Shakespeare 's Much Ado About Nothing, Othello, And A Winter 's Tale

In Shakespeare’s play Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare examines the fragility of the male ego and its domination over women in an effort to critique the patriarchy during the Elizabethan Era. In the play, chaos is created and authority in exercised by the male characters with no regard for reason or evidence. This highlights their baseless need to protect themselves at all costs, no matter the effect it may have on the opposite sex.

Though Borachio hears that Hero, Claudio, and Don Pedro settle the confusion and Claudio and Hero are still getting married, he still feels that there is time to create more conflict to prevent this seemingly inevitable marriage. Being the love interest of Margaret (Hero's waiting woman) allows Borachio to conjure up another plan to accomplish this task. After devising a plan to make it seem as though Hero is being unfaithful to Claudio, Borachio goes to Don John and advises him that Claudio and Don Pedro "will scarcely believe this without trial . . . hear me call Margaret Hero, hear Margaret term me Claudio" (2.2.40-44). Borachio and Margaret are at the window, and from Claudio's view, he cannot tell that it is Margaret, not Hero, in the window with Borachio. Henceforth, this mistaken identity causes the main conflict in the play, one where Borachio takes the role of the villain. Because Don John has a reason to hate his brother, Borachio's acts seem much more villainous because he has no direct motivation. Having the full intention to disrupt the marriage of Claudio and Hero, Borachio develops his plan on his own and is offered compensation from Don John subsequent to this development. Don John tells Borachio that his "fee is a thousand ducats" (2.3.53), making Borachio's only obvious direct motivation receiving full compensation for his villainous actions. Borachio's misleading act sets the stage for the

Human nature is often considered in isolation from the rest of the world as if it would be an exception or a special case. In Shakespeare’s Much Ado about Nothing, the complexities of human nature are explored in depth. This essay will explore in particular how Shakespeare dramatises the concepts of human misunderstandings, deception and dichotomy through effective dramatic techniques.

When Borachio comes with the news of an approaching marriage, Don John plans to create mischief for the wedding. But after he comes to know that Claudio is the one getting married, he shows off his animosity towards Claudio and hopes he can spoil the wedding, “Come, come let us thither. This may prove

Shakespeare is known for his use of recurring themes throughout his work, including love, death and betrayal. These themes are present in his work of Othello. However, the most fundamental issue is jealousy. The lives of the characthers in Othello are ruined by jealousy from the beginning to the end of the play. The telling of the story is carried out by passion, jealousy, and death. Shakespeare’s Othello reveals devastating tragic inevitability, stunning psychological depth, and compelling poetic depth; the fragility and mysterious power of love, as well as demons of doubt, and how suspicion can be triggered by manipulative villain (Barthelemy 12).

heavens forbid. But that out loves and comforts should increase even as our days do

William Shakespeare’s play Much Ado about Nothing traverses the complex social, and emotional trials and triumphs of romantic relationships; Shakespeare’s perspective on the subject is both very similar to ours today, and different. Although filled with sexual innuendos, and humorous trickery and shenanigans, Much Ado about Nothing also dives into the complexities of social anxieties, defense mechanisms to cope with the social pressures, and the emotions involved.

The relationships in Shakespeare’s plays are never simple and even less so when one narrows the field to his tragedies. In the case of Iago and Othello this complicated relationship is made more so by the interwoven theme of appearance verses reality. The idea of Iago, the wolf in sheep’s clothing, fighting both for and against his master that permeates the play. Othello, however, a seasoned warrior being unable to see through the guise is a flaw his companion takes advantage of. Iago’s hatred is the biggest mystery of this play, making the reader wish Shakespeare had written a prequel.

William Shakespeare’s play, The Tragedy of Othello: The Moor of Venice presents a man who is undone by his own insecurities, as well as strong female characters who lead to the downfall of the men. The character of Othello allows others to control how he feels and this leads to a tragedy that could have been prevented. The source of this tragedy comes from within himself. His character is completely wrapped up in his wife Desdemona’s character and interestingly enough, as soon as her character starts to decline from the words of Iago, so does Othello’s. Unable to stand on his own, Othello is more concerned with outwardly appearances than Desdemona. He puts more pressure on her, than he does himself in regards to his character and how he

In Much Ado About Nothing, at the masked party, Claudio believes Don Pedro has wooed Hero for himself, and Claudio says, “...Let every eye negotiate for itself, and trust no agent; for beauty is a witch against whose charms faith melteth into blood this is an accident of hourly proof, which I mistrusted not. Farewell, therefore, Hero” (Shakespeare 23). Don John’s first attempt of mischief almost succeeded and could have foiled Claudio’s plan to woo Hero. This was a close call, and if Claudio had just left in anger or sadness, this problem would not have been resolved. However, Don John and his lackeys try again. Just as Claudio and Hero are about to get married, Claudio says, “But fare thee well, most foul, most fair; farewell thou impiety and impious purity. For thee I’ll lock up all the gates of love, and on my eyelids shall conjecture hang to turn all beauty into thoughts of harm, and never shall it be more gracious” (Shakespeare 68). Claudio believes Hero is being unfaithful when it is all a trick. At this point, the wedding is ruined and the conflict of the story has been set in motion. Don John has succeeded, and this has dramatically influenced the conflict in the

