Much Ado About Nothing Trope Analysis

Much Ado About Nothing has many tropes that are specific to the romantic comedy. The first is “Belligerent Sexual Tension” (Romantic Comedy), which means that the characters have obvious attraction between them despite the fact that they fight like cats and dogs. This goes into the other trope for their relationship titled Slap, Slap, Kiss (Romantic Comedy). While they don’t physically attack each other, they verbally joust at any point when they’re together. Leonato early on makes note of this in 1.1, “There is a kind of merry war betwixt Signor Benedick and her. They never meet but there’s a skirmish of wit between them.” (1.1.49-51) “Slap, Slap, Kiss” is taken to an almost literal extreme in Taming of the Shrew, and is found in the modern
Usually through a misunderstanding or even a deception within the story itself. The movie Two Weeks Notice makes use of these two tropes to form the relationship between the two main characters. Unlike Beatrice and Benedick though there is no underlying admiration. This is where the trope becomes problematic when combined with another trope “Everone can see it” (Romantic Comedy) trope. This trope is based on everyone but the main characters actually seeing the attraction between the couple. In 3.2 Leonato and Don Pedro, in good humor, mock Benedick for shaving. They claim that he’s in love, and rib him about being clean shaven, brushing his hat, and wearing cologne. In a similar sense the movie When Harry Met Sally uses this trope for a joke at the end when a spectator expresses exasperation at the two leads getting together. Benedick is the Deconfirmed Bachelor (Romantic Comedy), a character that at the start of the story is intensely happy being single. In 1.1 “Is 't come to this? In faith, hath not the world one man but he will wear his cap with suspicion? Shall I never see a bachelor of threescore again? Go to, i' faith, an thou wilt needs thrust thy neck into a yoke, wear the print of it, and sigh away Sundays”