Examples Of Inconsistency In Much Ado About Nothing

Stories about cheating wives, defiable men and women, and tricky brothers were all brought together in the play “Much Ado About Nothing” by William Shakespeare. The play had a variety of characters and witty dialogue that made the comedy quite intriguing. In the book, Hero is told by her father to marry Claudio. She is then accused of being cheated on, but is later found innocent and marries Claudio. Beatrice, who throughout the book hated a man named Benedick ironically marries him.

In Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, Benedick’s loyal nature causes him to make several decisions throughout the play. In the beginning of the play, the reader was shown that Benedick and Beatrice did not have a great relationship with each other. However, Benedick’s loyalty towards other characters, especially Beatrice, seems to increase excessively throughout the play. Benedick appears as loyal when he supports Hero, confesses his love for Beatrice, and when Beatrice asks him to kill Claudio.

During the beginning of Act 1 Claudio is introduced to Hero the daughter of Signior Leonato and is immediately interested in her stating that quote, “she is the sweetest lady that ever I looked on.” Though interested in her, Claudio wanted Benedick’s approval. When hearing that Claudio was attracted to Hero Benedick immediately was in disapproval of the thought, for in his eyes she was quote “too low for high praise, too brown for fair praise, and too little for great praise. Though disappointed of Benedick’s disapproval, Claudio chose to still peruse Hero. Later on Claudio and Hero get engaged but when Don John an evil man here’s about the engagement he devises a plan to deceived Claudio and destroy the marriage. When Don John’s plan is put into action Claudio falls right into the trap and believes that Hero is cheating on him. Though Claudio is furious he does not confront Hero with his problem but rather holds on to the information until the wedding. The wedding day arrives, and everything is in place. Once Hero has come down the aisle Claudio then starts accusing her of cheating on him. Instead of confronting Hero alone to talk about what he saw, Claudio choose to humiliate her in front of her family and friends. His reaction

Claudio falls in love with Hero upon his return to Messina. His unfortunately suspicious nature makes him quick to believe evil rumors and hasty to despair and take revenge.

As losing him becomes an unbearable thought Hero uses her sacrifice to remind Claudio of the promise he made to her true self, when the situation comes to a resolution. Eagerly awaiting marriage, Hero profoundly admires Claudio for many reasons. Although in many aspects, their relationship were far less complex than others involved in the story, the pair grew to love each other for a multitude of reasons. As a woman of the time period, as well as being the virtuous woman she was, marriage was not a delicate matter. Knowing herself that the unchaste lies surrounding her name were false, but believed by Claudio, Hero was unwilling to let them impede on the commitment he made to her.

Shakespeare’s use of metaphors throughout “Much Ado About Nothing” helped us better understand the depth to the characters. This was especially true for the hilarious couple Beatrice and Benedict. In the beginning, it seemed as though they would never get along. However, as they continue to bicker, the reader begins to pick up on the playful- flirty nature of the bickering. Shakespeare’s use of metaphors makes this particularly apparent, and quite entertaining. We can see that Beatrice and Benedict don’t really hate each other because they say things that are mean, but are also very hinting and flirtatious.

Claudio and Hero’s relationship is not strong because Claudio does not trust anyone in the affairs of love. He says ‘friendship is constant in all other things, save in the office and affairs of love’. He also says ‘and trust no agent for beauty is a witch’.

How ironic that Claudio’s quick decision to shame Hero at the alter shows his extreme lack of honor and virtue.  Rather than stand by his fiancée’s side, he chooses to believe a rumor and instantly disowns her.

The Love between Benedict and Beatrice is a strong love hate relationship after their previous ties had failed between each other. Heros plan is to trick Beatrice into entering the orchard and overhearing their conversations about her. Through their conversation Hero, Ursula praises the virtues of Benedick and to point out the flaws in herself(Act 3 Scene 1). By doing this Hero is able to convince Beatrice to her love of Benedick. However the same time Claudio and Don John are talking of Beatrice's secret love for Benedick. After this occurred both characters realize their true feelings and began to fall for one another through the deception played out by Hero and

In Much Ado About Nothing, William Shakespeare depicts both Benedick and Beatrice as characters with one major flaw: both are full of pride. With the use of the masquerade scene, as well as the orchard scenes, Shakespeare allows the characters to realize their awry characteristic. By realizing their erroneous pride, Benedick and Beatrice are able to correct this and not only become better citizens, but fall in love.

In contrast, Claudio constantly acts stupidly, hesitant on everything and becoming ruled by his anger and moody temper, which results in serious violence. On the other hand, Hero is insanely quiet, not opinionated, and cannot defend herself from public humiliation, as shown during the wedding scene when Claudio exposes her as a fake. Beatrice and Benedict’s love relationship is supposed to be a sub-plot, while Hero and Claudio’s relationship is the main plot in the play. Contrary to that, the relationship between Beatrice and Benedict seems much more interesting because of the opposing views from both of these characters. As the viewers of Branaugh’s film come to understand these aspects of the characters in the storyline, they begin to see that the relationship between Hero and Claudio is your cliché typical love story from the Elizabethan Era. They then look towards Beatrice and Benedict’s relationship for a true interpretation of modern day love in our

Leonato chose to believe Claudio’s words over his daughter’s. Even before he was completely convinced, Leonato did not budge when Claudio threw Hero to the ground: he merely sought to understand why Claudio had done so. Ultimately, Beatrice believes Hero’s innocence and shielded her. The love of a cousin was stronger than that of a father. Moreover, Leonato tells Hero not to live - his latent animosity besting him.

Much Ado about Nothing is a romantic comedy written by William Shakespeare. Deception is a repeated theme throughout the play and it performs an essential role in the matters relating to romance. There are two couples who unwittingly are participants in the matchmaking and the match breaking schemes of others. There is Claudio of Florence and Benedick of Padua who arrive at Leonato’s house in Messina with Don Pedro, after being away in battle. Then, there is Hero, Leonato’s daughter, and heir, as well as her devoted cousin, Beatrice. In Much Ado about Nothing Shakespeare uses language and literary devices to reassure the audience that love will persevere and prevail in the end. He achieves this by juxtaposing Benedick and Beatrice with Claudio and Hero.

The play Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare consists of many themes which grow out of the ‘game of love'. The two main themes consist of perception and deception. Through the plot complications, character development and dramatic techniques these themes can be explored. In the play deception is shown on both good and evil sides, the game of love between Beatrice and Benedick and the Don John plot to split up Hero and Claudio. Perception is a theme used in most of Shakespeare's plays. Perceptive views by the characters help portray the game of love. Hero is perceived as dead which then Claudio is sorry and feels for her. Beatrice and Benedick's loved is clouded by each other's perceptions and arguments.

Each of the main characters in Much Ado About Nothing is the victim of deception, and it is because they are deceived that they act in the ways that they do. Although the central deception is directed against Claudio in an attempt to destroy his relationship with Hero, it is the deceptions involving Beatrice and Benedick which provides the play's dramatic focus.