Much Ado About Nothing focuses on the emotional development of two relationships that experience varying levels of deception. Although both couples marry at the end of the play, the deception that occurs during the play exploits Benedick and Claudio's emotional instability: "A deception leads to social peace, to marriage, to the end of deception . The other deception breeds conflict and distrust and even leads Beatrice to desire Claudio’s heart in the bargain” (Henze 188). Many critics discuss the emotional flaws of the male characters and suggest that deception is necessary to reveal their true feelings. For example, Benedick must be tricked into admitting his true love for Beatrice; on the other hand, when Claudio is deceived, his “love” for Hero turns out to be superficial and destroyed. Additionally, critics argue that the Claudio/Hero relationship is conventional compared to the Benedick/Beatrice relationship; Yet, as Deception establishes, the Benedick/Beatrice relationship is based on true love while the Claudio/Hero relationship is not. In doing so, not only is the emotional instability of men exploited, but Shakespeare may also have intended to criticize the conventional nature of marriage between strangers and the distrust and paranoia it creates in relation to marriages based on true love. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get Original Essay Benedick displays emotional instability as he refuses to admit his true feelings for Beatrice until he be deceived by his friends. When the soldiers return to Messina, the audience witnesses the first meeting between Beatrice and Benedick. During this exchange, harsh remarks were made on both sides; in fact, Benedick first addresses Beatrice in a hateful manner: “What, my dear Lady Disdain! Are you still living? (Shakespeare 1.1.112-113). Benedick questions Beatrice's life and continues to insult her as she insults him. Although their conversation is tense, Benedick later reveals to Claudio his true feelings for Beatrice. Benedick disagrees with Claudio's view of Hero; instead, he describes Beatrice's physicality: "There is her cousin, and she was not / possessed with a fury, surpasses her as much in beauty as / the first of May the end of December" (1.1.180-182 ). Although Beatrice has a nasty tongue, Benedick admires her physical beauty, but before the audience can speculate about his romantic feelings towards Beatrice, he quickly changes the subject and talks about his love of being single. He claims that he does not want to marry and denies any future love in his life, because "not to love at all is an antisocial and anti-romantic vow which corresponds to Beatrice's assertion that she would prefer not to listen to a man say he loves her” (Henze 189). Benedick demonstrates his emotional instability by denying his true feelings for Beatrice because he is afraid of rejection. He expresses to Claudio his true feelings for Beatrice; However, his insecurities lead him to repress his sentimentality. This refusal to love ceases after Don Pedro deceives Benedick into believing that Beatrice loves him. Again, Benedick lovingly discusses Beatrice's positive qualities: The lady is said to be fair – it is a truth, I can witness it. And virtuous – it’s true, I can’t blame him. And wise, but to love me. By my faith, it is not an addition to her spirit - nor a great argument in favor of her madness, for I will be horribly in love with her. (Shakespeare 2.3.222-227) Although Benedick has already mentioned theendearing attributes of Beatrice, he reiterates these qualities because he is now able to openly admit his love. He becomes sure of his love for Beatrice because he is tricked into believing that she is suffering because of her love for him (in the same way that he suffered by loving her without being able to tell her). Furthermore, Benedick attempts to deceive the audience into believing that his love for Beatrice is only growing because she was exposed by Hero. However, Don Pedro's trick would not have been possible if Benedick had not harbored real feelings for Beatrice: "To say that [Benedick and Beatrice] are fooled and led to love each other by false representations or appearances is surely insufficient. More relevant is the idea that the conspirators, creating appearances, told the truth about the couple's artificially masked emotions” (Babula 12). Benedick tries to portray his love for Beatrice as a coincidence, but without underlying feelings the deception would not have succeeded. Although this provides another example of emotional instability because Benedick refuses to admit his early feelings for Beatrice, the relationship progresses as the two characters finally express their love for each other. At this point, Benedick is finally able to develop emotionally because he no longer restricts his love for Beatrice; instead, he openly expresses his affection. On the other hand, Claudio proclaims his love for Hero based solely on appearances and social ideologies. He does not understand the complexities of love; yet, he openly discusses his "deep" feelings for Hero with the other male characters. Unlike Benedick, who refuses to admit his love, Claudio is ready to share his feelings, but they have no basis: “[Claudio] had not yet met [Hero]. He had seen her from afar, so he only knows her external