What does it mean to take another person into the institution of love and marriage? Does it mean that you love that person more than anyone else in the world? The idea of marriage during the time of Shakespeare is much different than it is today. Many of Shakespeare’s plays deal with love being the central theme. “Much Ado About Nothing” keeps up with this pattern. Shakespeare undermines the idea of marriage by using comedic language and argues that marriage is not an indicator of true love. Even though, there are marriages in the end, I believe that it was merely a formality and does not mean that Beatrice and Benedick and are in love with each other.
Masks are often used symbolically to hide our true identities. …show more content…
I think that Shakespeare uses their relationship to mock the idea of relationships and marriage. He shows that love can be vicious and unkind. People in love often test the boundaries of their relationships because they doubt the true feelings involved. We need to know that someone will fight for us and our relationship.
How can anyone be in love with someone if they cannot even be nice to them? I think that this is similar to how young children are mean to each other in order to hide their true feelings of love and admiration. Shakespeare uses this belief to further illustrate how we cannot be our true selves with someone because the fear of rejection is so powerful. Neither Beatrice nor Benedick believe in marriage and make jokes about it being for fools.
As the play continues however, both Beatrice and Benedick seem to have a change of heart about each other. While most people want to be the best version of their selves, they seem to change for the wrong reasons.
In Act II, Scene 3, after overhearing friend’s talk of Beatrice and her true feelings, Benedick begins to admit that he has been in contempt of marriage but thinks that maybe he can change for Beatrice. “When I said I would die a bachelor, I did not think I should live till I were married. Here comes Beatrice.”