Similarities Between Much Ado About Nothing And You Ve Got Mail

A romantic comedy is a work of art that depicts a relationship in a light and humorous manner (Dictionary.com, n.d.) Much Ado About Nothing by Shakespeare and You've Got Mail by Nora Ephron will be the two romantic comedies discussed throughout this paper. In both titles, deception plays an important role in revenge, in forming relationships, and in overcoming the opposition between two opposing forces. From a first glance, Much Ado About Nothing and You've Got Mail seem nearly identical, but upon analyzing these title's character involvement, the intent behind the character's actions, and the viewpoint behind the creators, it is evident that these titles differ when it comes to the role of deception opposing adversarial views.

Act I of Much

Ado About Nothing, Don Pedro learns that one of his close friends, Claudio, is in love with Hero, resulting in Don Pedro offering himself to deceive Hero and Leonato, Hero's father, into thinking that he is Claudio.

However, this leads into trouble in Act II as Don Pedro's brother, Don John, tricks Claudio into believing that Don Pedro is winning over Hero for himself. Although Don Pedro is Claudio's best friend, he is shockingly quick to believe that his friend is so willing to betray him. Subsequently Don Pedro returns and gives Claudio the news that Leonato supports the marriage, and Hero is happy to marry him. With this happy news on the table, Beatrice makes a comment that she will be single forever, and Don Pedro replies with an offer to marry her. After she rejects him, Don Pedro and his friends devise a plan to ensure Benedick, Beatrice's arch nemesis, and they fall in love together. This works, as Benedick and Beatrice both begin to see that they are not so terrible, and they decide to give the

other a chance. Meanwhile, Don John enacts a plan to trick everyone into believing Hero is unfaithful, and after a few hurdles, his plan becomes successful and Claudio publicly shames her and leave her in the dust. Benedick stays behind and comforts Beatrice, finally announcing his love for her and promising to challenge his own close friend, Claudio. In the final act, Hero pretends to pass away from grief, and Benedick accuses Claudio of slander. News comes that Don John's accusations were false, and Claudio and Don Pedro beg for forgiveness. They announce Hero's innocence and find that Hero is, in fact, still alive. Claudio agrees to marry Hero, and Benedick and Beatrice announce their love for each other, and also agree to marry.
In You've Got Mail, Kathleen and Joe, two bookstore owners, anonymously email one another about their passions.

Although they are both in committed relationships, they seemingly fall for each other's wit and charm through their emails. Kathleen, worried that her online friendship counts as cheating on her partner, reassures herself that "it's nothing" after relaying her concerns to her coworker. Later on in the film, Joe's bookstore becomes a huge hit in the neighborhood and sweeps away Kathleen's business. Alarmed, and unsure of how to solve this crisis, Kathleen decides she wants to meet her anonymous friend, NY152, and they plan to meet at a local café. When Joe arrives and sees that she is Shopgirl, he walks in preserves his anonymity while they hurl insults at each other. Afterward, Kathleen closes her store and breaks up with her partner, and Joe realizes he loves the relationship he had with Kathleen online so much that he dumps his significant other. Joe begins a mission to become friends with Kathleen, and apologizes for the pain he's put her through. Although she is kept in the dark about who NY152 is, they begin to grow close to each other and a deep friendship blooms. Kathleen finally has plans to meet NY152, but before she leaves, Joe confesses his love for her, which she refuses. She arrives at the designated park, and waits for NY152 and in the end finds out it was Joe all along. The movie ends as Kathleen says to Joe that she "wanted it to be

him."
First off, a clear distinction between the two titles is how many characters were involved in the act of deceit. In Much Ado About Nothing, almost every single character is involved in some act of trickery. Don Pedro is deceitful when it comes to winning his close friend's lover, and when he tricks another friend into falling for the woman he despises. Hero plays the deceit card when she tricks her cousin into falling head over heels for the man she previously could not stand. Don John deceives Claudio into thinking his best friend is a selfish liar, and he tricks the whole cast into thinking that Hero is unfaithful. Leonato and Hero also deceive the entire cast into thinking she passed away in order to win back Hero's innocence. On the other hand, in You've Got Mail there are only two characters who play a part in the role of deceit. Kathleen and Joe both hide their online relationship from their partners, knowing that they felt something toward the other person. For instance, they both agreed to meet while both were still in a relationship. In addition, once Joe knew that Kathleen was Shopgirl, he still chose to keep her in the dark until the end of the movie. Since Shakespeare had so many involved in the theme of deception, this shows that he seems to believe that deception is a common means to an end. While Nora Ephron plays down the theme of deception to two characters, showing that although it happens, it should not be a common practice.
Furthermore, another difference between these two titles is the intentions behind the act of deceit. In Shakespeare's play, the most prevalent form of deception is Don Pedro's plan to get Beatrice and Benedick together. At surface level, it seems as if he truly wants Beatrice to live happily ever after with Benedick. However, looking back a few lines, Don Pedro offered himself to Beatrice, and she outright rejected him by saying "no, my lord, unless I might have another for working days: your grace is too costly to wear every day." Since Don Pedro is a prince, and has a very high social and financial status in this society, he is most likely unfamiliar with the word "no" and certainly unfamiliar with the concept of rejection. Being rejected by a woman, let alone a woman like Beatrice, would certainly hurt his ego, and he would jump at any chance to enact revenge. It is immediately after her rejection, that he decides to set her up with Benedick. Don Pedro knows for a fact how much Benedick despised the concept of marriage, and how much contempt Benedick has of Beatrice, as illustrated by the quotes "if she should make tender of her love, 'tis very possible he'll scorn it, for the man (as you know all) hath a contemptible spirit," and "the sport will be, when they hold one an opinion of the another's dotage, and no such matter. That's the scene that I would see, which will merely be a dumb show." It is clear that Don Pedro knows that Benedick and Beatrice are incompatible, and he knows that pairing them up will be a train wreck. This seems to show that his true, selfish intention behind his plan is revenge, he wants Beatrice to suffer being married to Benedick since she rejected him.
Alternatively, in Nora Ephron's production, the motivation behind Joe's deception is not for the sake of revenge. Although he disliked Kathleen throughout the majority of the film, after he found out that she was Shopgirl, his feelings for her changed and he truly wanted to be with her. Joe worked his way up to being her friend and eventually expressed his love for her. His intentions were in fact selfish, but he acted out of genuine love and desire for her. This is evidenced by a quote Joe made "I met a man in an elevator today who knew exactly what he wanted, and I found myself wishing I were as lucky as he." Soon thereafter he broke up with his partner and decided he wanted to win over Kathleen. This shows that while Don Pedro and Joe both acted selfishly, one deceived someone out of spite, and the other deceived someone out of love. In considering the intentions behind deception, a comparison of Shakespeare and Nora