Alex Thorn
English 310
Mr. John Gould
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Social Grace
In
both Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing
and the modern film adaptation, the characters speak in a colorful, flowery
manner that represents the ideal that Renaissance courtiers strove to achieve
in their social interactions. Benedick, Claudio and Don Pedro all use the same
kind of clever chitchat (and often repartees) that courtiers of their time used
to receive attention, approval in noble households and maintain an appearance
of elegance. Much like Richard III, although in a different context, deception
and appearance vs. reality flow
rampantly through the play. The ultimate effect of the constant attempt to
appear elegant, something that is illustrated in Claudio’s fancy, verbose
monologues, is that the characters often end up acting upon manner and social
grace rather than on their heart’s wishes.
In
the beginning of the play, Don Pedro announces – he doesn’t offer – to Claudio
that he will woo Hero on Claudio’s behalf. In fact, when Claudio silently
agrees to let Don Pedro take his place, it is quite possible that he does so
not because he is too shy to woo the woman himself, but because he must accede
to Don Pedro's authority in order to stay in his good favor. Similarly, even
when Claudio suspects that his comrade, Don Pedro, has betrayed him and,
instead, wooed Hero in his own name,
he chooses to express his obedience to the Prince rather than protest in the
name of his love for Hero.
Benedick: You must wear it one way, for the Prince hath got your hero.
Claudio: I wish him joy of her. (II.i.70)
Claudio accepts what he believes to
be the inevitable fate of his relationship with Hero: that, because Don Pedro
is The Prince, he, Claudio, must fall
in line and obey him unconditionally. The success of this scene in the movie is
not a triumph of film, but rather a triumph of good acting, for Claudio is
utterly subservient to Don Pedro (before he finds out that Don Pedro has NOT
betrayed him) in his attitude and his
facial expression. Eventually, Claudio’s strict
adherence to social propriety eventually leads him into a trap: he abandons
Hero at the wedding because Don John leads him to believe that she is unchaste
(marriage to an unchaste woman would be socially unacceptable).
Coupled
with his need to appear graceful and elegant in a mannered sense is Claudio’s
need to seem that those abilities come effortlessly, an attempt known as sprezzatura[1], the illusion of effortlessness in
appearing socially apt. When simply being read, the play does not illustrate
the effortlessness of the characters, such as Benedick and Beatrice, in their
instantaneous repartees, for no sense of the speed of or propinquity between
the lines is apparent. In the movie, more explicitly, the characters appear,
even to us, the audience, as being completely effortless in their attempts at
being socially graceful and elegant in their immediate responses and dire
attempts to always act in the most mannered fashions. The outcome of Claudio’s
relationship with Hero is that, essentially, Claudio is forced to overcome his
inability to act with anything but his social status in mind, for he risks
marrying Leonato’s niece without knowing a thing
about her (and puts his social status on the line). Up until that point,
however, Claudio and others struggle with keeping their appearances socially
acceptable. Ultimately, the title of the play, Much Ado About Nothing,
illustrates the incredible burden of acting solely with social grace and
appearance in mind. Because the characters are so worried about their
appearances, they allow what is certainly a nothing, such as Hero’s
supposed promiscuous ways, to become a huge deal without simply confronting one
another. Everything is always about deception and public image, something that,
through the lavish sets and witty acting, the modern film adaptation portrays
quite well.
[1] Baldassare
Castiglione describes as a necessity of a courtier in his novel The Courtier, translated by Thomas Hoby
in 1561. (Information found on encyclopedia.com and through google.com upon
searching for the phrase: courtier.)