much ado about nothing critique

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How does Shakespeare present Love and Romance in Much Ado about nothing, through the relationships of Hero & Claudio and Benedick and Beatrice?

Love and Romance are two major themes within “Much Ado About Nothing”. They are approached through different relationships that have been developed by the writer throughout the play. William Shakespeare expresses through his creative writing style how romance differs with differing gradients of love. There are two main relationships that Shakespeare explores in the play they are Hero and Claudio and Benedick and Beatrice, there are however other romances that are touched on with Margaret and Borrachio.

There was much pressure on couples during the 16th Century period to marry. Especially woman, to marry was at that time one of the key objectives in a woman’s life. Love was seen in a very different light than it is viewed in modern times. During the play Claudio falls in love with Hero even before talking to her, he bases his love completely on her appearance and apparent financial stability.

 

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

 Shakespeare has presented an ideal couple in the sixteenth century with Hero and Claudio. They marry for social enrichment as this is the correct path to follow, this is not because of true love but this is what society at this time is expecting.

Hero is wooed by Don Pedro and given to Claudio. Hero has been told how to answer the prince’s offer with no decision of her own by her Father. As Beatrice implies

“ It is my cousins duty to make curtsy and say, ‘father as it please you’”.

 

Beatrice suggests in agreeing to Claudio’s offer of marriage, Hero would be fulfilling her duty and not her own wish. She is not thinking for herself but merely following her father’s wishes, which are for him, as he wants her to be well matched. As well as the expectation of society. They conform to the tradition of society – not relying on each other but instead other characters to instigate their love for each other. It is through Don Pedro and Leonato that the relationship is allowed to proceed; this is very formal and calculated. Claudio loves Hero as a name. The name “hero” means faithful. Claudio loves Hero in these terms, using her name to depict her personal attributes. When he first mentions Hero there is a lack of passion in his tone. Claudio states…

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 “I looked upon her with a soldier’s eye” a soldier is a character who is left alone for a long time with no female company. For a period of time Claudio has had no female company and has been surrounded by male comrades, perhaps he has a lot of pent up sexual frustration. He has been involved in battle and protecting Don Pedro, therefore had no opportunity to consider love or indeed marriage. Now the battles have ended, he has the time to think about coming home and settling down with a wife.

Beatrice ...

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Here's what a teacher thought of this essay

Shows some understanding of the two relationships, but lacking depth and development. There are a lot of disjointed points that need to be linked. Also, many of the quotations do not link to specific points but just seem to hang between paragraphs. It is better to incorporate quotations into the body of the paragraph and they should be textual support for points made. ***