Hamlet Vs. Much Ado About Nothing

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Hamlet and Much Ado About Nothing

While Hamlet and Much Ado About Nothing have the same author they both have similarities and differences in themes. Some people live their life looking for love and never finding it, it is often said that you will find love when you least expect it. Both plays have common beliefs of love, marriage, however, death is viewed very differently.

Love in Hamlet is often depressing, even though love is wanted by all. What is the point in loving somebody if they are going to die anyway? When Hamlet denies his love to Ophelia she is hurt because she had believed that she had once been loved. She finds that she has never been loved, and may never find someone to love her which hurts her. Hamlet confesses his love at the death of Ophelia. He says “I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers/ could not with all their quantity of love/ Make up my sum. What wilt thou do for her?” (5.1 285-288). He does not want Ophelia to be dead because he wants her love back. Love does not always occur between a guy and girl in an intimate relationship. Love can happen between family members also. Hamlet has a strong love for his parents and is hurt to see them either die, or fall into a scheme of Old Hamlet’s brother in-law. Without love in our lives we would feel almost neglected by the world. After Hamlet’s father dies he desires his father’s love and comfort that he is unable to get. He turns to his mother after his father’s death and is turned away by her because she has other things to focus on rather than the grieving of Hamlet. Hamlet feels hurt by his mother’s actions and is jealous that she appears to love Claudius and not her own son. Love can often be depressing and hurtful, or happy and joyous but no matter wh...

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...ghts. Love in Hamlet was depressing, where as love in Much Ado About Nothing is happy and often love at first site. Even though the love comes off in a different matter the love in these plays drives the character to do what they feel. Marriage in Hamlet was used to achieve assets where as in Much Ado About Nothing marriage originated from love. Marriage is desired by all at some point in their life. Death all in all is a very depressing and touchy matter however in Much Ado About Nothing it is often perceived as a joke, or a game. Each play has ideas of love, marriage, and death however, they are both viewed differently.

Works Cited

Shakespeare, William. The New Cambridge Shakespeare: Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Ed. Philip Edwards. Cambridge: Cambridge U P, 1985.

Shakespeare, William. Much Ado about Nothing. Ed. A.R. Humphreys. New York: Routledge, 1994.

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