Social Themes Of 'Much Ado About Nothing':
Love, Jealousy, Envy, Murder, Deceit
Love is a major theme within 'Much Ado About Nothing' since the whole general plot of the play is based around it. Claudio loves Hero, Beatrice loves Benedick (even if they try to deny it). Pretty much every character in this play is, in some way or another, in love with someone. There is also unrequited love, take Don John for example, although he isn't loved by Hero, he does love her and tries to break up the relationship between her and Claudio.
This also ties into many other themes in the play, Jealousy (with Don John trying to ruin the relationship between Claudio and Hero and how he resents Don Pedro), Envy (again, Don John wanting to have what he can't have, which is Hero and trying to get his own back on Don Pedro by way of Claudio), Murder (when Beatrice asks of Benedick to "kill Claudio")
Though thinking about it a bit more, these themes can be considered difficult to discuss. In life, at some stage, Love can prove difficulties/problems to occur. This does happen in the play when Claudio and Hero are about to get married, both of their relationships with one another are tested at this point in front of every other character. Claudio believes something which Hero denies, making the question occur within my mind if he does really love her at all. Jealousy only seems to appear with Don John, I can't discover any other character who is jealous of another. Through Don John being jealous of Claudio, the events of the play transpire so that everything eventually comes out at the main wedding between Claudio and Hero. This is when another theme comes up, Shame. The public shaming of Hero in the wedding scene between her and Claudio is one of the most impacting scene in the entire play. A lot happens in this scene alone. Obviously, Hero is publicly shamed in front of her family and friends, Claudio is deceived by Don John's lies and Beatrice offers her love to Benedick if he were to kill Claudio for what he had done to Hero. The theme of Honour also comes into question for this scene. Claudio has this line to say about Hero to Leonarto:
"Sweet prince, you learn me noble thankfulness. There, Leonarto, take her back again, give not this rotten orange to your friend; She's but the sign and semblance of her honour."
At this point, Hero's reputation is broken, and so is Claudio's to an extent. Is honour non-existent to these characters? Do they not care what people think of them? Claudio is fully willing to make a fool of himself at his own wedding without even consulting other people if what Don John is saying is indeed true.
At the end of the day, I find Beatrice and Benedick's love/hate relationship with each other much more interesting. The relationship between these two characters is much more enduring when compared against Claudio and Hero's. While Claudio shows the simple 'love at first sight' scenario, describing how beautiful Hero is to everyone and how he wants to eventually marry her, Beatrice and Benedick meanwhile share a whole bunch of banter with each other. They don't necessarily hate each other, but they try to find ways of getting around their infinite love for each other. They both quickly appear to be the main character(s) of the play, even though Claudio and Hero's relationship carries heavier weight in the plays plot. Again, quite confusing, but I like the differentiation between the relationships in the play. I guess it can be considered that Claudio and Hero's relationship is the main plot, whereas Beatrice and Benedick's relationship is part of a sub plot.
Cultural Themes Of 'Much Ado About Nothing':
Ways of Entertainment, Counterfeiting
Within 'Much Ado About Nothing', there are various signs of entertainment being introduced. Starting from the witty, yet simplistic mind of Balthasar with his songs, Beatrice comparing weddings/marriage and courtship to dance:
“wooing, wedding and repenting is as a Scotch
jig, a measure, and a cinquepace” - Beatrice, Act 2 Scene 1.
and even the ending dance scene of the play involving all of the characters before the bowing of the actors. The whole play in its entirety comes across as a real source of entertainment within its own theatrical purpose.
The idea of Counterfeiting appears frequently throughout the play. An example of this happening can be seen included within a scene with Leonarto, Claudio, and Don Pedro having a conversation about Beatrice and how that she is so irresistibly in love with Benedick. Benedick eavesdrops on this scene in the background and he fully believes what these characters are saying about Beatrice. Towards the scenes end, Leonarto tries to dismiss the fact of Beatrice loving Benedick by way of this quote:
"O God! Counterfeit? There was never counterfeit of passion came so near the life of passion as she discovers it." - Leonarto, Act 2 Scene 3.
There is another case of counterfeiting within the play, this occurs at the wedding between Claudio and Hero. Claudio refers to Hero of how she, in his mind, lies to him by using this quote:
She’s
but the sign and semblance of her honour. Behold how like a maid she blushes here! O, what authority and show of truth can cunning sin cover itself withal! - Claudio, Act 4 Scene 1.
Political Themes Of 'Much Ado About Nothing':
At first hand, I found it to be quite difficult to discover anything 'political' about the play. But, in fact, there is a partial subplot that could count as being political action. This is by form of Dogberry and his crew in the Knights Watch. When watching modern examples closely, I could see how they brought order to the stage, and how their main goal is to maintain the stability of life for the citizens of Messina.
Dogberry and his crew do, after all, discover Don John's grand scheme to ruin the wedding between Hero and Claudio and put him to justice for his crimes of deceitfulness towards Claudio.
references: http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/wiki/Revision:Much_ado_about_nothing_themes_motifs_and_symbols
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabethan_government
http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/elizabethan-politics-and-government.htm
http://www.britaininprint.net/shakespeare/study_tools/overview.html
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