...Major Themes in 'Much Ado About Nothing' Shakespeare’s treatment of love in Much Ado About Nothing differs from his other romantic comedies. Sure, it shares the same stagy plot, which finishes with the lovers finally getting back together, but Shakespeare also mocks the conventions of courtly love which was popular at the time. Although Claudio and Hero’s courtly marriage is central to the plot, their relationship is the least interesting thing in the play. Instead, our attention is drawn to Benedick and Beatrice’s unromantic backbiting – it is this relationship that seems more believable and enduring. By contrasting these two different types of love, Shakespeare manages to poke fun at the conventions of courtly, romantic love. Claudio uses highly contrived language when speaking of love, which is undermined by Benedick and Beatrice’s banter: “Can the world buy such a Jewel?” says Claudio of Hero. “My dear Lady disdain! Are you yet living?” says Benedick of Beatrice. As an audience, we are supposed to share Benedick’s frustration with Claudio’s transparent, pompous rhetoric of love: “He was wont to speak plain and to the purpose, like an honest man and a soldier … His words are a very fantastical banquet, just so many strange dishes.” Deception As the title suggests, there is a lot of fuss over very little in the play – after all, if Claudio wasn’t so impetuous, Don John’s rather weak plan wouldn’t have worked at all! What makes the plot so intricate is the use of deception...
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...characters in “Much Ado About Nothing” are the victims of deception, and because they’ve been deceived is the reason they act in the ways that they do. Even though the central deception is directed against Claudio in an attempt to destroy his relationship with Hero, it is the deception pertaining to Beatrice and Benedick which is the play's main focus. Almost every character in the play at some point has to make interpretations from what he or she sees, has been told or overheard. At the same time, nearly every character in the play at some point plays a part of consciously pretending to be what they are not. (Act I, Scene I) ”Thou wilt be like a lover presently and tire the hearer with a book of words. If thou dost love fair Hero, cherish it, and I will break with her and with her father, and thou shalt have her. Was't not to this end That thou began'st to twist so fine a story?” Here is when Don Pedro tries to put a spin on words making it sound like if Claudio really wants to be with Hero, they should first trick her into believing that Don Pedro is actually Claudio. They go on forward with the idea and as Don Pedro is swooning Hero with his words and charm at the masked ball and Claudio is actually eavesdropping near-by trying to make sure everything is going according to plan. Deception is one of the focal themes throughout the play which grows out of the love game. Deceit is not evil in nature; it can be used for the purpose good or bad outcomes. “In Much Ado About Nothing”...
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...The No Fear Shakespeare line by line translation offers a plaintive point of view of Shakespeare’s Othello. It has improved my understanding of the play as a whole and provided me with a new perspective. The most outstanding difference between the original play and the No Fear Shakespeare (NFS) text is the removal and simplification of the dialogue. Shakespeare uses a syntax that is sometimes difficult to understand, often putting the subject of a sentence after the verb. He also employs various types of figurative language such as metaphors, puns, and allusions. One benefit of reading the NFS is that it rearranges the original sentence structure to be more coherent. However, some of Shakespeare’s best work is lost in translation. While the...
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...“Much Ado About Nothing” is a comical play centered around scandals, love, and witty jokes. The antagonist of the play, Don John, schemes to make other characters suffer because of his on mishaps of being a bastard. As for the other characters, they play matchmaker to create happy relationships.Although “Much Ado About Nothing is depicted as a comical play, aspects of star-crossed lovers and deception reveal relevance to the moral of the story. In “Much Ado About Nothing,” deception, with the inherently evil connotation, reveals to have both negative and positive outcomes. Don Pedro disguises as Claudio in Act I and confesses his love to Hero at the mask ball because he feels that the two would make a perfect couple. Don John decides to...
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...In William Shakespeare’s comedy, Much Ado About Nothing, he uses the dialogue to show the transition of Benedick and his feelings toward Beatrice and marriage in general. Shakespeare uses the dialogue to show the reader the progression of Benedick’s outlooks on life go from hating Beatrice and the whole idea of marriage to then loving Beatrice and asking her to marry him. This kind of transition is very large and it can only be down by a great writer, such as William Shakespeare. Throughout the whole story Benedick shows very strong feelings toward both marriage and Beatrice, both good and bad, but in the end his true feelings are shown. In the very beginning of the book, after the war ended, Benedick and his fellow soldiers stay at a friend of Don Pedro’s house named Leonato. Leonato’s niece is named Beatrice, whom has a strong dislike of Benedick and vice versa. Benedick dislikes her so much that he states, “I will fetch you a toothpick from the furthest inch of Asia . . . do you any embassage to the pigmies, rather than hold three words’ conference...