He wants to see his brothers plans deteriorate. In Much Ado About Nothing Don John is trying to convince Claudio that Don Pedro is trying to get Hero for himself. “Signor, you are very near my brother in his love. He is enamoured on Hero, I pray you dissuade him from her. She is no equal for his birth. You may do the part of an honest man in it” (Shakespeare, 22-23). Don John is trying to disengage Claudio’s trust in Don Pedro by telling him a lie. Claudio originally believed that Don Pedro would get Hero to marry Claudio, but after hearing this deceiving lie, he has lost all trust in Don Pedro. After Don Pedro stuck to his word he called over Claudio saying “I’ faith lady, I think your blazon to be true, though I’ll be sworn, if he be so, his conceit is false. Here, Claudio, I have wooed in thy name, and fair Hero is won. I have broke with her father and his good will obtained” (Shakespeare, 27). Don Pedro won over Hero to take Claudio's hand in marriage. After hearing the lie told by Don John, he is relieved. Don Pedro is conveyed as a man of his word. This now makes Don John look like a

Love, as we know, is a mystifying emotion. Even Sophocles, one of the three Greek tragedians whose plays have survived, stated: “One word frees us of all the weight and pain of life: That word is love”. As these four simple letters come together, everything else in the world is forgotten. This complicated emotion is held responsible for starting as many battles as it has ended and overall creating the world’s strongest bonds. Yet, what is love? The Oxford dictionary defines love as a strong feeling of affection but in the end, there are millions of ways that each individual defines love according to their experiences. One individual in particular is Shakespeare, who is widely known for expressing the significance of love in various plays of his, as he portrays several branches of love such as friendship, parental love, and romantic love. In Much Ado about Nothing, Shakespeare demonstrates the ways in which Claudio and Hero’s love shows the triumph of imagination over intelligence compared to Benedick and Beatrice’s love which also shows the triumph of imagination over intelligence throughout the beginning but slowly progresses into intelligence over imagination towards the end. Claudio and Hero’s love revolves around imagination over intelligence as a result of their sudden romance while Benedick and Beatrice’s love revolves around intelligence over imagination because of the true love that they express towards each other.

Don John's malevolent plan to ruin Claudio and Hero's wedding was to take effect the night before they were to wed. The malicious Don John constructed, or rather misconstructed, the scheme that insinuated Claudio's belief in Hero's faithlessness. It is Don John who reports to Claudio and Don Pedro that Hero is having an affair, and he who stage-manages an elaborate charade featuring his own henchman Borachio and an unwitting stand-in for Hero to lend credence to this fiction. Perhaps the most significant thing to be noted in connection with this deception is that the spectator does not witness the crucial scene in which Claudio overhears the counterfeit exchanges between Margaret and Borachio that persuade him of Hero's guilt. We learn of this episode only at second hand, when Borachio boasts of his exploit (Lucking).

"Othello is set in a world and focuses on the passions and personalities of its major figures." (Thomas). Othello is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The work revolves around four central characters: Othello, Othello's wife Desdemona, his lieutenant Cassio and advisor Iago. The play appeared in seven editors between 1622 and 1705. The themes of the story are racism, love, jealousy, and betrayal. Othello is a black soldier who is accused of stealing his wife Desdemona. Although Desdemona's father dislikes his daughter's choice, Desdemona loves Othello very much and the two are married. Othello’s right hand man is angered at the fact that Othello picked a man named Cassio to be more important than him and he also feels that he is messing with his wife. Iago plans to manipulate Othello but his plan eventually causes more hurt to most of the characters. Iago tries to use the meeting between Cassio and Desdemona as a way to make Othello believe she was cheating on him. Iago goes on with his manipulative plan by planting a handkerchief in Cassio's room, and goes and tell Othello about what he has seen Cassio do. Othello becomes jealous throughout the story and begins to believe that Cassio is talking to his wife. Iago persuades Othello to come up with a master plan to kill Cassio and Desdemona. As Othello tries to kill Desdemona, Emilia, Iago's wife, comes in to tell Othello the truth about Iago. Unfortunately it is too late. Othello had already suffocated her. When Othello

In the play The Winter’s Tale by William Shakespeare, exists two different types of characters: dynamic characters, meaning characters who change throughout the play by learning and growing through their experiences, and static characters, meaning characters that stagnate from the beginning to end.