Honour Is Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing”

When we look closely at the romance of Beatrice and benedick, we see the problems that a rational lover has in putting aside his c at a timept of keep an eye on in order to love a woman and Shakespe atomic number 18 cleverly contrasts this kindred wittinessh our idealistic lover Claudio, who is incapable of rejecting the restrictions that keep an eye on places on a man. In a par aloneel construction we see through the kin that the maladroit Claudio has with the docile Hero that for love to flourish it must reject undaunted notions of honour.The social hierarchy of Messina, is a very class conscious atomic number 53 and being witty is almost a full time demarcation for many of its inhabitants. Playing practical jokes and tricks upon separately some other is a elusive way of maintaining the strict principles of conduct and among the most successful and benevolent of the deceptions proficient are the parallel practical jokes gyped on Beatrice and benedick in order to tr ick each of them into admitting their love for one another.In their maiden encounter, we see Beatrice and benedick using their superior intellects to ridicule each other. Benedick warns her to keep her ladyship and she lashes back with insults around his physicality suggesting that he is so unworthy that scratching his face could not make it worse. Benedick uses his wit to shield himself from her barbs, hiding his true feelings and pretending to enjoy his bachelor human beings when actually it is a mechanism for his safety. Benedick presents one face to the domain in order to be accepted by the society that settle him and it is this society that acknowledges his wit, but underpinning Benedicks wit is his distaste for the glib values that Messinian society is built upon. His ironic attitude towards both himself and the ground he is held captive by is apparent in his soliloquy, where he weighs up the discrepancy between how the world sees him and how he sees himself.The repart ee between Beatrice and Benedick is sometimes blunt and crude, sometimes elaborate and self conscious. Puns, similes, metaphors, and paradoxes are all brought into play in their continual game of uncouth insults and it is this aggressive communicatory battle which pushes Beatrice and Benedick to the foreground of the play. Being in love is a game for tantalises and Benedick vows to never be such a fool. Benedick persuades himself that by staying away from Beatrice and denying himself any notions of marriage, he is a affirm misogymist, that he is the stronger individual and has control over his life instead of backup for another human being and risking becoming a hopelessly in love lover. Benedick views women in society as somehow predatory, missing to capture a man and contain him in marriage, only to single-foot him with subsequent betrayal. However when faced with a woman such as Beatrice, who proclaims herself equally contemptuous of marriage and for the same reasons, Bene dicks share begins to fall apart, which is where Benedick faces the biggest battle in his life, as he fights to attach on to his notions of male honour. But no matter how hard he tries he cannot frame for himself a separate language of love and as a result he and Beatrice construct a loving kin which is as much of a sparring match as their enmity, once Benedick gives up his notions of male honour.In stark contrast to Benedick and Beatrice, Shakespeares ideal lovers, Claudio and Hero, believe they are in love with each other, but we quickly see that when put to the test this love is dilettante and lacks the true acknowledgement of each others individuality undeniable to sustain it. Their love for each other, although seemingly sincere, dissipates at the first barricade and doubt sees one quick to accuse the other of adultery. For Beatrice and Benedick however, their jokes are the means whereby they can resist the kind of love-relationship exemplified by Hero and Claudio. In the end the happy-ending which sees Hero married off to Claudio is one fraught with contradictions, for this schematic relationship, founded as it is on romantic love, which they exemplify, has been severely satirised by Shakespeare.By presenting the relationship between Beatrice and Benedick as real and not idealistic, we see the frangibleness of an idealised, romantic love such as the one Claudio has with Hero and its leaning to collapse into loathing and disgust becomes all too apparent. Appropriately the play ends not with Claudio and Hero whose strict adherence to an unbending code of honour temporarily fragments their relationship, but with Beatrice and Benedick who overcome both the male code of honour and societys expectations to love and accept each other for their individual selves. There is a relationship built on mutual trust, respect and acceptance and proof that Love must be guileless to be sustained.