Both Romeo and Juliet and Much Ado About Nothing are both love stories, however Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy and Much Ado About Nothing is a comedy. Many relationships are brought to light during both plays and the audience discover all these relationships are different and their love for each other is portrayed in different ways. In Much Ado About Nothing Claudio and Hero fall in love, break apart, and then fall in love again, while at the same time, Beatrice and Benedick are being tricked into loving each other. This is very different from Romeo and Juliet as Romeo and Juliet are in a constant struggle for their love. Shakespeare’s plays Romeo and Juliet and Much Ado About Nothing both contain the elements of; love at first sight, manipulation of love and a detailed love story. Three important aspects of love are written in each play but are portrayed in completely different ways. Both Romeo and Juliet, and Hero and Claudio experience love at first sight and in both plays, love is somehow manipulated, though it is manipulated in different ways for dissimilar purposes in the different plays.
Hero and Claudio meet each other and within a few days they profess there love to each other. However it is insinuated that Claudio has a devious reason for falling for Hero other than her beauty and charm. In Act 1, scene 1 Claudio asks Don Pedro ‘Hath Leonato any son my lord?’ This clever question is interpreted as Claudio considering marrying Hero knowing that Leonato has no male heir hence making it an excellent financial proposition upon the death of Hero’s father for him to inherit all his wealth. This shows him up as being very shallow character. Hero and Claudio have a strange relationship in as much as that they seem ill at ease around each other and Claudio seeks help from Don Pedro to woo Hero. This could be interpreted as Claudio being shy but was more likely to portray him as uncertain and out of his