‘Much Ado about Nothing’ in fact has a great deal to say about love and marriage. What is Shakespeare trying to tell us about relationships between men and women? Compare the play’s treatment of love with that in ‘Silas Marner’.

‘Much Ado about Nothing’
Literature Essay

‘Much Ado about Nothing’ in fact has a great deal to say about love and marriage. What is Shakespeare trying to tell us about relationships between men and women? Compare the play’s treatment of love with that in ‘Silas Marner’.

Introduction

The main bulk of the story of Shakespeare’s ‘Much Ado about Nothing’ is built around the theme of love. In this play Shakespeare puts across his views about love and relationships between men and women. I believe that one of the messages he was meaning to put across was that for a relationship to work, it is very important that the people know each other and they also need to know themselves. He says a lot about relationships between men and women through four of the play’s coupled characters. The relationships between these two couples contrast greatly. One (between Beatrice and Benedick) is built on solid, deep foundations. They have history between them and know each other...