Much Ado About Nothing Characters wjec-eduqas Shakespeare

Characters

It is vital that you understand that characters are often used symbolically to express ideas. Shakespeare uses all of his characters to symbolise various ideas prevalent in his society, and the differences between characters reflect contemporary debates. Therefore, it is very useful not only to learn about each character individually, but how they compare and contrast to other characters in the play.

It is important to consider the range of strategies used by Shakespeare to create and develop characters within Much Ado About Nothing. These include:

• how characters are established

• how characters are presented:

  • physical appearance or suggestions about this

  • actions and motives for them

  • what they say and think

  • how they interact with others

  • what others say and think about them

• how far the characters conform to or subvert stereotypes

Major Characters

• Benedick

• Beatrice

• Claudio

• Hero

• Don Pedro

• Don John

• Leonato

Minor Characters

• Borachio

• Conrad

• Antonio

• Dogberry and Verges

• Friar Francis

• Margaret

• Ursula

Benedick

• Benedick is a character who reflects the idea of male insecurity and mistrust of exposing himself to being seen as vulnerable

• He is a soldier in Don Pedro’s regiment and a close friend

• He is older than Claudio and a self-declared bachelor

• He is known as a bit of a ladies’ man, but swears never to marry as he believes women are incapable of remaining faithful to their husbands

  • Therefore, he mocks anyone he thinks foolish enough to marry

  • He believes that young men are too quick to want to marry

  • He is horrified when he finds out that Claudio has fallen for Hero — almost as though Claudio has betrayed men

• He is well-liked among his friends, who find him entertaining company

  • He constantly performs for the benefit of others, and he indulges in exaggeration to express his feelings

  • At the masked ball, he bids his friends to send him to the farthest corners of the earth rather than let him spend one more minute with Beatrice

• He has a quick wit and enjoys a constant war of words with Beatrice

• Despite his declaration never to marry, he finds himself falling in love with Beatrice after hearing that she is in love with him

  • He was once attracted to her but refuses to admit he still has feelings for her, until he is tricked by Don Pedro, Claudio and Leonato

  • Given his tendency to perform, it is not easy to tell whether he has been in love with Beatrice all along

  • It could be that he decides to love Beatrice just to prove his comrades wrong

  • He embodies the idea of using humour as a shield to protect himself from emotional hurt at the hands of a woman

• He does prove his love for Beatrice by siding with Hero after Claudio abandons her for her supposed infidelity

  • Whilst he cannot obey Beatrice’s request to kill Claudio for what he did to Hero, he does challenge him to a duel

  • This demonstrates that he has turned his back on his male comrades and his allegiance is now with Beatrice, who herself embodies more typically male characteristics

• His character’s progression is, therefore, ironic, as he becomes the very thing he mocked at the start of the play

Beatrice

• Beatrice is Leonato’s niece and is close friends with his daughter, Hero

• The two women are very different

  • Hero is polite, quiet, respectful and gentle

  • Beatrice is feisty, cynical, witty and independent

• She is a woman with an independent mind living in a world where women have few rights and little to say

• Shakespeare establishes her strength in her first appearance, with her barbed comments about Benedick as “Signor Montanto”

• She appears to be frustrated at her status as a woman

  • She is the first to defend Hero from Claudio’s accusations at the altar and feels anger that she is unable to take action or revenge

• She does not conform to the literary model of a traditional Elizabethan woman; she is opinionated, outspoken and stubborn

• She controls conversations, interrupts Benedick and gives him a direct command to “Kill Claudio”

• Indeed, Leonato worries that her outspoken nature will mean that she will never find a husband

• Her conversation with Leonato in Act 2, Scene 1, demonstrates her strength and intelligence in exchanges with men

• However, she refuses to marry because she has not discovered an equal partner

  • She also refuses to give up her liberty and submit to the will of a controlling husband

  • She has a low opinion of most men and does not wish to be trapped in marriage

• She keeps up a war of words and wit with Benedick throughout the play

  • Whenever they meet, they compete to outdo each other with clever insults

  • She sees everyday sexism around her and turns Benedick’s insults back on him, often out-doing him

  • The audience later find out that she has been hurt by Benedick in the past and is possibly protecting herself from further emotional vulnerability

• Although outwardly she appears tough, her history with Benedick reveals her vulnerable side

• She is a woman of strong emotions, but she tries very hard to bury emotions that might hurt her

• When she overhears the women describing that Benedick is in love with her, she opens herself up again to the possibility of love

• She is quick to be tricked by Hero and Ursula into believing that Benedick loves her, revealing that she does really want to be loved

  • Some may see this as ironic and a betrayal of the female empowerment that she represents

  • This is especially the case as Beatrice joked about Benedick changing friends as quickly as he changes the fashion of his hats in Act 1, Scene 1, and here it is her own feelings that end up changing just as quickly

  • However, here it is important to remember the historical context the play was written in, in which someone of Beatrice’s status would need to marry in order to safeguard her future

  • It could be that she decides to love Benedick just to prove her friends wrong about her

• Ultimately, she decides to marry Benedick on her own terms

Claudio

• Claudio embodies the character of the Shakespearean romantic lead

• He is full of optimism, but naive, which leads to conflict and complications

• His youth means that his is both rash and insecure

  • He is quick to fall in love and want to marry Hero, but even quicker to cast her aside, believing rumours from untrustworthy sources

  • It is this naivety that gives Don John the opportunity to make such mischief

  • Not only does Claudio quickly believe the worst, but he also neglects any opportunity to find out the truth and immediately believes Hero to be unfaithful

  • This suggests that he is easily manipulated and possibly unable to form an opinion for himself

• When Don John stages Hero’s alleged infidelity using Borachio and Margaret, Claudio does not just call off the wedding, but publicly humiliates Hero at the altar, making himself feel morally superior

  • It does not even enter his head that Don John might be lying, possibly because Don John is a man and his insecurities mean he is too quick to believe the stereotype of women being insincere

• Claudio is extremely concerned with ideas of purity and virtue

  • He describes Hero in pious terms, such as “In mine eye she is the sweetest lady that ever I looked on”

  • But once he believes that she has been unfaithful to him, he shows no remorse, even upon hearing of Hero’s “death”, until her purity and innocence have been restored

• In Claudio’s eyes, Hero lost her worth to him when she allegedly engaged with another man

  • This reflects the time of writing where it was men who generally quantified the worth of women

• He is even manipulated by Leonato, readily agreeing to wed a niece he has never met, even in his supposed grief at the apparent death of Hero

• It could be suggested that as a character, Claudio often appears emotionally immature and morally impulsive

Hero