How Does Shakespeare Present Love and Marriage in Much Ado About Nothing' and How Might a Modern Audience Respond to the Presentation of These Themes?
Through rich imagery and a comic context Shakespeare uses characters to explore his ideas about love and marriage, using relationships to show the trials of love. In his play Shakespeare makes Beatrice and Benedick the critics of love and through them the modern audience is shown how Elizabethan society maltreats the female role and how the male code of honour and pride can lead to devastation.
Shakespeare portrays Claudio and Hero as a pair of conventional lovers who go through an unadventurous and predictive courtship. Through this relationship he shows the modern audience how women were largely dominated by men. As Claudio metaphorically asks, can the world buy such a jewel' Hero is portrayed as an object and someone to possess and even her father Leonato says, If the Prince do solicit you in that kind, you know your answer'. Hero, it seems, has no choice in the matter, even if she dislikes the Prince she must say yes to the marriage. In this patriarchal society, Shakespeare has presented Hero as a dutiful daughter; for women like her, In the Elizabethan society marriage was often arranged as a family bargain and is Hero's expected outcome.
Throughout the play Shakespeare lays great importance on marriage, presenting it as inevitability. In the Elizabethan era marriage meant wealth and status, it had little to do with love. So when Claudio asks Don Pedro, Hath Leonato any son' he is really inquiring if Hero will inherit Leonato's wealth. This is conventional Elizabethan behaviour but a modern audience might see this as materialistic. Shakespeare also reveals to his audience how Hero is wooed by proxy, tell fair Hero I am Claudio I'll unclasp my heart Then after to her father will I break she shall be thine'. This would never be accepted in a modern society, except for some cultures, as people marry because they love their partner's personality, whereas Hero and Claudio do not have a full knowledge of each other. This is why Eleanor Bron describes them
Shakespeare portrays Claudio and Hero as a pair of conventional lovers who go through an unadventurous and predictive courtship. Through this relationship he shows the modern audience how women were largely dominated by men. As Claudio metaphorically asks, can the world buy such a jewel' Hero is portrayed as an object and someone to possess and even her father Leonato says, If the Prince do solicit you in that kind, you know your answer'. Hero, it seems, has no choice in the matter, even if she dislikes the Prince she must say yes to the marriage. In this patriarchal society, Shakespeare has presented Hero as a dutiful daughter; for women like her, In the Elizabethan society marriage was often arranged as a family bargain and is Hero's expected outcome.
Throughout the play Shakespeare lays great importance on marriage, presenting it as inevitability. In the Elizabethan era marriage meant wealth and status, it had little to do with love. So when Claudio asks Don Pedro, Hath Leonato any son' he is really inquiring if Hero will inherit Leonato's wealth. This is conventional Elizabethan behaviour but a modern audience might see this as materialistic. Shakespeare also reveals to his audience how Hero is wooed by proxy, tell fair Hero I am Claudio I'll unclasp my heart Then after to her father will I break she shall be thine'. This would never be accepted in a modern society, except for some cultures, as people marry because they love their partner's personality, whereas Hero and Claudio do not have a full knowledge of each other. This is why Eleanor Bron describes them
Bibliography: • ‘Much Ado About Nothing ' Shakespeare (Oxford School) • 1993 Film version ‘Much Ado About Nothing ' (Branagh) • Eleanor Bron BBC commentary film • http://www.william-shakespeare.info/elizabethan-women.htm 1,728 words