ve a never-ending conflict that hints at a previous relationship; one that somehow ended in anger. Beatrice says, “Indeed, my Lord, he lent it me awhile, and I gave him use for it, a double heart for his single one. Marry, once before he won it of me with false dice. Therefore your grace may well say I have lost it.” Bene*censored* and Beatrice quarrel in a skirmish of wits which is merely a facade of their underlying attraction to each other, and an ongoing struggle of recognizing their love. Bene*censored* actually does admit that he is attracted to Beatrice. “There’s her cousin, an she were not possessed with a fury, exceeds her as much in beauty as the first of May does the last of December.”Beatrice is a strong woman firm in her ideas of not succumbing to a man, therefore becoming his wife. “I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a man swear he loves me,” says she to Bene*censored*. Bene*censored* is as firm in his belief of not marrying a woman. He claimed that he will never trust a woman and that if he does get married, “…hang me in a bottle like a cat and shoot at me.” While Beatrice and Bene*censored* banter, Claudio and his prize seem to be very much in love. But the circumstances that lead to a marriage between Hero and Claudio make it impossible that there is real love between them. In the play, the only conversation Claudio and Hero have is at their wedding when he denounced her and made public her accusation of promiscuity. Claudio’s attraction to Hero is strictly superficial; Claudio knows nothing of Hero other than her reputation for being modest and what his eyes can see of her beauty. It is also possible that Claudio was attracted by her dowry. He asked Don Pedro, “Hath Leonato any son, my lord?” Don Pedro replies that Hero is “his only heir.” An interpretation of this might be that Claudio's attraction to Hero was rooted i...
