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How Does Shakespeare Present Love In Much Ado About Nothing

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Much Ado About Nothing is a striking example of how complex Shakespeare's work can be. Although it deals with many themes, I think the biggest may be it’s narrative on love. From the beginning to the end, we see love effect and guide the plot and conflict forward. We have many different kinds of love being shown and contrasted. It’s evident from the text that the topic of love is the leading and driving theme in this story. In Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare uses Claudio and Benedick’s relationships in order to further the theme of love and contrast different forms of love.

In the beginning of the play we have both Benedick and Claudio coming back from a long war. This gives both of them a clean slate when it comes to relationships and love. As soon as they enter the city, we …show more content…

This event could be Shakespeare saying that everyone has and want to be loved, even if it’s not they project on the outside. He realizes how odd his sudden change in opinion is, exclaiming: “When I said I would die a bachelor, I did not think I should live till I were married” (2.3 263-64). A similar situation is put onto Beatrice, who is tricked into believing benedick loves her. She makes a similar change in view. And the woman who once said that: “I would rather hear my dog bark at a crow, than a man swear he loves me” (1.1 107-08), is in love. Although Benedicks love also has its awkward immature moments, as made evident by Benedicks attempts to impress Beatrice as she fetches him for dinner. Their love is much different, in that the attraction is based not only on appearance, but also on wit and personality. You may also infer from the text that Beatrice and Benedick have had prior meetings before he went to war. This further differs his love from Claudio’s. As although Claudio knew of Hero before the war, there is no evidence of any prior communication or

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