Essay on Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare

Deceit is the act of concealing or misrepresenting the truth. Deceit plays an important role in the plot of Shakespeare’s play Much Ado about Nothing. It also has a large influence on the relationships of the play. Much Ado about Nothing is a play written by William Shakespeare who is widely considered the greatest dramatist of all time. William Shakespeare was baptized on April 26, 1564, in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. From roughly 1594 onward he was an important member of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men Company of theatrical players. Over the course of 20 years, Shakespeare wrote plays that capture the complete range of human emotion and conflict. Like his play Shakespeare’s marriage to his wife was thought to be brought on by a deceit. A lot of mystery surrounds the marriage in 1582 of England’s greatest writer and Miss Hathaway, but scholars are sure on a few of the facts. Firstly, William was 18 years old and Anne was 26. At the time, an age difference of this type was very unusual. It is seeming that Anne Hathaway became pregnant prior to marriage which would have no doubt caused a scandal for both of the families. William Shakespeare 's father John would not have been pleased at the damaging effect that the gossip would have had on his own social standing in Stratford. A hasty marriage would have been arranged in an attempt to deceive the public that they had waited till after marriage to consummate their relationship. Another mystery is

Elizabethan marriage was not symbolic of true love and undoubtable romantic connection between a man and woman. Marriage was rather a convention between the wife’s father and husband in prospect, an agreement focused on wealth and benefits for the families involved. Love was irrelevant to the situation in most cases; money and social status were considered significantly more important. Everyone is society, desired marriage. The play contrasts love and marriage through Bianca and Katherine’s relationships. Bianca upholds the values of a Shakespearean woman externally; she demonstrates the passionate, true love with Lucentio that should bring two to marriage. This love did not comply with 16th Century marriage, Lucentio was so in love with Bianca he could not dominate and control her. When Lucentio sends for Bianca, she does not prioritise his commands; Petruchio mocks her disobedience with a rhetorical question, inhibiting Lucentio’s masculinity. “How! “She’s busy, and she cannot come!”/Is that an answer?” Baptista and Petruchio arranged Katherine’s marriage after inferring their exchange of wealth. “And for that dowry, I'll assure her of her widowhood/ be it that she survive me.” There was no physical or emotional attachment between the two, forced into a life commitment without further discussion. This lack of love involved

    Much Ado About Nothing is a lighthearted play that Shakespeare wrote between 1598 and 1600. It has been described as one of his "more mature romantic comedies" (Bevington, 216). This play focuses on two different relationships, formed by two pairs of lovers. The comparison between how people went about getting married back then and how they do it now is similar in some ways. Much Ado About Nothing portrays the manner in which people fall in love, the way they interact with each other and how they manage to get through the rough times without changing their love for one another. The two couples include the young ladies, who are cousins, Beatrice and Hero, and the

In Shakespeare 's play, Much Ado about Nothing, many contrasting views on the subject of love are dramatised in the relationships presented, particularly those of Benedick and Beatrice, and Claudio and Hero. These views help to shape the play into a comedy, due to the severe differences.

Both authors point to the writings of Juan Luis Vives to make their case (Chamberlain 4; Fleck 19). In his warning to Christian women about the fragile nature of their honor, Vives created a relic of the misogynist culture represented in Much Ado About Nothing (Fleck 21). The societal belief at the time Shakespeare is writing his play is that women are not to be trusted when it comes to sexual desires. With this ideology consuming the majority it is easy to see how Hero’s own father quickly loses faith in his daughter. Fleck claims the metonymy in Claudio’s statement paired with the misogynistic view of society allows Leonato and most others in attendance at the wedding to convince themselves that Hero’s shame is valid

Much Ado about Nothing by William Shakespeare, is a comical story of misunderstandings and funny feuds, but also contains heartfelt love stories, one in which contains an horrible miscalculation that leads to heartbreak and "death." That story is one of Hero, the governors daughter, who falls in love with Count Claudio, a lord from Florence. Claudio undoubtably feels the same and they quickly become engaged to be married the next week. All is well until the evil Don John devises a plan to ruin their upcoming marriage and pulls a stunt to trick Claudio into believing that Hero has been disloyal. At their wedding ceremony the following day, Claudio publicly shames Hero by revealing

