Shakespeare & Beyond: People are always falling in love in Shakespeare’s plays. His comedies and romances usually end with weddings or with couple reunited, and roughly 40 percent of his tragedies have couples at their centers. With Valentine’s Day approaching, we took a straw poll of our theater partners to determine who Shakespeare’s best and worst couples are and what we can learn about love from their relationships.
1 comment:
This article made me giggle. I agree that Beatrice and Benedick are one of the healthiest couples, which is ironic because they spend most of the play insulting each other and are constantly fighting – but not about what matters. Their biggest source of true conflict, of course, is when Beatrice asks Benedick to kill his friend Claudio who dishonored her cousin, but even that he is willing to do. While the Macbeths are probably the least healthy in terms of their actions, at least they really care about each other, support each others’ dreams, and are interesting to watch… in my book, the worst couple would be Romeo and Juliet. The creepy age difference and the constant irresponsible decisions make them boring and foolish, if you ask me. There are so many unhealthy couples to choose from in Shakespeare; even though Beatrice and Benedick are winning, in their very own play, Claudio and Hero are a mess! Also, any pursuer of Isabella in Measure for Measure would be an obvious worst.
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