In Lust We Trust
We can look around us in the world today and see couples that look like they are enjoying each other’s presence. Some are young couples that say they are in “love” while others are married old people that have been together for many years. For the most part, we assume that the younger couple has lust while the old married couple is in true love. In Shakespeare’s play, Claudio and Hero are a young couple that some people argue are truly in love. So can we just assume the extent of a couple’s love for each other strictly by their age? This theme of lust is one thematic strand that Shakespeare obsesses over in Much Ado About Nothing.
Shakespeare shows his readers that lust is something that has always been existent and will always be. Through lust, elements of life like sex and love emerge. Shakespeare obsessively uses this thematic strand of lust throughout Much Ado About Nothing as well as in a couple of his sonnets, like in Sonnet 129. In Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare shows the use of this particular theme in Act V, scene I by saying: “My Lord, my lord, I’ll prove it on his body, if he dare, Despite his nice fence and his active practise, His May of youth and bloom of lustihood.” Leonato is making this statement towards Don Pedro about Claudio. He states that if Claudio attempts to accept his challenge to fight him, he will prove to everyone that he is responsible for the alleged loss of Hero and enforces that he will win. He says that he will prove this about Claudio despite how young and manliness he actually is (V.I.2148-2151). Leonato is comparing his manliness to the theme of lust. By doing this, it shows that Claudio does not really love Hero but that his and Hero’s relationship was built solely on lust.
Some people can say that Claudio did not really love Hero the way that a man should love a woman. When Claudio found out that Hero had allegedly cheated on him, he automatically assumed that the information was correct and did not approach Hero to see what actually happened. Instead, at the wedding the next morning, he humiliated her in front of everyone and accused her of cheating, no longer caring about her or their relationship together. He had no remorse for the claimed death of Hero until he found out that she did not cheat on him. To me, this shows that the relationship between them was based more on lust then love. Sex is one aspect of life that can do this to a person. Cheating and dishonesty have occurred throughout all periods of time and during this play, it played a huge role in the relationship between Claudio and Hero. Because of this action that people participate in, it can ruin a relationship, the reputation of a person, or even the lives for some people.
Sonnet CXXIX (129) supports the argument of sex and lust. Shakespeare expresses that through sex, you incur shame (line 1). Lust makes people feel that they are untrustworthy, violent, savage, rude, and even extreme (lines 2-4). We enjoy sex as quickly as we despise it. Shakespeare says that we are extreme when we are thinking about sex, extreme while we are having sex, and extreme once we’ve had it. Once we’ve completed this action, we regret it (lines 10-11). He sums up this sonnet by stating that even though we all know these facts very well, no one attempts to avoid this experience and we continue to participate as the years go on (lines 13-14). According to Shakespeare, lust and sex go hand in hand and with one, the other emerges, usually for the worse.
Shakespeare uses many different words to try and show the reader about his obsessive thematic strand of lust. The word “horns” was used in six different locations throughout Much Ado About Nothing. This word can be used to describe a person who has been cuckolded by their significant other and because of this action, they hypothetically grow horns as a sign of rage and savage. The words horns and cuckold seemed to go together throughout Shakespeare’s play, which is understandable. At one point in the play, Beatrice speaks to Leonato about not wanting to marry and staying single. She says: “No, but to the gate; and there will the devil meet me, like an old cuckold, with horns on his head, and say ‘Get you to heaven, Beatrice, get you to heaven; here’s no place for you maids:’ so deliver I up my apes, and away to Saint Peter for the heavens; he shows me where the bachelors sit, and there live we as merry as the day is long.” This means that if she were to die unmarried, the devil would meet her with horns on his head like a cuckold and tell her to go to heaven because hell is no place for virgins like herself (II.I.435-441). By staying unmarried, Beatrice would stay a virgin and wouldn’t have to worry about sex and the effects that it has on people. She wouldn’t have to worry about cuckoldry or having a relationship that was solely based upon lust. Sometimes being on your own is the way to be.
Falling in love can have painful and emotional consequences. Savage was another word that can be linked with lust and was used a couple of times throughout Much Ado About Nothing, five times to be exact. As Claudio is breaking off the wedding, he uses the phrase savage towards Hero. “Out on thee! Seeming! I will write against it: You seem to me as Dian in her orb, As chaste as is the bud ere it be blown; But you are more intemperate in your blood Than Venus, or those pamper’d animals that rage in savage sensuality.” The meaning behind this was that he said Hero had seemed like a virgin flower bud before it bloomed but in fact, she was a pampered animal running in the wild (IV.I.1697-1702). The rage that comes out of one person about finding out about the participation of sex from the one they love is extreme. Sometimes this rage, or savage, will cause people to turn violent. In this play, Claudio got a little violent and shoved Hero to the ground as he walked away in extreme anger and hatred towards Hero.
With my thematic strand being lust, I do not feel that my previous investigation of Sonnet I would be appropriate for this image. Sonnet I mainly talks about the beauty of a person and how it should be preserved by producing children. Through the process of making children, one’s beauty can be preserved and shown to others for generations to come. People want their looks to be passed down from generation to generation so that they are shown through others while they are not here. The only way of doing this is by being non-selfish and producing children. Although beauty plays a role in love, sex, and lust, I feel that it pushes away towards this particular thematic strand. Beauty is the first step towards falling in love with someone, while lust is believed to not be true love.
After retrieving some data based upon the thematic strand of lust, I have a better support behind my first thoughts on Shakespeare’s obsessive use of this image. When I first thought about what could be Shakespeare’s main thematic strand, many things had come to mind. Love, sex, and lust were the three top choices for this particular play. After thinking about it more, lust made the most sense. Sex is something that most people participate in and we do it despite all of the negative affects it can have on our lives. Shakespeare tries to show us that it is not always good to have sex and it could lead to horrible events in your life like committing adultery (or cuckoldry). In order to love someone, you need to understand what they are about and the type of person they actually are. If you do not do this, the relationship will be based upon lust, just like that of Hero and Claudio.
The visual media project that was conducted helps viewers understand the use of the image throughout the play. The project conducted consists of pictures about love, lust, cupid, the good and bad effects of love, and the outcomes that lust and sex can have on individuals. It is set up in a manner that portrays to that of someone’s cycle of love. It begins with eyes because the beauty of a person usually has an effect on whether or not two people love each other. The video slowly shows that love can be wonderful and beautiful in the beginning until sex and lust occurs. Once this happens, love can go from being wonderful to something you wish you’d never had done. Certain situations happen in life because of sex and lust. In order to truly love someone, you get through those situations together, making sure you are both there for each other. If two people can do that, then they truly do love each other and were meant for each other. It starts with lust and if all is well, ends with love.
In relevance to the play, the video project is set up just like the play. In the beginning of Claudio and Hero’s relationship, they seemed that they truly loved each other and then both were attracted to one another through each other’s eyes. There was a turning point in their relationship when Claudio was convinced that Hero had cheated on him and Claudio emerged with extreme anger and savage. He disowned Hero and couldn’t stand to look at her. Once Claudio found out that Hero was not guilty, he realized that he had made a mistake and truly did love her, proclaiming his love to her once again. In life, this is what relationships and love are all about. It is about having great moments together and horrible moments together. If a relationship is based on love and not lust, everything will work out in the end. Love is genuine and pure. When it is true love, it lasts forever.
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