Relationships In Much Ado About Nothing

Much ado about nothing is a comedic play written by William Shakespeare, Shakespearean comedy usually results in a happy ending were a unmarried couple get married, many of Shakespeare’s plays demonstrate this. The play is about all relationships between the sexes, there is two story lines that are based around two very different couples. One of those couples is a typical traditional couple where they almost fall in love at first sight and are ideally suited to each other. However the man becomes quite disrespectful towards his lover when his lack of intelligence leads him to believe something that is not true. The seconds couple on the other hand are not considered together as a couple, they spend most of their time insulting each other and
both swear they will never marry, however their friends trick them into falling in love with each other which allows them to look past each other’s flaws, meaning they are willing to marry at the end of the play.One of the unusual elements that appear in this play is that the Traditional couple may not really be in love but the odd couple seem to be. One of the plays main focuses in the play is on the odd couple- Beatrice and Benedick and the development of their relationship.
The first time the audience are introduced to Beatrice and Benedick’s relationship is in Act 1 Scene 1, were they intensely insult each other which is portrayed as very comedic especially from the character of Beatrice as she is women and in this time era it was unusual for a women to be so out spoken and have a confrontation with a man because a woman’s aim in these times was to marry, so they would constantly be willing to impress any man they could.
By Beatrice name calling Benedick it almost humiliates him, as a women is showing him up this is seen as comedic to the audience but also to the other characters in the play although Benedick being smart and witty it able to quickly switch it around and wins the argument by saying ‘I would my horse at the speed of your tongue.. I am done’ he is meaning I wish my horse could go at the speed of your tongue and for so long, he sees himself as the winner as he says ‘I’m done’ explaining end of argument but they both have very similar personalities and both are extremely stubborn wanting to get the last word in all the time, Shakespeare uses the use of repartee as both Beatrice and Benedick both give witty, quick replies that forms the argument and they are both able to twist each other’s words around both wanting the final word . The audience instantly get the impression that the two of them hate each other, this is supported by benedick stating ‘ I am loved of all ladies, only you excepted’ every other women seems to be drawn to
him but Beatrice is not, this shows the hatred between them. One critic states ‘Benedick’s wit is used to mask his fear of marriage and his longing for Beatrice’ although this is a correct interpretation of the way benedick acts as he is insecure as he feels like every woman will leave him and he will be made fun of , he doesn’t understand love this suggests that he is insecure and see’s fallings in himself this is why he feels he couldn’t keep a woman, but also he uses to not make it obvious to Beatrice he longs for her as there are clues throughout the play they have been together in the past and he had hurt her in some way, it also could be said that Benedick acts in this manner because he generally feels hate towards Beatrice and can only look past this when it seems she is in love with him. It appears the only thing they are able to agree on is that they both swear they will never love or marry but as the story develops both Beatrice and benedick both become misled to assume the other loves them.
The gulling scene demonstrates how gullible Benedick is to be tricked into thinking Beatrice is in love with him, Claudio states ‘ she says she will die if he love her not’ this persuades Benedick that she