Commentary on Much Ado About Nothing Essay

Much Ado about Nothing

The scene Im going to introduce is extracted from Much ado about nothing, written by William Shakespeare. This play is a comedy by William Shakespeare set in Messina, Sicily. The story concerns a pair of lovers named Claudio and Hero who are due to be married in a week. To pass the time before their wedding day, they conspire with Don Pedro, the prince of Aragon, to trick their friends, Beatrice and Benedick, into confessing their love for one another. The prince's illegitimate brother, Don John, however, jealous of both Don Pedro's power and his affection for Claudio, plans to destroy the coming wedding.

Summary

Benedick enters Leonato's orchard alone ranting about the horrors of marriage. Again, he proclaims that no woman has all virtues of importance, beauty, intelligence, humor, virtue, and wealth in one package. He sees Don Pedro, Claudio, Balthazar, and Leonato enter the orchard and hides so they won't see him. Don Pedro tells Balthazar to play music. As the music plays, Don Pedro, Claudio, and Leonato begin to discuss Beatrice's love for Benedick. Hiding aside, Benedick is shocked to learn of such news. Leonato certifies the information by saying that his daughter tells him that this news is true. Beatrice supposedly lies awake at nights yearning for Benedick, but she will not confess of feelings.

She would rather die than tell him how she feels and she will die if he knows how she feels. Don Pedro and Claudio feel sorry for her. Benedick would think Don Pedro and Claudio were playing a trick on him, except for the fact that he believes Leonato who is a wise man. Once the men have done their damage to Benedick's heart, they leave for dinner. Benedick is left alone pondering his feelings for Beatrice. He realizes that she is everything that he wants and will fall in love with her. He says, I quote"When I said I would die a bachelor, I did not think I should live till I were married" The men send Beatrice to get Benedick for dinner. She deals as scornfully as usual with him, but he treats her with unusual flattery and courtesy. Confused and suspicious, Beatrice mocks him again before departing, but the infatuated Benedick interprets her words as containing hidden messages of love, and he happily runs off to have a portrait made of her so that he can carry it around with him.

Analysis

When Benedick hides aside, he unknowingly finds himself caught in the position of being the one deceived. He believes that he is eavesdropping upon his friends, but, because they are aware of his presence, they deliberately speak louder so that he will hear them. It is not difficult to imagine the speakersLeonato, Don Pedro, and Claudiotrying hard to stifle their laughter as they speak in serious voices of Beatrice falling upon her knees, weeping, tearing her hair, and crying, O sweet Benedick, God give me patience

Don Pedro understands Benedicks psychology so precisely that his trick works on his friend just as he hoped it wouldupon hearing that Beatrice is in love with him and that other people think he will be foolish enough to turn her down, Benedick realizes that it is not so difficult for him to find it in his heart to love Beatrice after all. In a speech memorable for both its humor and its emotional glimpse into Benedicks generous and compassionate heart, Benedick decides that there is no shame in changing his mind about marriage, and declares, I will be horribly in love with her. . . . The world must be peopled. When I said I could die a bachelor, I did not think I should live till I were married

By the time Beatrice herself appears to order him in to dinner, Benedick is so far gone that he is able to reinterpret all her words and actions as proves of her love for himits doubtless a hilarious scene for the audience, since Beatrice is hostile to Benedick, and the audience knows that she is not at all in love with him. But Benedick can hardly wait to go get her picturethat is to say, to go and get a miniature portrait of her. Later on, Benedick even tries his hand at writing a sonnet to Beatrice. Sonnets and miniature portraits were typical of the Renaissance lover, male or female. By carrying around these objects, Benedick becomes a clich of Renaissance courtship.

The quarreling between Benedick and Beatrice has often been marveled at, both within the play itself and by the audience. Many readers of the play try to imagine that they are in fact deeply in love in spite of their quarrels, and Beatrice does indicate that she previously loved Benedick.. Yet the conspiracy to make them marry is a form of social pressure that they cannot overcome. Benedick, having overheard Leonato say Beatrice loves him, is afraid of being censured: "I hear how I am censured". He later admits that, "The world must be peopled" Their constant fight against the pressures of society fail in the end, and we are left thinking that marriage is itself a conspiracy.

The specter of silence crops up again in this act, this time between Claudio and Hero. Claudio surprisingly cannot speak even once he realizes that she will marry him. He says, "Silence is the perfectest herald of joy" (2.1.267). The irony of course is that silence is no herald at all, but rather implies complete lack of emotion from either Hero or Claudio towards the other person.

Language is a significant part of the play and the plot. Much Ado About Nothing has more prose than almost any other Shakespearian play, and it is significant to see how Shakespeare uses this prose. Benedick remarks on the change in Claudio by noting his change in language: "He was wont to speak plain and to the purpose, like an honest man and a soldier, and now is he turned orthography. This shows the transition from military language to stylistic prose.

A common theme throughout Shakespearian drama is the role of gardens. Gardens are dangerous places to be because they harbor serpents trying to seduce the senses. Much Ado About Nothing has many garden scenes, all of which are involved in plotting against or confusing other characters. For instance, Don Pedro spread his rumors about Beatrice loving Benedick in the garden where Benedick is hiding. In the first scene Claudio and Don Pedro are overheard in the garden, causing Leonato to think Don Pedro wants to wed Hero. Beatrice will likewise overhear Hero and Ursula in the garden, causing her to think Benedick loves her.