Love in Much Ado About Nothing

Love in Much Ado About Nothing

1. Tool for deception

   • DP, C, L manipulate B to fall in love with Beatrice
     • Vice versa with Ursula and Hero
   • Drives plot forward

2. Reveals deeper character traits

   • Claudio denounces previous love for Hero when he finds out she is apparently no longer pure
     • Demonstrates the superficial nature of his love
       • Purely based on appearances
       • "can the world buy such a jewel" constant objectification
   • Leonato's love and pride for his daughter is shown to be purely based on her virtue
     • When she is accused of being impure he says "she is fallen into a pit of ink"
       • "foul tainted flesh"
       • "let her die"
     • He cares more about social status than his daughter's wellbeing

3. Used as tool for vengeance

   • Beatrice manipulates Benedick's love for her to get him to "kill Claudio"
     • This also demonstrates her societal weakness as a woman - she needs Benedick to avenge Hero instead of herself
       • "O God, that I were a man! I would eat his heart in the marketplace."

4. Benedick's view of love and marriage changes throughout the play

   • "I will die a bachelor" leads to his confession of love for beatrice
   • Irony - Benedick rails against marriage in the beginning but marries Beatrice in the end

5. Shakespeare manipulates the theme of love to create complications which demand a resolution, as a result moving the plot forward and creating a classic Shakespearean comedy

   • Love assists in making the play a comedy not a tragedy, without B&B's arc the play would simply be a tale of deception and hatred

6. Shakespeare uses C + H's relationship to comment on superficial love

   • Their relationship is toxic and based on appearances and status
   • Social comment on marriages based on status and class
     • Claudio and Hero only marry because they are both high status
       • Their 'love' is shallow, artificial and manufactured to fit with traditional societal values