Sarah Moore 12J 01/05/2007 Much Ado About Nothing
Sarah Moore 12J
Much Ado About Nothing
What Does Shakespeare establish for the audience in scene 1?
Initially, Shakespeare tells us what has just happened, previous to the beginning of the play. By doing this he throws us straight in to the story and immediately the audience or reader is in the heart of it. The use of the messenger character tells us straight away that there has been a battle and no one of importance died. He introduces certain characters such as Don Pedro and Claudio and immediately sets the nature of their relationship in that Don Pedro “hath bestowed much honour” on the “young Florentine” because he did well in battle. The pace of language between Leonato and the messenger is quick, but tells a lot and is an introduction common to Shakespeare in that the story is immediately told.
Shakespeare also sets the scene without delay by having his characters called “Don” and “Signor”. The audience and reader can determine that it is set in Spain or thereabouts. We in fact already know that it is set in Sicily, now an Italian island, but at the time that Shakespeare set the play in, was a Spanish island.
Many characters are introduced and at once the reader or audience can establish their personalities. For example, Hero does not say much at all, and this use of silence in her character not only creates an almost mysterious feel, but she also comes across as a very shy character who doesn’t have much to say for herself. One gets the impression that her cousin, Beatrice, over-shadows her. One can instantaneously see that Beatrice is very forthright and bold, despite being a woman, whereas Hero is almost accustomed to the fact that women were inferior. There is also an impression that Hero is slightly reserved and a bit uninteresting. Beatrice is very sharp and intelligent, especially shown by her confrontational conflict with Benedick. She is not afraid to stand up for herself and give as good as she gets. This is contradictory to Hero’s character. Beatrice is quite abrupt with Benedick in her language, with a teasing tone. This is especially revealed when she retaliates to his taunts with words he has used in his arguments. This not only keeps the flow of the dialogue going, but it also is very witty, showing her intelligence. Benedick also uses this use of language, showing that both he and Beatrice are on the same sort of level of aptitude. He calls her “Lady Disdain”, meaning someone who thinks they are superior to everything else, and she counters this with saying that disdain can’t die as long as it has such “food to feed it” when he is around and that “courtesy must convert to disdain” as soon as he is around. Benedick then uses this by retaliating with “ Then courtesy is a turncoat” basically saying that it is hypocritical. This highlights each other’s wit and ability to argue with each other but also shows what little respect they appear to have for each other. All of this establishes the nature of their relationship, by the use of their words and attitudes towards each other, one can see that they have a very tumultuous relationship. Of course the deception that Shakespeare uses here is that of denial by both characters. They both are persistent about how they loathe each other and are nothing like each other, but in fact they find things that they have in common in that they will “love none”. Also Beatrice admits she knows Benedick “of old”, suggesting she knows him very well. The way the dialogue carries on, implies that there could be a possibility of romance in this relationship, although this is purely speculation at this point in the play.
