Much Ado About Nothing Flashcards
“nature never framed a heart of prouder stuff than that of Beatrice”
“never”, “prouder” → hyperbole | shows Bea’s strong-willed personality → doesn’t fit Elizabethan constructs
“nature” → her personality is not conventional for a woman (but I think it is still natural, just not socially accepted as natural)
“I noted her not, but I looked on her”
Benedick saw her but he wasn’t phased by her appearance - Claudio was
“the sweetest lady that ever I looked on”
“can the world by such a jewel?”
Claudio is infatuated with Hero’s beauty and appearance - he is in love with her before he even speaks to her → epitome of appearance vs reality in the play
“Cupid is no longer an archer”
“we are the only love gods”
“Cupid’s crafty arrow”
Don Pedro/Hero plotting to get Benedick + Beatrice to fall in love
sickness in the play
“Benedick is sick in love with Beatrice”
usually represents love (as a disease) → spontaneous, involuntary etc
except Don John → uses language of sickness to represent malintent
malapropism
mistaking words as different ones that sound similar → creates confusion + drama in the play → Dogberry
verse
(in the play) mirrors a sonnet → love
when Beatrice hears rumours about Benedick’s love for her
“requited”
both Benedick and Beatrice use this word when they find out about each other’s love
seems like a duty that they must perform but it shows the mutual feelings for each other → highlights the importance of mutual respect in relationships
“friendship is constant in all other things, save in the office and affairs of love”
common belief that a man loses his masculine identity when he falls in love → affection makes him weak and compromises his male-male friendships
“we have prize not to the worth whiles we enjoy it”
“virtue that possession would not show us whiles it was ours”
[Friar Francis] Claudio realises he took Hero for granted whilst she was still alive
“speak low if you speak love”
love is a game of wit and deception | appearance vs reality
“speak low if you speak love”
love is a game of wit and deception | appearance vs reality → secrecy maintained to prevent confusion → ironic because they are causing confusion
“love may transform me to an oyster”
love as transformative
oyster implies a negative change → closed/isolated
personifies love → emphasis on his views against it
“only wounds by hearsay”
“treacherous bait”
“false sweet bait”
love is a game of trickery and deception
