How do the authors establish the relationships in the first extracts?

In ‘Much ado about nothing’ Shakespeare establishes the relationship between Benedick and Beatrice as one of which is filled with hatred. In act 1 scene 1 Benedick and Beatrice meet for the first time on stage and they immediately are in an argument. The first thing that Beatrice says to Benedick is, “I wonder that you will still be talking, signor Benedick; nobody marks you.” By addressing Benedick first it shows that she want to talk to him. Beatrice seems to be paying Benedick quite a lot of attention. Even by the first line that they meet it is clearly established that Beatrice and Benedick have a very confrontational relationship. This scene is written in prose, which shows that they could be hiding their true feelings, as prose is the language people use when they are tricking someone or being deceitful. In this scene Benedick refers to Beatrice as “lady disdain,” disdain means looking down on something so this could imply that Benedick looks down on Beatrice. This could be for a number of different reasons, including the fact that she is a woman and in Elizabethan time it was a patriarchal society and he is to be called ‘signor’. Beatrice is portrayed as an unusual woman as she is arguing back to Benedick and in Elizabethan times that wouldn’t have been acceptable. The audience would find this very shocking but also quite funny. ‘Much ado about nothing’ is a play and in Elizabethan times a play would mainly be seen by men so it is written for a male audience, also Shakespeare was a man so it is written from his perspective of woman. Beatrice ends the argument with “you always end with a jade’s trick; I know you of old.” When she says, “I know you of old” she is saying that they have had a history together which could explain why they are so bitter towards each other even though it is the