Much Ado About Nothing Don John Character Traits

Carson Linquist World Studies Mr. Thielen 20 Feb. 2017 Have you been in a situation where a person or persons have made much ado about nothing? Now imagine a close friend or "acquaintance" was the source behind it. Don John the villainous character in "Much Ado About Nothing", who again is called to be egotistic, self-centered, and also the most humorous but the most passive villain in Shakespeare's writings. Don John plays an important part in trying to separate Hero and Claudio. He also plays a part in getting each person against everyone else. The villain Don John in "Much Ado About Nothing" by William Shakespeare has many traits including being deceptive, renounced, and envious. One of most recognizable traits that Don John has is being

deceptive. Don John want to separate Hero and Claudio and ruin their marriage.

Don John uses his ability to convince Claudio, Don Pedro that Hero was disloyal by having Borachio and Conrad help impersonate Hero. When Don John learns about Hero getting married and him and Borachio hatch a plan he tells Borachio, "Grow this to what adverse issue it can, I will put it in practise. Be cunning in the working this, and thy fee is a thousand ducats" (Crowther), telling him to be good and cunning, and he will get 1000 of money. Don John wants to ruin everyones lives because feels that everyone is against him. Also he feels that he needs to be more self-centered. Though he tries to ruin the relationship, he ends up having to run away, but gets caught at the end of the book. Don John starts messing people up, but in the end being deceptive doesn't work out for him. Another Don John trait was him being renounced or him leaving people in the dust. Don John was a person who liked taking advantage of people. For example, Don John leaving Conrad and Borachio to be arrested. Don John also was renounced because he was the illegitimate child. He continued renouncing people after him, Claudio, and Don Pedro returned from the war at the beginning of the

book. You can see that Don John's trait of renouncing people has a huge impact on other people just like Conrad and Borachio, "My Lord, your brother John is ta'en in flight. And brought with armed men back to Messina"(Crowther).

Don John's wit has made him able to renounce other people and get away with it. Don John in the end doesn't renounce everyone, but his motive of getting people to hate each does make a problem in the story. Finally, in the end, Don John gets captured by guards and taken to Messina, so he doesn't get away. Don John last main trait, though not often looked at, is him being envious. Don John was an illegitimate child, saying he was born with a different mother than his brother making him of a lesser social class. Throughout the story Don John's action are based off the fact that he was the illegitimate child. Don John envy's his brother, Don Pedro, because his father preferred Pedro over him. His envy goes into every single idea he gets. This explains that Don John doesn't care for anyone, while trying to build mischief, "Will it serve for any model to build mischief on? What is he for a tool that betroths himself to unquietness?" (Crowther). Don John can't get past his envious behavior, so he makes people have much ado about nothing. Don John can't get his envious behavior out of his system, so he end up getting

caught. Conclusion- The traits of the villain Don John of being deceptive, renounced, and envious are included in William Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing". The story of Don John being characterized as a humble villain, shows that "Much Ado About Nothing" is a Shakespearian comedy. The story ends with the villainous Don John being captured and everyone being happy. These traits about Don John make this story an interesting comedy.