GENDER WARS - EMOTIONS IN MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING

In order to explore the relation between love and war, I apply a theor y showing the affinity between romance, shame, and anger in a classic text. Shakespeare's plays present an exceedingly 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 con tinuous distrust, deception, and outright warfare between nations. A c lose 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 infatuat ion. My analysis suggests that acknowledging shame and anger between m en and women may be an important first step toward resolving their con flict.