Joss Whedon’s film-based appropriation of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing is one that many critics would argue supports Ben Jonson’s remark that Shakespeare was “not of an age, but for all time.” However, it would seem that the purpose of Whedon’s rendition of the play was not to prove Shakespeare’s universality across time, but rather to act as a service vessel for his implication of the absurdity of this current “He loves me/ he loves me not” generation. Young adults of today seem to struggle more than ever with the idea of love and monogamy. With the blossoming of “hook-up culture” came the withering of romantic relationship, a dying-out of people expressing their true emotions and feelings with one another. The film explores these issues of modern romantic conundrums with characters in which love is the biggest life issue they have to worry about, and while Jonson might believe that by adapting Much Ado About Nothing, Whedon is making some sort of grand statement that this problem existed way before our time and that Shakespearean romances universally represent all romances in some way, it’s much more plausible that he is using the play as a comedic microscope to allow us to see the ridiculousness of our behavior through the well-known ridiculousness of these characters. It is Shakespeare set in a modern day rom-com.
The text of Much Ado About Nothing features only a few lines that suggest Beatrice and Benedick might have once had a romantic history, whereas the film does so much more. In (name Act) Don Pedro says to Beatrice
“You have lost the heart of Signior Benedick,”
Beatrice responds,
“Indeed, my lord, he lent it me a while, and I gave him use for it… a double heart for his single one.” (…)
Unlike the play, Beat...
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...particular play acts as a vessel for this message of mocking self-indulgence and the tragedy of the lack of true love and suspicion of relationships that seems to define the present generation.
Another staple of out modern society is our loosening restrictions of sexuality. Whedon’s film takes on a level of sexuality in certain scenes only acceptable in contemporary times. While Shakespeare’s sexual double entendres seem meant more for comedy’s sake, in the film they are entwined in the acting itself, so much so that it causes certain relationships to take on new meaning.
Jonson’s assessment of appropriations of Shakespearean works is too simplistic. It is not that adaptations of his work prove the timelessness and universality of them as his work continues to serve as a vessel for shifting view points and ideals of different cultures of people as time goes on.
Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is a play commonly viewed and known as a true love story; however, after analyzing several hints portrayed by the protagonists, it is evident that Shakespeare did not intend to make Romeo and Juliet seem like a true love story but a criticism of how superficial society’s view on love is.
Feminist critics of Much Ado About Nothing, like Sylvia Townsend Warner, praise Beatrice for being "free and uninhibited" ("Women as Writers," Warner, 272). Beatrice is a strong female character who marries only after asserting her disapproval for the traditionally voiceless role of women in marriage and courtship relationships of the 16th and 17th c. Beatrice is a fearless verbal warrior, and Benedick is her greatest challenger. Their verbal bantering allow for each of their strengths and opinions to show, and together they glory in the challenge of their next duel.
Much Ado About Nothing is a tale of two very different relationships. The relationship between Beatrice, the niece of the Governor of Messina and Benedick, a close friend of the Nobleman Don Pedro and that of a young soldier called Claudio and The Governor’s young and beautiful daughter Hero.
Whedon's production of Much Ado About Nothing is a modern, black and white retelling of the famous Shakespeare play of the same name which tells the story of love and deceit between two couples: Hero and Claudio, and Beatrice and Benedick. While Hero and Claudio court and prepare to marry each other, Beatrice and Benedick steal the show away with their wit, humor, and constant bickering. Though they both insist that they hate each other, the flashback presented at the start of the film suggests that there is far more to the story than meets the eye. While the style of the film certainly enhances the story being told, making it a timeless classic entangled with modern society, it is the ensemble cast that work both individually and as a unit which make the film a true masterpiece, as well as the genius idea of a change in scenery that propels a sense of realism not often found in your average Shakespeare adaptation.
Kenneth Branagh creates his own individualistic adaptation of this classic through the use of visual imagery, characterization, and setting. Branagh cut many lines and speeches from the text to better support his interpretation of a more open and informal society of warm-hearted, affectionate characters. Though Shakespeare's mood is more formal, Branagh remains true to the essence of the play as all of the same characters and most of the dialogue are justly included in the film. Although distinct differences can be made between Branagh’s film and Shakespeare’s written work, they both share a common denominator of good old-fashioned entertainment; and in the world of theater, nothing else really matters.
