Much Ado About Nothing Beatrice Foil

In almost every book ever written, there are characters that bring out the differences of others. Whenever the author, rather than plainly stating the characteristics, uses other characters to imply the traits of another character, it is called a character foil. In “Much Ado About Nothing,” there are many people that act as foils of each other. In the book “Much Ado About Nothing” written by William Shakespeare, Beatrice is a foil to Hero because of their differing personalities, actions, and opinions. Beatrice and Hero are foils to each other because of their contrasting personalities. For example, within the very first scene, Beatrice said,” Scratching could not make it worse an ‘twere such a face as yours were (Shakespeare 5).” Beatrice’s dialogue compared to

“Let her a while be secretly kept in, and publish it that she is dead indeed...Come, lady, die to live (Shakespeare 72-73).” Hero has been known throughout the play as the character that always does as she is told and “goes with the flow.” During this section, Hero could’ve spoken out about her true feelings or taken other actions, but instead does what will please her father, Leonato, Governor of Messina. Meanwhile, Beatrice openly discusses her feelings with Benedick. While they are conversing, Beatrice plainly states that she wants Benedick to “kill Claudio...a villain, that hath slandered, scorned, dishonoured [her] kinswoman (Shakespeare 74-75).” Beatrice makes very bold actions, and she is not afraid of doing so. This shows how Beatrice and Hero are foils of each other because Hero takes actions that are safe and pleasing to others, while Beatrice does what she wants and doesn’t care about what others think of her actions. Another example of this occurs during the Masquerade Ball. Beatrice talks with Don Pedro and is quoted to have said, “My cousin tells him in his ear that he is in her heart (Shakespeare 27).” Hero had chosen to accept Claudio’s proposal and claimed to have fallen in love with