Claudio & Benedick
English Lit: AQA GCSE Much Ado About Nothing, topic 9.1.13
Claudio and Benedick
These lines emphasises the importance of noting and also the subtle difference between simply looking (a quick glance) and paying close attention to detail (noting).
Key lines
- CLAUDIO: Benedick, didst thou note the the daughter of Signor Leonato?
- BENEDICK: I noted her not, but I looked on her.
Claudio
- Claudio is a young soldier who, despite his prowess on the battlefield, is inexperienced in other affairs of the society in which he lives, including love and courtship.
- He is keen to seek the approval and advice of his elder friends and colleagues.
The inferior sex
- Significantly, he does not refer to Hero by her own name, rather she is “the daughter of Signor Leonato”.
- The possessive language “of” represents how in Shakespearean times, women were seen as the inferior sex.
Patrilineal succession
- Queen Elizabeth’s father, Henry VIII was so desperate for a male heir that he broke away from the Roman Catholic Church to enable him to divorce his first wife (Catherine of Aragon) and marry Anne Boleyn.
- It was only very recently (in 2011) that the laws of succession to the British monarchy were changed to grant royal daughters the same equal rights as sons.
Noting
- Benedick’s response continues the motif of noting that is so important to the play and also highlights the subtle difference between simply looking (a quick glance) and paying close attention to detail (noting).
Act 4, Scene 1
- Structurally, this foreshadows the Friar’s assertion of Hero’s innocence in Act 4, Scene 1:
- “By noting of the lady. I have mark'd
A thousand blushing apparitions
To start into her face, a thousand innocent shames
In angel whiteness beat away those blushes”
Test yourself on Claudio & Benedick
When were the laws of succession to the British monarchy changed to grant royal daughters the same equal rights as sons?