Much Ado About Nothing Comedy Analysis

Comedy and humor in Much Ado About Nothing

“Comedy and tragedy are two sides of the same coin. A talent in one area might also lead to a predisposition in the other.”(Dee, Jack) Much Ado About Nothing, by William Shakespeare, is a Tragicomic play, that follows the lustful, blindness, that love creates in individuals. The story follows the experiences of the main character Beatrice, and her relationship with Benedick. Beatrice represents the comedic aspects of tragedy, as well as the comedic aspects of love. In Act II, Scene i, of Much Ado About Nothing, William Shakespeare uses specific language, in his dialogue, to highlight the complex relationship between Benedick and Beatrice, and to display the effects that bachelorhood have on Beatrice's

One of the most prominent aspects are subtle comments regarding sexual concepts in a comedic manner. The second act of the tragicomedy opens with a conversation in which Antonio and Leonato comment, rather rudely, about Beatrice's love life, and the lack of a man in it. After being referred to as “too curst,” by Antonio, Beatrice returns, by saying that being “Too curst is more than curst: I shall lessen God’s sending that way; for it is said, ‘God sends a curst cow short horns;’ but to a cow too curst he sends none.”(II,i) Beatrice says that being “too curst” is different from being “curst,” therefore, she turns an old a proverb in her favor, saying that for those who are ill tempered get inadequate men, so they can’t do much harm. But for Beatrice, she is too ill tempered, she says that she is given no man, so that she can do no harm to them, or herself. Beatrice’s reaction displays how she is treated because she isn’t married as a woman. Rather than seen as simply disliked, or unloved, she is portrayed by others as having a bad personality. This leads her to have to defend herself through the means of wit. Further in the scene, Beatrice pivots the conversation to the characteristics of a man that she would find attractive. Beatrice then states that she wouldn't want a man with a beard. Leanato offers a man without a beard. In response, Beatrice asks him “What should I do with [a beardless man]? dress him in my apparel and make him my waiting-gentlewoman? He that hath a beard is more than a youth, and he that hath no beard is less than a man: and he that is more than a youth is not for me, and he that is less than a man, I am not for him…”(II,i) Beatrice refers to a young man who is on the cusp of manhood. In this time, this type of man was the most coveted object of sexual desire. In referencing dressing this man up as a woman, she alludes to the young, male, actors who were