Comedic and serious elements in Act Two of Much Ado About Nothing

Act Two, scene one begins with some comedy. Interestingly, this time it doesn't involve the Benedick Vs. Beatrice arguments that so dominated the comedy in act one, it only involves Beatrice being witty to Leonato after having been told that she should get a husband. Nothing serious in that opening, but it just underlines that Beatrice does not want to marry.

From line 100 to line 110 there is some comedy that (shock) doesn't actually involve either Benedick or Beatrice! It's all about Antonio pretending not to be himself to Ursula. He is able to do this because by this point, all the characters are wearing masks at a "masked ball". Those ten lines of Antonio to Ursula flavored comedy, it turns out, were actually just a set up for the thirty lines that follow which taste distinctly of Benedick and Beatrice. In them, Beatrice insults Benedick to somebody in disguise. Of course, us audience members can tell that the person is actually Benedick, but Beatrice has no idea, which is what makes it funny.

From line 141 to 167, Don John convinces Claudio that Don Pedro is going to marry Hero. This could be taken as comedic, because of just how quickly and easily he falls for it, but personally, I think it to be serious, because, just like that, Claudio calls Hero a "witch" and says that "friendship is constant in all other things save in office and affairs of love" about Don Pedro. So Claudio is ready to denounce his best friend who he's been together with through a war and the lady that he fancies, just because of what Don John told him. This shows the audience that Claudio is an impulsive character and also foreshadows the events of act four scene one...

 After those serious few lines, we get some comedy. From 219 to 239,  Benedick rants about Beatrice and how he would never, ever marry her. In fact, Benedick makes it so clear that he would never marry her that the audience all know that he means precisely the opposite and before the end of the play, Benedick and Beatrice will be married. If it had been Claudio ranting about Hero, then everything would be different. It would be a serious rant because Claudio is a serious character, whereas the audience know that Benedick is joking because that's what he does, joke, although from line 255 to 258, Beatrice does give a hint that they have a history together. Apparently Benedick won her heart with "false dice" making her now say that she has "lost it". Again, as with Benedick's rant, if that had been said by a serious character like Claudio or Hero, then you might have had some misgivings about their relationship, but as it was said by Beatrice, the audience all but knows that she'll get it back. From the 335th line to the end of the scene, Don Pedro, Leonato, Claudio and Hero all conspire to get Beartrice and Benedick into a "mountain of affection", so even the characters in the play know that those two would secretly, deep down want to be together!

Act two scene two is an extreamely short scene, it's only fifty one lines, but all of them are serious. In this scene, Don John and his follower Borachio plot how to ruin Claudio and Hero's marrage. All very serious, but sometimes there needs to be serious scenes to make the comedic scenes more funny.

In act two, scene three, Benedick rants again about how he shall be a batchelor all his life, double underlining it to anyone in the audience that didn't get it the first time that Benedick will get married before the end of the play. From line 90 right through to line 214 Leonardo and Don Pedro discus, within the earshot of Benedick, how much Beatrice loves him. This is most definately comedic as we know that Beatrice says the very opposite about Benedick, but Benedick himself doesn't know this and is so tricked into believing that Beatrice actually does fancy him. The act ends with yet another comedic conversation between the two B's. It would seem rather like scene three were trying to make up for scene two's seriousness by containing so much comedy, for that's what the play is meant to be, anyway.