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This is a very broad question! It depends what theme you are talking about as there are many!

Focusing on characterisation, you could say the pairing of Beatrice and Benedick, and Hero and Claudio is used to develop the theme of the nature of love. Or rather, it asks the question of what love is. The two couples contrast throughout the play:

Hero and Claudio begin with what appears to be 'love at first sight', but this changes later on in the play when Claudio is 'duped' into denouncing Hero for infidelity. Though they do marry at the end of the play, questions rise as to whether they are actually in love, due to Claudio's immediate acceptance of Don John's tale of Hero's betrayal. Surely a man in love would at least question the accusation first?

In contrast, Beatrice and Benedick begin with apparantly no mutual feeling of love between them, but go on to be 'duped' into falling in love with eachother. The fact that they both make a conscious decision to requite the other's feelings, suggests the 'love' they feel is contrived and forced, more of a need for attention and affection than a genuine heart-felt emotion. This is especially highlighted by Beatrice's character at the masked ball, when she exclaims ' I may sit in a corner and cry heigh ho for a husband' implying she would like to be married in the future, though she spends the most part of the play outwardly rejecting this. Benedick's character seems less outwardly inlcined to marry, stating 'I will live a bachelor' to the mocking of Don Pedro and Claudio at the beginning of the play.

The portrayal of love by both couples strikes a note of uncertainty and a feeling of discomfort lingers at the end of the play. There seems to be no reason for both couples to be in love, as in both cases, deception is a contributing factor to their partnership. Can love be founded on deception?

This begs the nature of love itself. Is love an emotional attachment, or more of a conscious decision? Is the love felt by Beatrice and Benedick the same as the love felt between Hero and Claudio? This would be a good question to explore.

Hope this helps. It probably doesn't, it's a while since I studied Shakespeare but I have seen a LOT of performances of MAAN and read the play a million times. I could go on, but I wont!

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