The most shocking act of deception in Much Ado About Nothing was done to Claudio and Hero. Meredith Anne Skura mentions the utilization of what is known as “stock characters” in comedic plays. These are normally young boys with their female partners. Our stock characters in this play are Hero and Claudio. The two of them, unlike Beatrice and Benedick, begin their relationship immediately. The deception begins when Borachio finds out about Don Pedro’s plan to influence Hero for Claudio cause. At the party, Borachio and Don John bump into Claudio and try to make him think that Don Pedro is only enticing Hero for himself: “Signor, you are very near my brother in his love. / He is enamored on Hero” (2.1.155-6). After Don John and Borachio’s plan works, Claudio gives the

At a time in the play "Much ado about Nothing" Claudio refers to Hero as a "jewel." With this description of Hero as a "jewel" it can be thought that Shakespeare is using Claudio to convey to the audience the beauty of Hero. Shakespeare could also be explaining the way in which men own women and the way that women are property in the eyes of Shakespearean men. Beatrice clearly does not wish to be owned or considered property and worth of a woman. As it pertains to worth in regards to Hero, marrying Claudio can advance her father's Leonato business endeavors. Marrying Claudio could be seen as marrying a financial, stable, secure future for Leonato and for Hero.

We accept the love we think we deserve.Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare is a book about love and the drama that comes with it. Two characters in the book ,Claudio and Hero, love each other and plan to get married.This plan is crushed by a sad soul named Don John.

Claudio also does not seem to know much about Hero, thus explaining why he is asking Benedick about her.  He not only wants to know that his budding feelings are justified, but he wants to make sure that his choice of lady is indeed worthy of his honor.  Even if Hero is fair, if she will not compliment Claudio’s social status, he will not marry her (Ranald 74).  The notion of honor will come back to the forefront of this play later on.

Much ado about nothing is a play written by William Shakespeare set in Sicily, Italy that tells the love story of mainly two very opposing couples and their conflicts. The story is set in a very visually utopian world that has a lot of emotional struggles. In 1993 Kenneth Branagh made an adaptation of the play by turning into a film and changing it a bit to appeal to the more modern day audiences. I will be discussing how the theme of love is portrayed in both the movie and the play and how both Shakespeare and Branagh have composed the story to appeal to their audiences.

The play Much Ado About Nothing written by William Shakespeare is a romantic comedy. There are two main couples who are Hero and Claudio and the other couple are Benedick and Beatrice. Claudio thinks Hero is cheating on him because Don John makes up a lie to make Claudio believe Hero is unfaithful. Benedick and Beatrice have strong personalities so they clash, but they fall in love together. In the end, Hero is found out to be innocent and she is faithful, so Hero and Claudio get married in the end. The two couples have a hard time throughout the play to find out if one another loves each other and in the end the couples are happy together in the end of the play.

To start, at the beginning of the story Claudio and Hero had just met, yet they already seemed to start catch feelings for one another. Claudio says, “... All prompting me how fair young Hero is, saying I lik’d her ere I went to wars” (Shakespeare 15). I believe that this is more of a representation of lust versus true love. They have only recently met so they haven’t even had any

In modern times, a couple usually does not plan to get married less than a week after meeting. Yet in the small Italian town of Messina in William Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, the young Claudio and Hero plan to get married as soon as possible. That is, until Claudio is fed false information that Hero is not a virgin and slanders her at the altar. During the Elizabethan era when this play was written, most female roles and women in general were treated without respect as Hero was and were only prized on their physical characteristics. Much Ado About Nothing was an important play in the Elizabethan era because it dealt with social class boundaries and the roles of women.

According to the University of Massachusetts, between sixty-five and seventy-eight percent of lies go undetected.