True Love Never Did Run Smooth Analysis

The Coarseness of Love

Can the course of love ever run smooth? Many people have different opinions and experiences about love and it’s course. The shakespearean quote “The course of true love never did run smooth” from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a relevant quote to Much Ado About Nothing, because all the lovers in this play had extremely rough and dramatic love lives. Claudio and Hero, and Beatrice and Benedick had particularly bumpy love courses from the nascent of their relationships.

Emotions are one of the main contributions to Shakespeare's “the course of love never did run smooth.” When Hero is exposed at her wedding, and Beatrice is furious with Claudio, Benedick asks what he can do to express his love for Beatrice. Beatrice

This is something very big of Beatrice to ask him to do, since they are best friends, which is why it is crazy when Benedick promises to challenge Claudio to a duel. Beatrice has never wished to marry, and even says that she would “rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a man swear he loves me (Shakespeare 15). Her opinions instantly change after she overhears Hero and Ursula talking in the garden, saying that Benedick is in love with Beatrice. After hearing this, Beatrice now decides she will marry and love Benedick. Her emotions towards love and how Benedick feels about her change extremely fast, which demonstrates how rough the course of love is, since Beatrice and Benedick act as though they hate each other, and then suddenly wish to marry each other within a short period of time. Benedick also changes his mind instantly about marriage and loving Beatrice as soon as he overhears the Prince, Claudio, and Leonato talking in the garden about how Beatrice is in love with Bendecick, and that she is just afraid to admit it. He says to himself, “When I said I would die a bachelor, I did not think I should live till I were married. Here comes Beatrice. By this day, she’s a fair lady. I do

A major factor in the smoothness of a relationship of love would be the people outside of the actual relationship. There is more then just two people the two people in love involved, because there is always someone trying to get involved in the relationship one way or another, which takes a toll on the smoothness of the course of love. When Claudio first explains his feelings of love for Hero at the beginning of the play, Benedick asks Claudio “But I hope you have no intent to turn husband, have you?” (Shakespeare 17). He doesn’t want Claudio to marry because then he will lose his best friend. Claudio now has to think about his best friend as well as his lover in making the decision of whether or not to marry. As much as he wants to love Hero, Claudio has to think about his best friend because he does not want to hurt Benedick. Also, when two people are in a relationship of love, there is always someone trying to break the relationship up. In this play, that is Don John. When he is scheming up a plan to break the two lovers up, he says “Only to despite them I will endeavor anything” (Shakespeare 61). Don John is saying he will do anything to break Claudio and Hero up, and this will only make their relationship more complicated with this added drama.

Although there is not one clear definition of love, there is the certain fact about it that the course of it never does run smooth. Much Ado About Nothing is a