is innocent but there is corruption on the inside.  The image of Hero being similar to a rotten orange is constant throughout this scene.  There are also several references to how things appear differently to what they really are.  In Elizabethan times, the outfits worn by both sexes distorted the natural human shape.  Phrases such as “exterior shows” and “semblance of her honour” demonstrate how Hero seems clean and pure on the outside but is actually guilty on the inside.  One of the themes in this play is the nature of truth and reality versus appearance and in this scene it is emphasised most.

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 Hero is unable to rebut to Claudio’s accusations and this makes her seem even more guilty.  Claudio calls Hero and “approvèd wanton”.  However, he has no proof.  He begins to talk about the unquestionable truth and is almost bullying Hero, demanding answers from her.  He believes that seeing Hero is good enough proof, however, his eyes have been deceived.  He mimics the first time he thinks he has lost Hero, Act two, Scene one.  In this scene he says “farewell therefore, Hero” and in act four, scene one he says, similarly “But fare thee well, most foul, most fair, farewell”. ...

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