Set in the sixteenth century, Much Ado About Nothing is revolved around the thought of love and marriage. Primarily, this is prevalent in the two main characters, Beatrice and Benedick. They have once been courted which suggests more maturity than the majority of couples in Shakespeare’s various plays. In the duration of the play, the violent language between Benedick and Beatrice is most evident through their ridicule. Both characters always speak critically regardless of whether they are talking to each other or out loud about one another. This is highlighted when Beatrice exclaims, “What should I do with him—dress him in my apparel / and make him my waiting gentlewoman? He that hath a / beard is more than / a youth, and he that hath no beard is less than a/ man; and he that is more than a youth is not for me, and he that is less than a/ man, I am not for him...
William Shakespeare has become landmark in English literature. One must be familiar with the early days of English literature in order to comprehend the foundation of much of more modern literature’s basis. Shakespeare’s modern influence is still seen clearly in many ways. The success of Shakespeare’s works helped to set the example for the development of modern dramas and plays. He is also acknowledged for being one of the first writers to use any modern prose in his writings.
Throughout, the play, Much Ado About Nothing, the characters within the play constantly degrade Don John to less than a human, because of his illegitimacy. These people treat him inferior to themselves, which in response makes Don John provoke chaos.
Entry 1: Act I. Don Pedro and his men return from the war and visit the house of Leonato and his brother, Antonio. This sudden meeting reunites Beatrice with her archrival, Benedick, and it is here that Claudio and Hero fall in love. React: Is it a In Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, there are the usual characters that show up in most of Shakespeare’s pieces.
Cohen, Walter, J.E. Howard, K. Eisaman Maus. The Norton Shakespeare. Vol. 2 Stephen Greenblatt, General Editor. New York, London. 2008. ISBN 978-0-393-92991-1
William Shakespeare once told us, "All the World’s a Stage" —and now his quote can be applied to his own life as it is portrayed in the recent film, Shakespeare In Love. This 1998 motion picture prospered with the creative scripting of Tom Stoppard and Marc Norman and direction of John Madden. The combined effort of these men, on top of many other elements, produced a film that can equally be enjoyed by the Shakespeare lover for its literary brilliance, or for the romantic viewer who wants to experience a passionate love story.
It is well known that Shakespeare’s comedies contain many marriages, some arranged, some spontaneous. During Queen Elizabeth's time, it was considered foolish to marry for love. However, in Shakespeare’s plays, people often marry for love. With a closer look into two of his most famous plays As You Like It and Twelfth Night or What You Will, I found that while marriages are defined and approached differently in these two plays, Shakespeare’s attitudes toward love in both plays share similarities. The marriages in As You Like It’s conform to social expectation, while the marriages are more rebellious in Twelfth Night. Love, in both plays, was defined as
Across the Universe of Time: Shakespeare’s influence on 21st century society. It is harder to imagine a more universal writer than William Shakespeare. Rarely, if ever, is one of his many plays not being performed anywhere in the world and similarly rare is the tertiary English student who has not examined his work at length. His plays, sonnets and poems are common fodder for high school English departments across the globe.
...portrayed in Shakespeare's As You Like It, and to examine the love relationships in it. Through a careful observation of the characters' perceptions about love, and of the way they engage in love relationships, we may conclude that the concept of love may be attributed different meanings, depending on individual and personal beliefs. Our conclusion may be derived from the various types of comic relations: familial, sexual, romantic, and friendship.
William Shakespeare and the new millennium seem to be diametrically opposed, yet his works are having a renaissance of their own after 400 years in the public domain. Why have some major film producers revisited his works when their language and staging would seem to be hopelessly outdated in our society?Perhaps because unlike modern writers, who struggle with political correctness, Shakespeare speaks his mind with an uncompromising directness that has kept its relevance in this otherwise jaded world.