In an essay on Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, William Kittredge defined the idea of courtly love that is illustrated in MAAN. Kittredge said that courtly love must involve a love that is extremely idealized and superficial, with the vassal or servant-like suitor, who is often a valiant knight, devoting hims

sily believes others comments about her and even goes so far as saying that “she knows the heat of a luxurious bed” and refusing to marry her based solely on false allegations made by other characters.

audio would never have to endure. But he recovers from this love sickness (or “the toothache” as he calls it) and does express his love for Beatrice and eventually, at the end of the play, marries her (Shakespeare 3.2.18).

Beatrice, unlike Hero, does not get lost in the conventions of the ideal woman, and, therefore becomes the true lover. This becomes apparent not so much through a study of her character, but through an analysis of her interaction or “merry war” with Bene*censored*. At the beginning of the play, Beatrice and Bene*censored* constantly rattle and torment each other. Bene*censored* says that Hero “speaks poniards, and every word stabs,” and Beatrice obviously believes the same of him. But, only through an understanding of the language under the merry war does their true love become apparent, as is shown when Beatrice states:

Hero, just like her suitor, follows the model, at least in the eyes of Claudio, of the perfect ideal woman. Even though Bene*censored* does not like her and thinks that she is “too low..., too brown..., too little..., [and] unhandsome” (Shakespeare 1.1.138-141), Claudio thinks that she is “the sweetest lady that ever [he] looked on” (Shakespeare 1.1.151-152). Throughout the play, Hero is a model of speechless modesty. She

Some topics in this essay:
Claudio MAAN, Beatrice Bene*censored*, Don Pedro, William Blake, Padua Claudio, MAAN Kittredge, Claudio Hero, Bene*censored* Hero, Beatrice Bene*censored*’s, William Shakespeare, courtly love, true love, ideal woman, beatrice bene*censored*, love true, love true relationship, true relationship, love beatrice, thou dost, beatrice unlike, claudio hero,