Thursday, February 21, 2013

How is love presented in Shakespeare's Comedies?Discuss the various iterations of “love” that exist within these plays: Twelfth Night, Much Ado...

Your question required quite a bit of editing in order to
focus your query.  I have related this version of your question to the Comedies, of
which, Romeo and Juliet is not one.  Please re-frame your question
as it relates to Romeo and Juliet and resubmit for
answer.


Love in Shakespeare's Comedies follows a pretty
strict structural set of rules.  There are lovers introduced in the opening scenes of
the play who sometimes fall in love at first sight.  Sometimes, one character must
attempt to "win" the love of another character.  And sometimes, they are characters
engaged in a battle of the sexes, but who are in love beneath their barbed
words.


In Twelfth Night we have a
variety of these types of lovers:  Olivia and Viola both fall in love at first sight
--Olivia with Viola (who is disguised as Cesario), and Viola with Duke Orsino. 
Sebastian also enters this play and falls in love with Olivia at first sight.  There are
also lovers in this play attempting to win their beloved's affection.  Both Andrew
Aguecheek and the Duke are after Olivia's hand in marriage.  And there is also a bit of
the battle of the sexes going on between Sir Toby and
Maria.


In Much Ado About Nothing, Hero
and Claudio fall in love with each other at first sight, and Beatrice and Benedick are
engaged in a battle of the sexes that masks their true feelings for each other.  Both of
these pairs of lovers have their situations complicated by deceptive tricks that have a
huge impact upon their feelings.


The
Tempest
, while not a traditional Comedy, does contain a very traditionally
comic pair of lovers -- Ferdinand and Miranda.  They fall in love at first sight, and
are the vehicle whereby their estranged fathers are reconciled to each other.  The
interesting addition in this play, is the onstage "magic," created by Prospero, that
visibly draws the two lovers together.


Each of the above
mentioned Comedies (and the pair of lovers in The Tempest) is
required to end in reconciliation and at least one marriage.  In Twelfth
Night
, all the mistaken identities and mis-applied feelings of love are
sorted out, and the play ends with three marriages:  Viola and the Duke, Olivia and
Sebastian, and Sir Toby and Maria.  In Much Ado, the complications
are sorted out as well, and the play ends in the weddings of Hero and Claudio and
Beatrice and Benedick. And in The Tempest, the play also ends in
plans for the wedding of Miranda and Ferdinand.


For more on
love in Shakespeare's Comedies, please follow the links below.

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