Rachella Bennet ENG 251 Foundations of English Literature Pleiss-Morris Empathy within Oral Traditions Playwrights from the medieval and early modern drama era were able to effectively create empathetic relationships between characters in their plays and audience members who would watch the plays being performed. Later as these works began to become published instead of orally read, these different aspects began to be lost or forgoten. This important aspect of oral tradition is something that is studied in works of literature and theatre today. Much Ado about Nothingby William Shakespeare is able to effectively portray a character that the audience is able to empathize with. There are many different approaches on looking closely into the characters of this play, but specifically Benedick is a character who is able to create an empathetic relationship with the audience at hand. Shakespeare uses many different techniques to create that relationship such as rhetorical and literary devices, theatrical and oral conventions, and language. This deep interpretation and reading will be of a passage in Act 4 Scene 1, where Claudio has just denied marriage to Hero because of speculations of cheating. This scene ends with Benedick and Beatrice discussing their love for each other and how Benedick might prove to Beatrice how much he actually loves her. This examination will cover lines 329 to 350 in the text.
In the play Benedick can be considered a hero, in the sense that he has offered to do whatever Beatrice requests of him. In this scene she requests that Benedick kill Claudio for slandering her cousin. Benedick doesn’t initially want to agree to this request, as he is close with Claudio and he should be protecting him rather than killing him. But then Benedick rises to the occasion when Beatrice has threatened to leave. Benedick professes his love again, when Beatrice has said “I cannot be a man with wishing; therefore I will die a woman with grieving” (Act4, Scene1, ln336-338), as he says in return “Tarry, good Beatrice. By this hand, I love thee.”
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