Loyalty In Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing

My chosen theme is loyalty within the play, Much ado about nothing. There is a lack of loyalty between Beatrice and Benedick as we get hints that they used to be a couple in act 2 scene 1 line 245 ‘he lent it me awhile, and i gave him use for it, a double heart for his single one.’ However they we are certain they are no longer a couple because in act 1 scene 1 line 70 Beatrice stated ‘He will hang upon him like a disease.’ This quote that Beatrice used to describe Benedick is a simile. A simile is used to describe two things which are similar or alike in some way, this shows that Beatrice thinks of Benedick as a disease and that he is hard to get rid of. The verb ‘hang’ portrays Benedick as an unwanted object and that he is not easily get rid of. It also represents a leech which just sucks onto the skin and hangs in one place and sucks the blood out of the body, which is also like a disease. The noun ‘disease’ is an illness of people/animals caused by an infection or ill health. This noun portrays Benedick as an infection and is slowly killing people by being around them. This quote chosen doesn’t link very well to the context of the play because in …show more content…
In act 1 scene 3 line 56 Conrade says to Don John ‘to the death my lord.’ The abstract noun ‘death’ indicates that Conrade is willing to die so Don John is able to survive. This links to the ultimate loyalty in marriage where part of the vows is to say ‘till death do us part’ meaning they are to be married and to stay together till either one of them dies. This could also show that Conrade thinks of Don John in that specfic way and could be romantically involved with Don John. The noun ‘lord’ shows that Conrade thinks very highly of Don John, enough to think that he is of royal status. When Conrade says ‘my lord’ this shows that Conrade thinks of Don John as his because of the determiner