Shakespeare’s comedy plays are often dominated by the theme of marriage and love. Shakespeare’s plays reveal the changing culture of his age and its society. Love was not a major factor in marriages during Shakespeare’s time. Marriages were usually arranged between families as part of an alliance or business arrangement. If the families were significant enough, they might even be arranged for political reasons. Shakespeare plays with the notion that marriage should include love in Much Ado About Nothing.
Claudio is aware of his love for Hero from the start of Much Ado About Nothing. He wants her father to marry Hero. This relationship is typical of patriarchal societies in the Early Medieval period. Claudio wants to make sure she’s wealthy and Leonato will be leaving money for them. Claudio, a military man with a strong personality, is portrayed to be stronger than the heroine. Claudio’s true colours are shown in Act 4 scene 1 when he tells Leonato to take Hero back and not to give her the rotten orange. (4.1.29) Claudio doesn’t believe Hero is a Virgin so he compares Hero with rotten fruits. Hero doesn’t defend itself when she is insulted or accused of prostitution. She says, “Is My Lord Well that He Speaks So Wide?” (4.1.59). This furthers Claudio’s idea that Hero has a weak character and is dependent on him. Shakespeare uses Beatrice and Benedick’s marriage to show how the traditional patriarchal approach to marriage is flawed.
Benedick & Beatrice both swear to never marry, but they’re tricked by the story into falling in love. The relationship between Benedick and Beatrice is much more intense than that of Hero and Claudio. While they constantly insult eachother, their hate turns into love.
While Hero Claudio and the play seem to focus on them, other critics believe otherwise. Marta Mateo writes that Beatrice, Benedick, and Claudio’s cleverness, verbal agility and truthfulness of feeling, have made them real protagonists of Shakespeare’s play. This is to the detriment to Hero and Claudio. Shakespeare wished to emphasize that a love-based marriage is more powerful than one arranged by business.
Claudio and Hero seldom talk to each other. Thomas J. Scheff explains in his article Gender Wars that the discussion between Hero and Claudio is not necessary because the marriage was planned by others. Claudio did not have the opportunity to meet Hero before he informed Benedick of his intentions to marry her. This shows that the love between Claudio and Hero was not an important factor in their marriage.
Shakespeare has all his characters deny the concept of love in the play, but he also suggests that it can be a positive thing. In 2.3.207, benedick declares “…for he will be horribly enamored with Beatrice. The characters all view love negatively. However, B. K. Lewalski explains that Benedick and Beatrice’s relationship is much better because of their “heightened understanding” of the confusions between appearance and reality. Shakespeare doesn’t explicitly say that love is good. But the differences in Benedick-Beatrice’s relationships and Hero-Claudio’s relationships make this clear.
Claudio and Hero have a bad relationship. Claudio is convinced by Don Pedro, who is a shrewd man, that Hero’s character is not clean. It is obvious that the marriage is not good, even though they eventually marry. Benedick, Beatrice and their relationship began with both of them vowing to never love or marry. However, as they built a rapport with each other they fell in love. They married each other in a ceremony that included Hero and Claudio.
Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing explores unconventional ideas about love and marriage. He shows how a typical Early Modern marriage would have looked with Hero Claudio. This relationship is not desirable. A marriage based on trust and love could be seen between Beatrice, Benedick. It looks like a much better relationship. Shakespeare’s original audience would have been shocked to learn that love played a role in marriage. Shakespeare subtly suggests that love might be a positive thing.
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