6 - Gender wars: love and conflict in Much Ado About Nothing

Summary

I hate and love. If you ask me to explain

The contradiction,

I can't, but I can feel it, and the pain

Is crucifixion

Catullus 85 (trans. James Michie)

In this chapter I apply part/whole morphology to a fictional text. In order to explore the relation between love and war, I apply the theory of shame and the social bond to show the affinity between romance, shame and anger. Unlike the love relationships in the second half of chapter 2, which were somewhat idealized, in this chaper they are closer to what passes as normal love relationships. On close inspection Shakespeare's plays present a grim portrait of the relationship between men and women. Even his lighthearted treatment of this theme in Much Ado about Nothing suggests that love between a man and a woman involves unending tension and conflict, much like the distrust, deception, and outright warfare between nations. A close reading of the text of Much Ado shows shame /anger sequences both in conventional courtship (Hero and Claudio) and in the unconventional relation of Beatrice and Benedick. Both relationships involve infatuation. My analysis shows that acknowledging shame and anger between men and women may be an important first step toward resolving their conflict.

Attachment, shame, and images of human nature Until recently, it has been customary to view human nature in one of two ways, as either inherently destructive, or as a blank slate upon which culture writes human character.