William Shakespeare was a master of
wordplay; puns and double meanings. Much
Ado About Nothing is possibly the best example of this; as the entire play
revolves around conflicts caused by miscommunication errors. A civil war
between brothers has just concluded, and Leonato, governor of Messina, invites
the victorious Don Pedro, together with Benedick, Claudio and the rest of their
party, to stay as Leonato’s guests for a month. The vanquished Don John is also
of this group; with his attendants/conspirators Borachio and Conrade. What
follows is much trickery and deceptive means to accomplish aims; eventually resulting
in a double wedding for the couples of Benedick and Beatrice and Claudio and
Hero. This is a Shakespearean comedy, so it must naturally end this way. But as
Lysander said in A Midsummer Night’s
Dream, “the course of true love never did run smooth” (I.1.134; page 260). Many
of these rocky difficulties on the road to love can be traced to gender
differences and roles.
Beatrice
and Benedick have had a relationship in the past, from her words to Don Pedro
in Act II, Scene 1, lines 263-66. In the first scene of the play, this is made
even clearer in lines 138-39, as she says, “You always end with a jade’s trick.
I know you of old.” In a critical look at this backstory, Joost Daalder states
that Benedick “refused to commit himself when he really needed to do so”
(“Pre-History” 524). So he bolted when she was ready to commit to a steady
relationship; which is why she guards her heart so fiercely on his return.
But
during the war, Benedick and Claudio struck up a deep friendship, for, as Bruce
R. Smith writes in his book Shakespeare
and Masculinity, men need friends in order to accomplish tasks they would
be unable to perform otherwise, (60). Things like winning a war, for example.
So their friendship is firmly fixed by the opening of the curtain, so says A.D.
Nuttall’s book Shakespeare the Thinker (222).
Once Claudio falls in love with Hero, he naively assumes that Benedick will as
well. That bond is beginning to crack.
Brothers
Don Pedro and Don John are both isolated throughout the play, Peter Holland
notes in the Much Ado introduction of
the Penguin Complete Works, and they
continue their sibling rivalry in their plots dealing with the Claudio/Hero
item (page 367). Once this is broken up through the acting of Borachio and
Margaret; then Claudio brutally rejects Hero while at the altar. This
unwillingness to commit echoes the earlier Benedick behavior we heard snatches
of; since both men promised love to a young woman who takes that promise very
seriously; and yet they do not follow through because of fear of giving up
their independence and emotional control (Daalder 526). I would certainly
worry, if I was involved with a beautiful girl of many virtues, that she would
be stolen away. There are so many horror stories of unfaithfulness out there,
it is a natural response. This is likely why all throughout the script Don
Pedro teases Benedick about marrying someday.
As
Holland noted on page 367, the friar’s plot to cause Claudio to mourn over his
actions that is detailed in IV.1.223-36 does not work out as planned. But yet
Hero still marries him; perhaps because she knows that it represents her best
chance at being wed? Or it could be to make Leonato happy, echoing her cousin’s
words in II.1.50, while she curtsies and says, “Father, as it please you”. As a
female in that Elizabethan society, despite the country being ruled by a queen,
it was a woman’s place to obey all that the nearby men ordered, in order to
make certain that she was protected. That power of rule and headship is handed
over on the wedding day by the bride’s father allowing her to marry; where once
that ceremony is performed her husband is her master. Hero is so obedient and
dutiful that we can forget she still exists; never do we see her contradict a
man or disobey his wishes. Because she cannot physically flee from the aborted
wedding, she faints away, thus removing herself from the indecent spectacle
while remaining “ladylike” and not judged to be guilty.
In
the aftermath of that debacle, Beatrice puts her acidic tongue to use by a slashing out of anger and a rush of other emotions if anyone connected with Claudio comes near,
starting from Act IV, Scene 1, line 255 with Benedick’s entrance and continuing
until the end of that scene about eighty lines later. She wails that she wishes
she were not a woman, so that she could avenge Hero’s shame by killing Claudio,
since that is a man’s office. So because the tongue is the feminine war tool,
and she a skillful master fencer with it, she gets Benedick to come to a
decision with line 288: “Then kill Claudio.” That is an ultimatum, honestly;
saying, “Put your actions now where your mouth is, or cause us both grief by
turning away.” After his initial disbelief at what he had just heard, in line
329 Benedick chooses to promote the needs of his future mate over those of a
comrade-in-arms, which is in a sense to put his family over his work. Accepting
that weighty responsibility is a mark of manliness; which is much more than
just masculinity he has shown up until now. In Act V, Scene 1, he then
confronts the immature Claudio and leaves the service of Don Pedro, cementing
his decision to move on into a new stage of life. Though he is undeserving of such grace,
Leonato nevertheless blackmails Claudio into marrying Hero, so the audience
sighs with pleasure at the neat bow which has wrapped everything together. But
Claudio’s action by doing the honorable thing is rewarded, as he receives the
one he wished for.
Works
Cited
Daalder, Joost.
“The ‘Pre-History’ of Beatrice and Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing.” English
Studies 85.6(2004): 520-527. Literary
Reference Center. Web. 1 Oct. 2015.
Holland, Peter.
“Introduction to Much Ado About Nothing.”
William Shakespeare: The Complete Works. Ed.
Stephen Orgel and A.R. Braunmuller. P.p. 365-370. New York: Penguin Books,
2002. Print.
Nuttall, A.D. Shakespeare the Thinker. P. 222. New
Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2007. Print.
Shakespeare,
William. A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
William Shakespeare: The Complete Works. Ed. Stephen Orgel and A.R.
Braunmuller. P.p. 258-284. New York: Penguin Books, 2002. Print.
--------------------------.
Much Ado About Nothing. 1599? William Shakespeare: The Complete Works. Ed.
Stephen Orgel and A.R. Braunmuller. P.p. 371-400. New York: Penguin Books,
2002. Print.
Smith, Bruce R. Shakespeare and Masculinity. Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2000. Print.
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