The Instrument of Love

I stand before the men which I have sworn allegiance to. Together we have fought in battle entrusting each other with our very lives, we have risked everything together. Must I betray brethren for the pleasure of romantic love?. Though the pain that has befallen sweet Hero is great, I trust that my brother Claudio, a man of distinguished honor, would not be capable of making such accusations were there not reason behind it. Furthermore, as a young man, he knew not, what lay ahead of him in the realm of love, and was ready to give up the relished life of a Bachelor, only to have such a sacrifice discarded as if t'were a curse, like that which I once found love to be.

Still, I cannot rid my mind of the fact that I have always warned him against such childish follies as love at first sight. But heed my admonitions he did not, and why should I lose this real love blossoming between myself, and what I am coming to view as the only women who can tame my wandering soul. True what Hero did was wrong, but when have I ever been the type to follow the crowd. Had I been, I'd probably be wed to some wretched dame or another, out of the many that I have courted. And since I have never experienced this feeling before, it is worth giving it a go around, and so I will follow the pulsing of this newly arose organ to the uncharted territory of true love, and stay with Beatrice.

According to Don Pedro the joining of Benedick and Beatrice in matrimony would serve ideal for both party members. Don Pedro vouches that Benedick, despite his sharp tongue, is a man of nobility, he is honorable and brave. Due to the nature of both Beatrice and Benedick’s wry sense of humor they may very well be the only ones capable of giving each other a run for their money, while this can be the fountain from which rage springs, it can also serve as the base for common understanding. Each person in this scenario is essentially looking at life through the same eyes, both despise the social norm of marriage, but adore the sport of courting one another, the pleasure they receive from the tension built up from their bickering is evident. Both can help each other play their positions in society.

Leonato on the other hand seems to believe the exact opposite of Don Pedro, he believes that Benedick and Beatrice as a couple would drive each other mad in a weeks time. We do see evidence of this as Beatrice and Benedick cannot say a single word to one another without some sort of backlash from the other. Both sides are immature and have a rather base understanding of the world, typical of the dogmatic nature of these characters hell bent on marriage. Both have become so caught up with what they shouldn’t be, they seem to have forgotten their very nature.

Shakespeare or Pewee's World?

Life expectancy in Shakespeare’s time (“under thirty years old”) seemed to be a point holding it’s own breed of tragic humor. As humorous as some may find death to be, the element of comedy shows it’s face when the populace is suddenly graced with the alleviating presence of the state and organized religion. It appears to be the driving force to the themes in his society regarding social standings and women's rights. Perhaps this climate of fear and piles of English dead showed it’s face in Shakespeare’s writings through themes of morality and universal absolutes, at least as far as Shakespeare is concerned. These same themes could just as well be expressed in his writing through sharp criticisms of his society and it’s mechanics.

The treatment of women in the times of Shakespeare, as sad as it is, does not surprise me the slightest. Yet another marvelous element of the divine science is the persecution of women as inferior beings, having introduced sin to man is a heavy burden to carry in the world guarded by “holy” commandments. The public shaming of the citizens that engaged in sexual behavior suited less than proper was most likely expressed in Shakespeare’s writing through vivid sexual encounters. He was an artist and history has proven art to be an untamable force in the expression of human nature.

The social ladder in the times of Shakespeare seems to be the theme that we can relate to the most today. The division of the populace into groups such as the “gentleman, citizen, yeomen, artificers and laborers” must have been reflected in his writing seeing as how it was the world he knew. Perhaps he held some sort of resentment for his own position in the social construct and reflected those sentiments onto his writing.