Much Ado About Realistic Relationships

Much Ado About Nothing is the more palatable, funnier version of Taming of the Shrew. It’s the comedic version of Othello.  It has the character development of Cymbeline. It’s as if Shakespeare took his best ideas and put them into one play (although we’d argue that he didn’t keep any good comic relief characters). As you can see, the temptation is to talk about Much Ado merely as it resembles or borrows from other plays. Yet it stands alone as one of Shakespeare’s better works, particularly because it possesses something many plays lack: a realistic portrayal of love.

Benedick and Beatrice are on the outskirts of society, not really connected anywhere. Beatrice is a woman who spurns marriage and has too sharp a tongue for her society. Benedick is an immature, mediocre soldier who jumps from friend to friend with the changing of the wind. Neither of these characters have very close friendships, nor do they have immediate family members in the play. They don’t fit in with the rest of the characters, so they don’t even try. Yet the very characteristics that break the stereotypes make them more believable. We feel like we’re not dealing with stock characters, but with real people.

One of the questions we explored as a group was: “Did Beatrice and Benedick always love each other, or was their love created by the manipulation of others?” At first glance, it appears that everyone’s matchmaking was what sparked the romance, which makes the relationship feel shallow. It looks like the unconvincing love of new acquaintances found in other plays (*cough*Romeo&Juliet*cough*). After much discussion, however, we came to the consensus that yes, Beatrice and Benedick were in love even before the beginning of the play. We get a hint of this from Beatrice’s line in I.i: “You always end with a jade’s trick: I know you of old.” Beatrice later says in II.i,

Indeed, my lord, he lent it [his heart] awhile; and I gave him use for it,—a double heart for his single one: marry, once before he won it of me with false dice, therefore your grace may well say I have lost it.

These lines, along with her insistence that she’ll never, ever marry him, make it clear that Beatrice has been wounded by Benedick in a way that only a lover can be hurt. While it takes a bit of close reading to realize this, it explains their behavior toward each other in the early part of the play, and it gives an added depth to their love at the end of the play. We all know that real, deep love always comes with pain, so this heartbreak makes us believe and value their restored relationship.

Compare Benedick and Beatrice’s relationship to Hero and Claudio’s. This couple have a dad’s approval, a prince rooting for them, mutual attraction, and money to sweeten the pot. *Yawn* Okay, the theme of jealousy makes their marriage more interesting, to be sure. Throw in a villain and any love story becomes more entertaining. However, the very fact that Claudio so easily believes the charges against Hero makes you wonder if he ever loved her in the first place. Not only does he dishonor her in front of everyone, but he turns immediately to mocking her and her father. Their relationship falls at the first sign of testing, and it takes deception to restore it. The restoration is so simple, the repercussions disappearing so easily, that it reinforces the idea that Hero and Claudio don’t have a substantial, deep-rooted love like our favorite couple hold. Just as evil characters make the good ones look all the better, Hero and Claudio’s love-at-first-sight relationship make Benedick and Beatrice’s relationship appear all the more believable.

Another element we discussed was the character development of Beatrice and Benedick. They seem to mature as the play progresses, with the emphasis on Benedick becoming a man. When confronted by Beatrice’s request to kill Claudio, he needs to make a decision. Will he choose his new lover over his old guy friends? When he chooses to take Beatrice’s side, his interactions with Don Pedro and Claudio change. He’s no longer their jester, honored for his jokes; he’s a man, and he has come to defend his lady. Just as we know that real love involves pain, we know that true love require maturity. With other characters like Hero, we fail to see any growth, and consequently we have a harder time believing the couple can live happily ever after (*cough*Romeo&Juliet*cough*). If Benedick didn’t grow up but remained the foolish guy from the beginning of the play, we probably wouldn’t believe he could handle a marriage. Yet his transformation into a mature leader shows us that he can and will be a strong, loving husband for Beatrice.

Much Ado About Nothing is definitely one of Shakespeare’s better comedies.  Benedick and Beatrice remind us that true love takes forgiveness, patience, and maturity. These qualities shine brilliantly in their interactions, leading us to believe that their relationship really is founded on true love. And because their love is so realistic, we can end the play without doubting the strength and authenticity of their new marriage.

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