Much Ado About Nothing, by William Shakespeare emphasizes the three major themes of marriage, deception and gender power.
There are two visions of marriage in the play: the first one, characterized by Hero and Claudio, is a positive vision: Although their story is supposed to be the main plot of the play, they are two passive characters in love, ready to get married to one another without any misunderstanding. Benedick and Beatrice characterize the second aspect the matrimonial institution takes. Their relationship is a lot more complex since they both have very strong personalities and they both fear marriage will trap their identities. Beatrice would "rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a man swear he loves me"(I,1.123); and Benedick "will not be sworn but love may transform me to an oyster" (II, 3. 22,23). Benedick and Beatrice's use of words is extremely clever and witty, which makes the reader take part of their story a lot more than Hero and Claudio's. The climax of the......
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Approximate Word Count: 863
Approximate Pages: 4 (260 words per double-spaced page) |