Much Ado About Nothing

7 Pages 1637 Words

Human beings are foolish when in love, and Much Ado About Nothing, is a study of this. It goes into the love between Beatrice and Benedict and between Claudio and Hero. The story between Beatrice and Benedict is a sub-plot, but nowadays it is found to be more interesting than the main plot, which is the love between Claudio and Hero.
Beatrice and Benedict had been playful adversaries at the beginning of the play, united only in their contempt and loathing for marriage. Nevertheless, once they ‘discover’ their feelings for each other, they let their guards down and allow their feelings to blossom. They discover that they love one another, by a cleverly engineered plot, set into place by their friends. Although it was a lie, it did have good intentions and did work out for the best.
Even before they love each other, what the other thinks of them still meant a lot to them. They would try through their ‘merry war’ to make others think that they paid no attention to what the other said of them, but they would be very hurt when they thought the other did not think highly of them. When Beatrice tells Benedict that he is widely thought of to be “the prince’s jester, a very dull fool” (II.i.103), he is hurt and becomes defensive. He is happy for them to be constantly bickering, but he still wants her to like him.
Once they discovered they were in love with each other, Benedict proves himself worthy of Beatrice by standing by her and agreeing to “Kill Claudio”(IV.i.279). At first he is not willing to do this, and tells Beatrice so, “Ha, not for the wide world” (IV.i.280). Then he realises that not only is Beatrice right, but that she is also worth far more to him than Claudio is. He was previously ‘one of the lads’, but he then turns his back on then for Beatrice. He is willing to do whatever Beatrice asks of him, including ceasing being friends with Claudio, although we are told he is his new “sworn br...