Foil Characters In Much Ado About Nothing

Much Ado About Nothing Literary Analysis

“But it is certain I am loved of all ladies, only you excepted. And I would I could find in my heart that I had not a hard heart, for truly I love none.” (Shakespeare 5) Much Ado About Nothing, by William Shakespeare, is a play where Hero, niece of Leonato, and Claudio, a gullible soldier, fall in love, but Don John destroys their wedding. Meanwhile, Beatrice and Benedick are obviously in love but are both too afraid to tell one other. Their lack of communication throughout the play causes problems, but in the end they confess their love for each other. Beatrice acts as the foil character of Hero, by which Beatrice’s sarcastic comments are illuminated through Hero’s kindness; this adds to both of their characterization.
During the mask party, Beatrice is asked about Benedick and says, “None but libertines delight in him, and the commendation is not in his wit but in his villainy, for he both pleases men and angers them, and then they laugh at him and beat him.” (Shakespeare 23) Not knowing to whom she is speaking to, she tells Benedick that only the worst people like him because of his bad actions. Hero, on the other hand, is asked to dance by Claudio, and responds, “So you walk softly, and look sweetly, and say nothing, I am yours for the walk…” (Shakespeare 20) Hero is more innocent and would never tell Claudio if she didn’t want to dance with him. Consequently, this makes Beatrice seem less attractive and more