In Much Ado about Nothing, Shakespeare presents us with very different lovers Benedick and Claudio. Which of these characters would an audience find more engaging and why?

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In Much Ado about Nothing, Benedick at the beginning of the play is by far the most engaging character. The audience of the play look forward to the “merry war” between Benedick and Beatrice who have a kind of “skirmish of wit”. It is clear that there is a history between the two, and there is never a dull moment between them. Benedick makes his views on marriage very clear from the first scene. He says "And the fine is, for the which I may go the finer, I will live a bachelor". It seems obvious that Benedick is distrustful of women and would rather not be involved with a woman. A few lines later, Don Pedro hints that although Benedick is unsuited to marriage, he will eventually be 'tamed' and able to accept marriage- "in time the savage bull doth bear thy yoke". This foreshadows the fact that Benedick will eventually let himself fall for Beatrice. Claudio, however, has contradictory views to Benedick on love and marriage. Claudio is a conventional courtly lover that puts women on a pedestal, and is very romantic. He compares Hero to a “jewel” and later in the play, Benedick criticizes Claudio. He laughs at them for falling in love, and then fall in love himself. He says that when this happens the man becomes the object of his own scorn, "and such a man is Claudio". The ironic part of this statement is that Benedick will become the "argument of his own scorn" later in the play. The audience are more drawn towards Benedick’s character because he is more complex. His language is much more lyrical than Claudio’s, and his speeches are always thought of spontaneously. This makes the speech more convincing and is more appealing to the audience. Benedick always speaks in prose, which is much more entertaining for the audience, while Claudio sometimes speaks in blank verse. One of the best characteristics of Benedick are his witty comments. At the beginning of the play

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