Dramatic Irony In Much Ado About Nothing

Dramatic irony is in speeches or a situation of drama and is understood by the audience but not grasped by the characters in the play. For instance when Judge Danforth and Elizabeth Proctor were talking; Danforth: "We are given to understand that at one time you dismissed your servant, Abigail Williams...Why did you dismiss Abigail Williams?" Elizabeth:"She dissatisfied me; And my husband" (Act IV). This quotes shows dramatic irony when Elizabeth lies to protect Johns reputation, but what she does not know is that John himself has already confessed to adultery. Thus both of their reputations are damaged, John’s for adultery and Elizabeths for

Dramatic irony occurs where the readers knows something that a character or characters does not.

The most obvious use of dramatic irony is in the prologue. The chorus summarizes the entire play in a fourteen line

An example of dramatic irony is when Fortunato tells Montresor not to worry about his health and that “the cough is a mere nothing; it will not kill me. I will not die of a cough” (POE 238) Montresor then replies, “True–true.” When the reader reads this, they see that Fortunato is clueless of Montresor’s true plan is and while he tells Fortunato he will be all right. That he will not die, he is planning to kill him. This is dramatic because we as the reader feel a sense of sorrow because we know the truth about what will

Shakespeare uses numerous literary devices such as dramatic irony throughout the play. Even though all of these examples are different, they all share the same central idea. The central idea of these examples of dramatic irony is the love that Romeo and Juliet express towards each other. An example of dramatic irony from the play occurs towards the end of Act three. This is when Lady Capulet and Juliet discuss the conflict of Romeo and Tybalt. Lady Capulet thinks that Juliet is crying because Romeo killed Tybalt. Romeo killed Juliet’s cousin, after Tybalt had killed Romeo’s good friend Mercutio, right in front of him. However, it is evident to the audience that Juliet is crying over Romeo because he has been banished from Verona, for

Shakespeare’s use of metaphors throughout “Much Ado About Nothing” helped us better understand the depth to the characters. This was especially true for the hilarious couple Beatrice and Benedict. In the beginning, it seemed as though they would never get along. However, as they continue to bicker, the reader begins to pick up on the playful- flirty nature of the bickering. Shakespeare’s use of metaphors makes this particularly apparent, and quite entertaining. We can see that Beatrice and Benedict don’t really hate each other because they say things that are mean, but are also very hinting and flirtatious.

In the play Othello, Shakespeare uses many literary devices to help the reader understand the theme of the story. One of those many literary devices used in the play, is the wide range of irony. Throughout the pages of the book the reader will see the use of dramatic, situational, and verbal irony. Shakespeare does not use irony in an understated way, it is very direct, and can be found on almost every page of the book. The use of irony creates suspense, and adds interest as to what will happen.

-Shakespeare employs dramatic irony in many of his tragedies, so that the audience is engaged, and so they are able to witness characters errors in their action, predict the fate of the characters, and experience feelings of tragedy and grief.

In Shakespeare’s comedy, Much Ado About Nothing, young love prevails despite many conflicts. A comedy can be defined as a literary structure that moves toward a happy ending and implies a positive understanding of human experience. Shakespeare employs the use of the elements of comedy to express that people make a big deal about things that do not matter. Much Ado About Nothing fits the mold of a comedy because it follows the rules of a comedy.

Much Ado About Nothing, written by William Shakespeare, is a dramatic production that uses the tools of deception and humor under the category of comedy. As defined by Paul N. Siegel, “A comic play is usually accepted to be a light-hearted play with a happy conclusion.” Yet, Shakespearian tragic plays often use deception as a method to damage the role of the hero. In other Shakespearian tragedies like Othello and Richard III, deception is one of the main tools used to gain a victory over the hero. A Shakespearian tragedy is defined to be a hero afflicted with moral or emotional weight that ends in his or her destruction or

Much Ado about Nothing is a romantic comedy written by William Shakespeare. Deception is a repeated theme throughout the play and it performs an essential role in the matters relating to romance. There are two couples who unwittingly are participants in the matchmaking and the match breaking schemes of others. There is Claudio of Florence and Benedick of Padua who arrive at Leonato’s house in Messina with Don Pedro, after being away in battle. Then, there is Hero, Leonato’s daughter, and heir, as well as her devoted cousin, Beatrice. In Much Ado about Nothing Shakespeare uses language and literary devices to reassure the audience that love will persevere and prevail in the end. He achieves this by juxtaposing Benedick and Beatrice with Claudio and Hero.

“Much Ado About Nothing” is a comedy by Shakespeare about love and misunderstandings between several characters. Claudio and Hero are in love but Claudio is led to believe that Hero has been unfaithful while Beatrice and Benedick both love each other but will not admit it. Since the story is a comedy that deals with serious issues such as infidelity and deceit, the mood shifts often between positive and negative moods, as shown in my diagram. In the diagram, the closer the point is to the top, the more positive the mood was during the scene and the closer the point is to the bottom, the more negative the mood was. While some scenes only had positive moments, others had both positive and negative.

Although the word tragedy is often depicted as an occurring event that leads to catastrophic calamities and misfortunes, the Greek philosopher Aristotle determined that a tragedy, like all poetry, is a kind of imitation that aim’s to bring about the “catharsis” of the spectators and arouse in them a sensation of pity and fear. Shakespeare is very well known to uses these elements in his plays to display emotion in the audience. The play Much Ado About Nothing should be considered a Shakespearean tragedy due to several elements that take place throughout the play. These elements include Catharsis, A struggle between Good and Evil, and External Conflicts that are all present in the play and that are essential to a tragedy.

Dramatic Irony is present several times in The Merchant of Venice, for example, in act four scene one when Bassanio remarks that he would give everything up for Antonio, including his wife, Portia disguised as Balthazar responds, “Your wife would give you little

Dramatic irony occurs when the reader is aware of more than the character in the narrative. The reader possibly sees the significance of a characters actions before the actual character does. Again, "Porphyria's Lover" is a poem that also exhibits dramatic irony. By the end of this poem, the reader is aware that the main character is a psychopathic killer, however, he is completely unaware that his actions were wrong. After he murders Porphyria, believing that he had fulfilled her wish to be with him forever, he "warily oped her lids: again laughed the blue eyes without a stain. And I untightened next the tress about her neck; her cheek once more blushed bright beneath my burning kiss."(44-48) The speaker in in this poem is telling his story in a nonchalant, unemotional manner, while the reader in continuously coming to terms with the fact that the speaker is an upset maniac.