Much Ado About Nothing Essay

The play Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare consists of many themes which grow out of the ‘game of love'. The two main themes consist of perception and deception. Through the plot complications, character development and dramatic techniques these themes can be explored. In the play deception is shown on both good and evil sides, the game of love between Beatrice and Benedick and the Don John plot to split up Hero and Claudio. Perception is a theme used in most of Shakespeare's plays. Perceptive views by the characters help portray the game of love. Hero is perceived as dead which then Claudio is sorry and feels for her. Beatrice and Benedick's loved is clouded by each other's perceptions and arguments.

In the sixteenth century the role of women in society was very limited. Women were generally stereotyped as housewives and mothers. They were to be married, living their life providing for her husband and children. The patriarchal values of the Elizabethan times regarded women as the weaker sex.’ Men were considered the dominant gender and were treated with the utmost respect by females. Women were mainly restricted within the confines of their homes and were not allowed to go school or to university, but they could be educated at home by private tutors. Men were said to be the ones to provide for their families financially. Women were often seen as not intelligent. Property could not be titled in the name of a female within the family. Legally everything the female had belonged to her husband. Poor and middle class wives were kept very busy but rich women were not idle either. In a big house they had to organize and supervise the servants.

Drama text, Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare is a romantic comedy revolved around marriage, dishonesty and love. In 2007, the original play had been interpreted and adapted into a new film text; Much Ado About Nothing Shakespeare Retold. This new film version is an adaption for the modern audience who’s views around love and marriage have changed since Elizabethan times. Brian Percival ‘Retold’ the original play, first published in 1623 by reinterpreting it into his own understanding of modern society with the focus of women’s roles nowadays. Whilst doing this Percival has maintained many of Shakespeare’s intentions.

In William Shakespeare’s play Much Ado About Nothing, love has played a major rule as theme in this play. Shakespeare discussed different kinds of loving relationships; romantic love, family support and loyal friendship, and he shows how different characters react to love in many different ways. The main plot of Much Ado About Nothing is that of the relationship between Claudio and Hero, and the hidden love between Benedick and Beatrice. Similarly, deception is a big concept to consider as a theme in this play. Each of the main characters being the victim of deception; Shakespeare in this play shows that deception is not inherently evil, but can also be pure.

The purpose of this essay is to look at the Tropes that are present in the play Much Ado About Nothing and explore how they’ve influenced Modern Media. Specifically the genre of the Romantic Comedy which borrows heavily from Shakespeare’s Comedy plays. TV Tropes is a website dedicated to documenting and explaining these kinds of tropes so this is a necessary resource for this essay. In explaining what Romantic Comedy is and for the sake of having a consistent label for the tropes that will be discussed within this essay.

In my oral final, I will be exploring who the character Benedick is, from the comedic play Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare.  I will speak a little about his identity at the beginning of the comedy, then who he is compared to metaphorically, and finally about the development of his character throughout the play.   Initially, Benedick appears as a character meant entirely for comic relief, acting as if the most crucial part of his personality is his wit and humor. However, by the end of the play he is noticed as someone who can think clearly and make important decisions.

In the Elizabethan Era, men and women were treated completely different and seen as not the same. They basically saw the men as the earner and “money maker” whereas the women were viewed as just the housewives and mothers. The women were always expected to care for the children and nothing else because they felt that women could only raise children. People during this time viewed men as the superior sex because they were stronger and more tough than women were. Women, on the other hand, were seen as inferior and that they were fragile and had to be taken care of by their husbands or any other male that was somehow related to them.

What distinguishes Much Ado About Nothing from other plays is its ability to clearly illustrate the sexual roles of the time period. It is apparent in the female protagonists how they are socially constructed by gender. The social world of Much Ado About Nothing is “precariously founded on a denial of its most pervasive anxieties” and the “repressed fear of all that a woman represents” (Cook). Throughout the play, Shakespeare implies the world of female economy through a pair of dissimilar characters on their respective journeys to love. Whereas Hero is supposedly bought and sold to Claudio as if she were currency, Beatrice

In this play, Shakespeare pairs of Hero with Claudio and Beatrice with Benedick. Using quotes from the play, discuss why Beatrice would never marry Claudio and why Benedick would not find Hero to be as suitable as a wife for him as Beatrice.

The Elizabethan era is constructed on the bible, where women are the weaker vessel because they are formed from the men. According to Celik, Woman is responsible for the first sin because she offered the forbidden fruit to Adam. However, I disagree because God told Adam not to eat from the tree of life, not Eve. Eve today can be looked at as the temptations of life and Adam still had a choice. Women are the weaker vessel; however they can be manipulated as well as manipulative. Adam was punished for his disobedience and Eva was crippled for being manipulated. The above thoughts bring to some views in Shakespeare’s play Much Ado About Nothing. Beatrice is the only woman in the play who stands firm and seeks challenges from any man. Beatrice and Benedict’s characters were reversed according to

Shakespeare is one of the most famous play writers known to man, one of his many plays What Ado About Nothing had over a million views. The classic version of What Ado About Nothing (the original) is the better version because the lighting and sound changes based on the mood and creates the mood.

William Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing is set in thirteenth century Italy. The plot of the play can be categorized as comedy or tragicomedy . Villainy and scheming combine with humor and sparkling wordplay in Shakespeare 's comedy of manners. Claudio is deceived into believing that Hero, is unfaithful. Meanwhile, Benedick and Beatrice have "a kind of merry war" between them, matching wits in repartee. This paper will attempt to present the fact that Beatrice and Benedick are in love during the entire play despite their witty rivalries. Their friends ' schemes lead each to think that the other is in love, which allows the true affection between them which leads to the

Much Ado About Nothing Movie Review Cast: Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson, Denzel Washington, Keanu Reeves, Robert Sean Leonard, Kate Beckinsale, Richard Briers, Brian Blessed, Michael Keaton, Ben Elton Running Time: 1hr 5mins Introduction = == == ==

wit in a manner that is all too cosy. The irony is that, were it not

Shakespeare and the members of the Elizabethan era would be appalled at the freedoms women experience today.  The docility of Elizabethan women is almost a forgotten way of life. What we see throughout Shakespeare’s plays is an insight into the female character as perceived by Elizabethan culture.  Shakespeare’s female characters reflect the Elizabethan era’s image of women; they were to be virtuous and obedient and those that were not were portrayed as undesirable and even evil.