Chip Kendrick
AP Shakespeare

Signals for Help in Traps of Conformity

	In Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, Beatrice and Benedict rant about 
marriage for most of the beginning of the play, while Claudio raves about how wonderful 
it will be being married to Hero.  Yet in the end, Claudio exchanges his marriage to Hero 
for an opportunity to bash her in public, while Beatrice and Benedick marry despite that 
they were mortal enemies for most of the first three acts.  How did the situation swing 
around to this degree?  Beatrice and Benedick had been using the most extreme 
metaphors to demonstrate their scorn of each other and of marriage, and Claudio had 
been doing the same to demonstrate his love of Hero.  Not only did none of these three 
characters mean what they were saying, but meant the reverse, and the people that plotted 
to bring them together or pull them apart plotted because they understood on some level 
what each really wanted.
	Beatrice and Benedick seem to have had some relationship before the beginning 
of the book that ended badly.  This suggests that the initial situation between Beatrice 
and Benedick was one of mutual attraction, not of the overt hate they seem to flaunt at 
the beginning of the play.  Scorn of this magnitude is rare among people who dislike each 
other from the start, and seems very unlikely in a broken up couple.  In addition, both 
Beatrice and Benedick turned out to be very willing to abandon their smear campaigns as 
soon as they are convinced the other is aching for them.  It is ridiculous that one would 
abandon one's own principals to bail out a hated enemy in trouble.  This makes clear that 
their attitude toward each other is an act.  If this is so, what is the purpose of the act?  
Neither Beatrice nor Benedick ever seems to discover their own version of the act, much 
less search for why exactly they were doing it.  Yet the purpose of the act can be found in 
its effect : those around Beatrice and Benedick 'trick' them into getting together again, 
having seen on some subconscious level what the act is for.  It is a signal to them to do 
exactly what they do.  Would anyone ever try to bring two sworn enemies together if they 
believed the animosity was really there?  The entire situation and result is a farce of 
conformity.  Beatrice and Benedick most likely fell apart over some minor quarrel.  Both 
of them being intelligent, several cutting insults probably insued.  Escalation led to a total 
separation which neither of them could cross without breaking several social barriers at 
once, and so the dance : signaling through their apparent immense hatred of each other 
that they wanted to be together and could not bridge the gap.
	With Claudio the situation is reversed.  Although there is a misunderstanding 
between Claudio and Don Pedro near the beginning as to who was wooed by who for 
whom, Claudio has marriage to Hero in the bag.  His pleasure in this is stated and 
overstated several times.  Yet when Don John, who just recently lied to Claudio about 
Don Pedro's wooing Hero for himself, tells him Hero has been having sex with anyone 
and everyone she could get her hands on, he says, "If I see anything tonight why I should 
not marry her tomorrow, in the congregation where I should wed, there will I shame her".  
It does not make sense that Hero could be guilty of this, and the idea should be rejected 
immediately by anyone who has met Hero.  Yet Claudio, who should have some bias 
since Hero is apparently the love of his life, seems to buy at least partially into it 
immediately.  While Claudio has not actually said he believes Don John, his thinking out 
his next move on the assumption that Don John's lie is true shows that he has assigned a 
certain probability to its being true.  Claudio does not really care about Hero or having 
Hero as his wife, and his claim that he loves her deeply is only social conformity to the 
principal that a married couple should ideally be in love.  When offered the opportunity 
to gain social status in a different way, Claudio jumps to conclusions and nearly 
condemns Hero in his subsequent action.  Don John, sensing whether consciously or 
unconsciously that Claudio is really only after status, 'tricks' Claudio.  And finally, when 
the trick is over and Claudio is walking into marriage with 'Hero's cousin', he is not in 
particular overjoyed that Hero lives.  Claudio cares nothing for Hero and Don John needs 
to understand this in order to try his scheme at all.
	A great deal of Much Ado About Nothing is an exploration of conformity.  To a 
degree, Shakespeare has portrayed conformity as dangerous.  Conformity and the 
willingness to conform nearly stops the marriage of two people who really love each 
other, and nearly kills an innocent woman.  In a broader perspective, conformity can 
leave people walking aimlessly down the beaten path with no real direction except 
conformity, doomed to live yet another meaningless life in a society based on archaic 
principles.