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Emma Gould

03/01/2011

English I: Piya Kashyap


Two Kinds of Love


In his comedy Much Ado About Nothing, William Shakespeare uses characters
and their relationships to explore his ideas about love and marriage. He satirizes
Elizabethan etiquette through the battlefield of courtshipmore specifically, he
mocks the customs of Petrarchan love. In his sonnets, Petrarch establishes the
following pattern for love: A young man falls in love at first sight with a beautiful
woman, but does not truly know her and is only infatuated by her image.
Shakespeare portrays Claudio and Hero as the couple who follow this pattern. He
contrasts them with Benedick and Beatricecritics of love who go through a very
unusual relationship. By setting side-by-side a conventional relationship and an
atypical one, Shakespeare mocks customs of courtly romance at the time and
promotes a more natural and modern idea of love.
Shakespeare sets his plot in motion by first presenting a relationship that
audiences at the time would readily recognize as a familiar stereotype. Soon after
meeting Leonatos daughter Hero upon his arrival in Messina, Claudio admits to his
friend Benedick to being engaged by her. When Claudio says that in his eye she is
the sweetest lady that ever/[he] looked on (1.1.183-4), the line alone conveys him
as the poster boy of Petrarchan love at first sight. Although Hero has thus far not
spoken a word, Claudio is already infatuated with her, and uses highly contrived
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language when speaking of her. His haste implies that for an Elizabethan audience,
love at first sight was not uncommon. His relationship with Hero progresses quickly
throughout the play, and culminates in marriage barely a few weeks after it begins.
Claudio comments on this swift progression as he explains his newfound loveI
would have salved it with a longer treatise (1.1.310). But no one in the play
expresses particular surprise or disapproval at the speed with which Claudio and
Hero move from strangers to husband and wifeclearly, Shakespeare expects the
audience to accept this relationship as the archetype of conventional love.
Benedick and Beatrice, by contrast, are an example not of love at first sight,
but of two lovers who share a past romantic history that is hidden from us at the
beginning of the play. On the surface they fight a constant war of wits, but
unexpected events will soon reveal that they are actually experiencing true love.
After the masked ball where Beatrice unknowingly insults Benedick to his face, Don
Pedro the Prince pities her for having lost Benedicks heart. She replies, Indeed, my
lord, he lent it me awhile, and I/gave him use for it, a double heart for his
single/one. (2.1.273-5). These enigmatic lines insinuate a past love relationship
between her and Benedick. Their history provides both a reason for their ongoing
war of witty insults and a suggestion that there may still be some romantic feelings
between them. By using the words "a double heart for his single one, Beatrice
implies that their love was unbalanced. Although their relationship thus stumbles
early in the play, it takes a turn for the better near the middle, when their friends
decide to trick each into realizing the other is in love with them. The deception is a
success. Benedick and Beatrice soon confess their love for each other. Whats
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unusual about them is that they need to be tricked by the truth in order to admit it.
Shakespeare uses their relationship as a device to present the readers with an
unconventional kind of love and hints that it is more genuine than the kind of
Claudio and Hero.
Shakespeare indirectly mocks typically romantic, idealistic love in the play by
accentuating the superficiality of Claudios relationship with Hero. Near the end of
the play, Claudio admits to having fallen solely in love with Heros image. He says,
Sweet Hero, now thy image doth appear/in the rare semblance that I loved it first
(5.1.262-3). That Claudio uses the word semblance to describe the object of his
affection suggests that his feelings for her are based on appearance alone. His so-
called love for Hero instantly vanishes when she is slandered by the villainous Don
John. He creates a dark scheme intended to make Claudio believe Hero is unfaithful.
The nave Claudio is convinced, and plans to shame (3.2.118) Hero in the
congregation. Unlike Benedick and Beatrice, Claudio needs to be tricked by a lie to
form his opinion of Hero. This reveals that he does not know her at all, and that his
love for her is superficial. Through Claudios shallow love for Hero, Shakespeare
travesties conventions of love and conveys the victim of these conventions as
entirely concerned with appearances rather than with the partners true character.
The extent and authenticity of the two love relationships are contrasted
through the actions of the men. This no doubt reflects the customs of this highly
patriarchal society, where power is given to the male partner in a conventional
relationship. When Claudio falls for Don Johns trickery, he decides to embarrass
and denounce Hero at the wedding. That he is already planning revenge on her for
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her alleged misdeeds and not on her accuser for slander shows how quick he is to
change his mind about the love of his life with a mere flick of a tricksters wand. This
exposes the fragility of his relationship with Hero and shows just how dominant
men are over womenthe fate of a relationship is completely determined by the
mans actions and decisions. Benedick, who departs from this male stereotype, is
willing to do anything in his power to please Beatrice, which shows a balance
between the two characters. After Heros public humiliation at the wedding,
Beatrice argues that her cousin is not guilty and asks Benedick to kill Claudio for his
actions. At first, he protests. But that he eventually says he is engaged and will
challenge him (4.2.346-7) is remarkable because Claudio is his best friend. It shows
that he truly holds Beatrice in high regard and would do anything to satisfy her,
whereas Claudio will not hesitate to disgrace the woman he claims to love. Faced
with this dramatic contrast, the audience may conclude that a relationship is
healthier if neither partner is constrained by the otherthey can be united and
therefore have a true relationship.
Shakespeares Much Ado About Nothing takes an idea of conventional love,
similar to what Petrarch expressed in his sonnets, and undermines it for the
purpose of building an entertaining and instructive play. Ironically, he mocks a
certain idea of romantic love by using himself the conventions of romantic comedy.
These conventions always involve two couples who follow a twisting path full of
false turns, mistaken identities, and misunderstandings, to finally arrive at the
reconciliation of marriage. The play mocks Claudios attachment to appearances,
and uses this attachment to trick him. At the same time, it moves the audience by
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portraying Benedick as a man who will sacrifice even male friendship to show his
love for Beatrice. Shakespeare ultimately uses the mechanism of the play to present
an alternative version of the Petarchan ideal that is recognizably modern.