appearance” (Scheff 161). Claudio did not have verbal contact with Hero; However, he is in love with her. When discussing Hero with Don Pedro, he expresses his infatuation as a genuine emotion: “That I love him, I feel it” (1.9.214). Claudio's superficiality is problematic because he confuses his infatuation with Hero with real feelings. Additionally, Claudio calls on Don Pedro to woo her. Claudio's avoidance of pursuing the woman he "loves" illustrates his emotional insecurity because he claims to have a real emotional connection with Hero and wants to marry her, but he is afraid to approach her. Due to his reluctance to speak with Hero and his emotional instability, Claudio becomes the perfect target for Don John's deceptions. The first case occurs during a masked party. Although Claudio sought Don Pedro's help earlier in the play, Don John is able to manipulate Claudio's emotionality because his love is superficial. After Claudio believes that Don Pedro is interested in Hero, he abandons his initial feelings: "It is an accident of hourly proof / of which I was not suspicious." Farewell then, Hero! (Shakespeare 2.1.166-167). Rather than approach Hero and profess his love for her, he abandons his sentimentality towards her. This sudden change illustrates another example of Claudio's emotional instability, because unlike true love, "infatuation...involved little or no knowledge of the other" (Scheff 162). As Claudio has had no verbal contact with Hero, he knows little about her outside of information provided by others. This makes him vulnerable to outside influences from others – like Don John – as he is exposed as a shallow and unstable man. Claudio's avoidance parallels Benedick's refusal to love for fear of rejection; Yet Claudio openly discusses his "love" for Hero without any prior knowledgeof her other than her social status and her external appearance. Benedick denies her love because he fears ridicule and rejection from Beatrice, but his fear is based on his belief that she despises him – perhaps due to a previous unhappy experience. Similarly, Claudio abandons his "love" for Hero, but he has no knowledge of Hero's desires, illustrating his superficiality and emotional confusion. This emotional conflict continues even after this problem is resolved. Claudio makes no attempt to contact Hero; instead, he proclaims to Don Pedro that he wants to get married immediately: “Tomorrow, my lord. Time passes on crutches until / Love has all its rites” (Shakespeare 2.1.329-330). Rather than knowing Hero and developing his relationship, Claudio decides to marry a stranger: “Claudio does not know the inner qualities of his Lady and obviously does not feel the need to discover them through the discourse of reason; significantly, he neither suspects nor expects his lady to be wise. Rather, it simply assumes that the beautiful exterior evokes and represents one's inner beauty and virtue” (Lewalski 247). Claudio's refusal to know the woman he "loves" keeps his relationship in a vulnerable position, as his only perspective on Hero is superficial in nature. Without any additional knowledge of his personality, desires, etc., Claudio can only make assumptions and listen to outside sources. Once again, Don John acts as an outside source and attacks Claudio's insecurities by tricking him into believing that Hero is lustful. Then, Claudio responds by publicly humiliating and "killing" the woman he "loves." Unlike Benedick, whose love progresses as he is deceived, Claudio's superficiality is exploited because Claudio humiliates a woman for whom he claims to have deep feelings without ever asking her point of view. Rather than discuss what he saw with Hero (similar to the mask issue), Claudio quickly jumps to an unfair conclusion and slanders an innocent woman. Since his "love" is based on infatuation, as previously stated, he is vulnerable to deception and lies, and he illustrates his idealization of the Hero through his obsession with his sexual honor. Claudio is once again exposed as an insecure man because he does not trust the woman he claims to love; instead, he feels justified in "killing" her for her infidelity: "Claudio effectively shows what happens when superficial romance and selfish, suspicious social concern combine" (Henze 193). Even though he is married to Hero at the end of the play, Claudio illustrates the difference between the stability of love and the erratic, ill-informed nature of infatuation. Compared to Beatrice and Benedick, Claudio and Hero are considered by many critics to be the "conventional" couple due to their marriage arrangement; Yet, as the previous discussion demonstrated, Claudio's emotions are superficially grounded while Benedick has real feelings for Beatrice. Although he cannot describe his motivations to the current audience of Much Ado, through these relationships Shakespeare may have intended to critique the typical, emotionally detached relationship versus one based on love. When discussing Hero's public shaming, many critics argue that Claudio's actions would not be uncommon in the historical context of the play: "[Claudio's] rejection of Hero would not have seemed as cruel as it seems to us; his acceptance of another marriage partner would not irritate an Elizabethan public accustomed to a professional attitude toward marriage” (Babula 13)., 2006.