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Act 2 Scene 3 Line 184-215

Scene By Scene Questions

Hayden
1) Benedick, Beatrice and Don Pedro all allude to blind cupid, the son of Venus, goddess of love. find and explain these references in scene one. What are they about?

Benedick, Beatrice and Don Pedro all allude to a blind cupid, the sons of Venus, goddess of love. find and explain these references in scene one. what are they about?

beatrice: “he set up his bills here in messina, and challenged cupid at the flight: and my uncle’s fool, reading the challenge, subscribed for he killed and eaten in these wars? but how many hath he killed? - for indeed I promised to eat all his killing”

interpretation: Beatrice is saying that Benedick has challenged Cupid, the god of love, to an archery contest. He thinks Cupid’s work is meaningless because he doesn’t believe in falling in love at random. The reference to Cupid is important because People struck by his arrows were believed to fall in love with the first person they set eyes on.

Benedick: “Yea, and a case to put it into. But speak you this with a sad brow? Or do you play the flouting jack, to tell us Cupid is a good hare finder, and Vulcan a rare carpenter? come, in what key shall a man take you, to go in the song?

Interpretation: Benedick is teasing Claudio because he is romantic and believes in love. He is very surprised that Claudio is serious about loving Hero. By suggesting that Cupid is a good hare-finder he is laughingly saying he’s a good hunter, which is a joke because of course Cupid’s arrows weren’t used to kill hares.

Don Pedro: Nay, if Cupid have not spent all his quiver in Venice, thou wilt quake for this shortly

interpretation: hopefully Cupid, who represents love hasn’t used up all his arrows in other parts of the country such as Venice, because we want it to be possible for us to find love here.

Fred
2) In Elizabethan times husbands of unfaithful wives where know as 'cuckolds' and were said said to have horns in their foreheads as signs of their predicament. Find reference to this idea in Act one. Is it amusing? Insulting? Is this kind of talk realistic in terms of the way people talk and behave today?
In act 1 scene 1 Benedick makes reference to cuckolds why he trys to convince claudion not to fall in love with Hero. The reference to a cuckold is an insult to Claudio because Benedick is saying that he is not smart enough to noticew Hero cheating on him. This kind of talk reflects conversations people have today because the same issues are still relevant.

Oli
3) How seriously should we take Benedick's description of himself as a 'professed tyrant of their sex [that is, women]' (I,I, line 156 - 157)

We should not take benedicts description of himself as being a tyrant seriously at all, because Benedicts personality is superficial and he has a tendency to be indecisive. He is immature, and has never really bothered to take anything seriously, apart from himself. He is an arrogant character, and his self-esteem does him much more bad than good. His sexist remarks directed towards Beatrice and Hero are part of his nature, as it is his general character to be rude and scornful. For example when he puts down Hero when Claudio asks his opinion of her. He says that “she is too low for a high praise, she is to brown for a fair praise and that she is too little for a high praise.” This shows us of his arrogance and rudeness as he directly insults the women Claudio loves.

Alex
4) Why is Benedick certain that he is not being fooled into believing that Beatrice loves him? do you think he is naive here, why or why not?

There are two quotes in the play that suggest why Benedick is certain he is not being fooled to believe that Beatrice loves him. When Benedick says "I should think this a gull, but that the white-bearded fellow speaks it" he believes what they are saying because the words have come from Leonato's mouth, possibly because he is a man of power and trust. "This can be no trick ... they have the truth of this from Hero", is another quote meaning that Benedick also trusts what Hero says .

Love Trailer

Why does this play resonate with a contemporary audience?

The play Much ado about nothing is relevant to contemporary audience and society because it encompasses themes that relate to our lives in the situations we may face, and the emotions we may feel. The play contains many themes that are relevant to our modern context, fundamental ones such as Love, betrayal, deception, dishonesty but also more complicated themes such as the battle of the genders, moral dilemmas, noting, human nature, rumor and so on.

One key themes of Much Ado about nothing, which is probably the most basic of themes, is love. We see the theme of love portrayed in the quote “I love you with so much of my heart that none is left to protest”. The Quote shows us the passion within the characters for each other, and relates to modern context because all of us experience this passionate love in our lives, whether it be for our parents, hobbies, pets, friends or partners. This shows us that one of the most key themes resonates with a contemporary audience.

Another key theme of Much ado about nothing, which is a more complicated theme, which is the battle of the genders. We see this in the quote "That a woman conceived me, I thank her; that she Brought me up, I likewise give her most humble thanks: But that I will have a recheat winded in my forehead, or hang my bugle In an invisible baldrick, all women shall pardon me. Because I will not do them the wrong to mistrust any, I will do myself the right to trust none; and the fine is, for the which I may go the finer, I will live a bachelor”. The quote gives us an insight into one of the main characters ideas about the opposite sex, who is Benedict, who does not hold women in high esteem, and in the quote explains that he thanks his mother for having him and bringing him up, but does not see women to be of any use to him, apart from sleeping with them, he also states that he does not trust them, and does not want to fall in love, so clearly this key masculine character has little respect for women. This relates to the battle of the genders, and the competition between them, and the esteem they hold each other in. the way in which it resonates with contemporary audiences is because we see this battle of the genders to be a constant debate in our society, We see it with job positions/opportunities, wages, divorces, child care and so on. The them battle of the genders is another theme that helps the play to resonate with a contemporary audience.

In conclusion this play resonates with a contemporary audience, because of the relevant themes it constantly portrays throughout it.