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...MAAN: Love, what is it good for? Merriam-Webster dictionary defines love as “strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties;” Throughout the play, Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare, there is never really a love connection between the characters Benedick and Beatrice. In the beginning of the play, they despise one another and made witty comments about one another; not only that, but they also question why the other one loved them after overhearing the conversation between their friends. By this definition Beatrice and Benedick can't truly be in love, because of words spoken by their friends. At the start of the play, when Benedick first arrived in Messina, the first thing they did was make witty comments about...
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...Much Ado About Nothing Love Story Shakespeare My first impression of Much Ado About Nothing is that it would be a love story. Although it is categorised as a Shakespearean comedy, I found the many "funny" parts of the play were foggy and required you to read the scene over a few times before you understood them. But then again, I had to read the whole scene over again a few times to understand anything. All of the characters in Much Ado About Nothing seemed to develop a personality of their own from the very first scene. It also helped that I saw the movie version of Much Ado About Nothing before we read the play so I could almost get a picture in my head as to what each character looked like. As the character's had their own personality, so did the two love relationships in the play. Benedick and Beatrice seemed to hate each other so much from the very start of the play that as the play carried on it almost seemed like the two went full circle in their relationship. But their relationship might not have changed for the better without help from Claudio, Don Pedro, Leonato, Ursula or Hero. In Claudio's and Hero's relationship seemed to be much more conventional in the way they came together. Claudio first saw Hero and instantly fell in love with her, while Hero stood by and took orders from her father, Leonato. Only when Don John devised his deception to break Claudio and Hero apart that I felt the relationship was in trouble, but even...
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...Gloucester Loyal to the king ‘Because I would not see thy cruel nails pluck out his poor eyes’ This shows that Gloucester would not stand there and do nothing as Gonneril and Reagan destroy their father. His loyalty to the king is demonstrated as well as his bravery her as it leads to him being punished by having his eyes plucked out. Recognising his mistakes ‘Then Edgar was abused. Kind gods, forgive me that and prosper him’ It is ironic that Gloucester only realises his mistakes once he is blinded and only in blindness he begins to see clearly and tries to make up for his mistakes. This is similar to King Lear who only realises his mistakes once he becomes insane Rash and Impulsive ‘Bringing the murderous coward to the stake; He that conceals him, death.’ This shows that Gloucester is rash and impulsive as he doesn’t give his legitimate son a chance to explain himself and automatically assumes that he has done something wrong simply as Edmund had shown him a doctored letter and staged a fight to make it look like Edgar was a bad son and this shows that he is also foolish and impulsive as he fools for Edmunds deceit and immediately reacts harshly. Furthermore the punishment of death seems harsh as Edgar is Gloucester’s son. Adulterous ‘a son for her cradle ere she had a husband for her bed’ Gloucester is saying that Edmund’s mother had a child before she was married therefore highlighting the fact that Edmund was a bastard child. This shows how Gloucester has been...
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...Wake up in the Shakespeare play measure for measure and much ado about nothing . There were two women or falsely accused of both plays and starting off with the play what ado about nothing. One of the main characters hero who was a woman who was supposed to be wedded by Claudio was falsely accused of infidelity and Claudio let known these accusations at the wedding ceremony ( pg.137 act 4. Scene1) by denying her hand in marriage and accusing her of what he thought she did. The character hero was extremely embarrassed and mortified as well as her family. This also affected her virtue more so her standing and reputation in her community for the fact that he's saying that she is not pure that she's a liar and cheat within the story is completely crashes the character hero emotionally and psychologically. She falls into an extreme depression, which is very similar in comparison to the play measure for measure where the story of the character mariana introduced and told by the Duke to Isabella (pg.249 act3.scene1) where Mariana was to marry Angelo but was falsely accused of not being virtuous. So Angelo left her this brought her into a extreme depression and ruined her reputation a lot like in the play much ado about nothing character hero's situation. Both plays have different of showing these different natures of the accusations from both plays in much ado about nothing. The accusation was displayed in a very grand way to shame hero for what she was accuse that she had done in measure...
