What Is Benedick's Relationship In Much Ado About Nothing

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In his comedies, Shakespeare commonly uses love relationships that contrast with each other. Usually, he presents a young, naive couple in contrast with a more comical, wise couple as he does in Much Ado About Nothing. The two couples in the play, Beatrice-Benedick and Claudio-Hero, both share a problem with trust. However, for Benedick and Beatrice, the feelings of hate and doubt come first in their relationship, but then they grow to love each other. On the other hand, Claudio and Hero experience love at first sight, but then Claudio develops distrust and suspicion of Hero. Both of the relationships portray a misinterpretation and an act of deception.
In the first scene, Beatrice and Benedick are already very familiar with each other considering …show more content…
After seeing Hero for only a moment, he explains, “she is the sweetest lady that ever I looked on,” after only his first glance of Hero after returning from war (Shakespeare, 1.1.177-178). He is so lost in her beauty that he is unable to realize that he has never met her, yet even had a conversation with her. As they first see each other, their attraction to each other is physical. Hero and Claudio are compared to Shakespeare's other play, Romeo and Juliet. Both are willing to fall in love instantly without speaking with the other person. Hero and Juliet are innocent and quiet. While, Claudio and Romeo are determined in their decision to marry their lovers within a day. They begin when Prince Don Pedro woos Hero for Claudio and Hero very quickly accepts. Even after not saying a single word to her, immediately she is seen whispering in his ear telling him that she loves him, as Beatrice points out, "My cousin tells him in his ear that he is in her heart" (Shakespeare, 2.1.278-279). They are openly in love with each other, but the reader believes them to just be infatuated with each other. The relationship between Hero and Claudio is portrayed as immature because of their lack of
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