Much Ado About Nothing Beatrice And Benedick

I partly agree that the function of Beatrice and Benedick is simply to provide comic relief. Much ado about nothing is known as a comedy; however the plot and key parts of the play include serious themes like deception, wit and slander which overrule the humorous elements in the play. Beatrice and Benedick’s role could be strongly argued to fulfil the comical relief role and there is a clear contrast between serious themes with the witty characters of Beatrice and Benedick and their “merry-war.” It is evident that without Beatrice and Benedick there would be hardly any humour in the play which could test the autonomy of the play’s genre being a comedy. However at the same time, we see representations of society through both of these characters, …show more content…
Shakespeare uses the pair to provide comic relief by contrasting dark and concerning issues with the light and witty “merry-war” between Beatrice and Benedick. One of the ways that Shakespeare does this is by placing Beatrice and Benedick, both or either of the characters, straight after an intense part of the play. He does this to alleviate any concerns in the minds of the audience and to lighten the atmosphere. A scene that justifies this point is where, Hero is slandered by Claudio by the name of a “rotten orange” (4.1.30) in the place where he should be marrying her. The 1993 Kenneth Branagh’s film adaptation, executes an extremely intense and dramatic scene as we see Robert Lawrence Leonard playing Claudio physically abusing Hero by throwing her to the ground, alongside approving her a “wanton” (4.1.43). The visual imagery of the physical abuse we see as well as the insults that are spat at Hero, creates an extremely intense build up, which could ensue a tragic ending. Here Shakespeare uses Benedick with his sarcastic comment, “this looks not like a nuptial” (4.1.67), the humour lies in the fact that Benedick is stating the obvious, he enlightens the mood slightly and the audience laugh at Benedicks clear sarcasm as we are reminded of Benedicks supposed knowledge and views towards marriage. Brannagh decided to remove Benedicks line as it perhaps didn’t fit in the film adaptation or the overly dramatic effect was needed. However, the 2011 Shakespeare’s globe theatre performance justifies the humorous elements of this scene well, as we see Benedick awkwardly positioned at the end of the stage, addressing to the audience his thoughts about how “it looks not like a nuptial.” This gives a stark contrast to the acting on stage and Benedick’s stepping out of the spotlight suggests the humour is