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...Romeo And Juliet and Much Ado About Nothing There are many similarities between Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing and Romeo and Juliet. Was this Intentional or Accidental? Even though Much Ado About Nothing is a comedy, and Romeo and Juliet, is one of his saddest tragedies, the two plots share many common incidents. Did Shakespeare mean to have these coincidences or did they happen by accident? In both of his dramatic works, the Masque is a key element furthering the infatuation of the lovers. Also the balcony scenes in both plays are crucial because without them the plot could never have reached its denouement. It seems that God came into both of the plays in the spirit of the friars, because they had good plans to keep love together. In both plays, the masque functions as a dramatic device which initiates the love plot. It occurs in a social gathering, but not without the help of costumes. If it were not for costumes the result of love might have been drastically different. How was the masque used to get lovers together? In the case of Romeo and Juliet, Romeo hears about the masque and decides to go, thinking that he might be able to get away with this scheme. Upon entering he sees Juliet and right away, he knows it is love. If he had not worn the costume, the hosts might have ejected him from the party and he might not have met Juliet. Much Ado About Nothing has a similar...
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...Essay: What atmosphere does Kenneth Branagh create at the start of his film version of much ado about nothing and where in the play is the source of his ideas? In the act 1 of the scene 1 of much ado about nothing by William Shakespeare, a messenger arrives in the Italian town of Messina, with a letter that informs the kindly Leonato that he will welcome to Messina some soldier friends who are coming from a victorious battle. These friends are Don Pedro of Aragon, a nobleman, and Claudio, a warrior. Hero, Leonato’s daughter and Beatrice, her cousin, accompany him. Beatrice and another soldier of Don Pedro’s army, Signor Benedick, are in a “merry war” but they never saw each other. Beatrice cleverly mocks and insults Benedick. There are no stage directions so this leaves the stage director lot of freedom to achieve the adaptation. The opening of the film version isn’t the same as the book version; the film starts with a poem recited by Beatrice, but Shakespeare original version starts directly with the messenger that arrives. Firstly, in the film adaptation of much ado about nothing by William Shakespeare, at the beginning, Kenneth Branagh creates conviviality and a merry atmosphere that isn’t really described in the play thanks to: - The landscape and the climate, the bright light of the sun. They live in Messina, in Sicily, and Sicily is known for the hot climate. After the poem of Beatrice, at the beginning, we see a painting of Messina; it shows that Messina is picturesque...
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...“You’ve stained your virtue with your own actions. What man were you talking to at your window last night, between the hours of midnight and one?” (Shakespeare 157) In Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare, a man named Claudio falls in love with the governor's daughter named Hero. Don John Convinces Claudio that she was unfaithful, so Claudio accused her at the wedding. Afterwards, Claudio falls in love with her again while Benedick and Beatrice fell in love with each other. In Much ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare, Claudio serves as the foil character of Benedick by which Claudio’s gullible ways are illuminated through Benedick’s intelligence; thus partially influences the climax. Claudio and Benedick contradict each other because Claudio is Charming, as Benedick is disagreeable. In act I, scene I of Much Ado About Nothing, Claudio pulls Benedick aside to find out whether he found Hero pleasant. Benedick says that she is pretty enough for him. Claudio believes that Hero is the prettiest girl in Messina, but Benedick doesn’t agree with Claudio....
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...from ones looks, but from their beauty within. In the play Much Ado About Nothing by Shakespeare, there’s many couples that end up in love. Some actually are in love while others just associate the title of love with them, this including Hero and Claudio. In the play, a brave and heroic young man, Claudio, supposedly falls in love for the governors young and beautiful daughter, Hero. When their love is put up to the task, it fails miserably, leading to the conclusion that Hero and Claudio are not in love. When Claudio first sees Hero he instantly falls in love with her before getting to know her, therefore only falling in love with...
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...Beatrice is a strong-willed, independent woman. How far do you agree with this statement? I would agree for the most part with this statement. Beatrice is indeed strong-willed, but her independence has its limitations. As with many Shakespearean characters, appearance can be deceptive, and what we see is only a facade, a mask to hide their true character or feelings. I believe that Beatrice uses her cleverness and quick wit to hide her real feelings, and that although she is independent to a certain extent, she is aware that she has limitations because of her gender. Although Beatrice states ‘I would rather hear my dog bark at a crow than hear a man swear he loves me’ she is ultimately fooled into believing that Benedick loves her. The fact that she is tricked so easily, and subsequently admits her reciprocal love, tells us that she views marriage in a more favourable light than she had previously led us to believe. Whether she gave in to the ‘social construct’ demanded by the patriarchal society in which she lived is questionable. What we do know is that Shakespeare has presented her as a wilful, self-confident, autonomous woman who appears to revel in her single status. In contrast we have Hero, the antithesis of Beatrice. She is meek, obedient and completely dominated by the men in her life. She is the perfect foil for Beatrice, her willingness to please further enhancing Beatrice’s character. It is clear from the start of the play that Beatrice is not an...
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