Theme Of Love In Much Ado About Nothing Essay Example

Everyone on the planet has their own idea of what love truly means based on what they grew up with. For example, most parents teach their children that love means being there for someone no matter the circumstances, but someone who’s parents are divorced may have a different interpretation of the word love. However, one thing that society agrees upon is people don’t choose who they love, they find them, but what if someone were to tell the citizens of the world that the complete opposite is true? Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare is not the classic everyday love story; throughout the play readers follow the lives of two different love pairs, Benedick and Beatrice, and Claudio and Hero. Benedick and Beatrice are two witty personalities that go from utterly despising each other to falling madly in love by the end of the play. Claudio and Hero on the other hand start off loving each other, but rumors of infidelity attempt to split them apart along their roller coaster journey to happily ever after.Contrary to humanities belief that love is something that’s found and not chosen, William Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing demonstrates that people don’t magically find love, but rather they choose who they love based on influence from those close to them, he exemplifies this through three main characters Benedick, Beatrice, and Hero.

Benedick is one of many examples in Much Ado About Nothing that shows how love is not found, but chosen by those around you. Early in the play Benedick strongly opposes the idea of falling in love and getting married, especially to Beatrice who he despised, even going as far as to say he would never marry. This soon changes when his comrades deceive him into thinking that Beatrice loves him: “It seems her love is stretched to the limit. She loves me? Well, that love must be returned!” (3.2). This quick change of heart is a prime example that society chooses who they fall in love with based on those around them. The only reason Benedick says he loves Beatrice is because he thinks that she loves him. He would’ve never “fell in love” with Beatrice if his friends didn’t trick him into thinking Beatrice was madly stricken with love for Benedick. In fact, earlier in the play both Benedick and Beatrice said they couldn’t stand being in the presence of the other.  Although to many readers it seems as if Benedick’s friends' plan was far too obvious to be believable, Benedick believes them wholeheartedly because those are his close friends that he trusts and has no reason not to trust them. This is also the case with many citizens throughout the world as they choose who they love based on outside opinions because those are their friends that they closely associate themselves with. As odd as it is to think that Benedick only “fell in love” with Beatrice because his friends fooled him into believing that Beatrice loved him, the same is true for his partner Beatrice.

Beatrice is another character that Shakespeare uses to show that the commonality society surrounds themselves with influences who they choose to love. Not only did her “lover” Benedick choose to fall in love with her because of his friend's deceiving nature, but Beatrice also chose to love Benedick based on the false pretenses that her friends implemented in her: “Benedick, keep on loving me and I will return your love, like a wild hawk being tamed by her handler. I’ll be kind to you from now on, and if you really do love me, that kindness will encourage you to seal our love with a wedding band” (3.1). Just as Benedick was tricked into thinking that Beatrice loved him, Beatrice also got tricked into believing that Benedick loved her. This results in Beatrice taking pity on Benedick and returning his love. This isn’t an example of Benedick and Beatrice finding love in each other, they each take pity on the other and return their love because they believed it was the right thing to do. If it wasn’t for the influence of those around them, Benedick and Beatrice may have never found love.   Beatrice was easily tricked into believing Benedick loved her because it came straight from the mouth of her favorite cousin who she trusts very much, so it left her with no choice other than to believe the rumor coming from Hero’s mouth. Both of them chose who they fell in love with based on their friends deceiving them into believing the other person was madly in love with them, but Shakespeare portrays the same thing through his use of Hero in a very different way.

Hero, one half of the other love pair in Much Ado About Nothing, is yet another example of how people choose who they fall in love with based on outside influence. While Benedick and Beatrice were tricked into love, Claudio pursued a love relationship with Hero. Hero chose to fall in love with Claudio when Don Pedro informed her that Claudio was madly in love with her, and when Leonato, her father, gave Claudio permission to marry his daughter: “Claudio, take my daughter, and, with her, take my fortunes. The Prince has made the match, and may God bless it”  (2.1). Once again if it wasn’t for the outside influence of the prince Don Pedro and Leonato, Claudio and Hero may have never found each other’s love. Don Pedro played a major role in the matchmaking of these two lovers because he convinced Leonato to give Hero away to Claudio. If Leonato decided not to give Hero away to Claudio, Hero may have never noticed Claudio because not once did somebody ask her if she truly wanted to marry Claudio. Hero chose to love Claudio back based on her father’s recommendation because deep down inside Hero knew that in order for her to love anyone with all of her heart her father must also love them. Shakespeare showed again and again throughout the play that humanity chooses who they love based on outside influence from other closely associated individuals.

Benedick, Beatrice, and Hero are three examples that William Shakespeare uses throughout Much Ado About Nothing to show that the outside influence of others has a large impact on who each individual chooses to love. A majority of society believes that one day they will just magically stumble upon love but as Much Ado About Nothing has shown, love is not something that will magically fall into anyone’s lap, but rather it is something that individuals choose based on the influence of those they choose to associate with.