Much Ado About Nothing and Twelfth Night are two of Shakespeare’s most successful comedies. Some may say that the two poems are like day and night, much different from one another. But it will be proven to you that they are very similar. Shakespeare incorporates many of the strong elements of Much Ado About Nothing into Twelfth Night and vice-versa. The characters also share common traits across both plays. The settings have a slight utopian feeling, as both worlds are based on Italy. Even the plots have big similarities as they are both based on love, power, wealth and marriage. Firstly, the characters in both plays share many characteristics. There are people in power, the poor, the evil and the fools. Messina’s police force in Much Ado About Nothing is made up of unpaid citizens, with Dogberry and Verges as the officers. They are very foolish and it seems that they were written into the play just to be foolish and make the audience laugh. This is similar to Feste’s, the allowed fool, role in Twelfth Night. However, Feste also sings songs to the family and had thrown an unappreciated party. Sir Andrew Aguecheek can also be quite the fool, for instance he uses the word ‘methinks’ in line 82 of Act 1, Scene 3; "Methinks sometimes I have no more wit than a Christian or an ordinary man has." Olivia and Hero also can be compared. They are the leading characters in Twelfth Night and Much Ado About Nothing, respectively. They are both, young, female, and live in expansive mansions with overflowing gardens. Throughout the plays they are both trying to find a husband. Olivia, at the start of Twelfth Night, falls in love with Cesario, who is really a girl, Viola, in disguise to find work. But, Olivia does not find out until the end ... ... middle of paper ... ...s garters. While Malvolio is reading the letter in the gardens, Maria, Sir Andrew Aguecheek and Sir Toby Belch are all eavesdropping and laughing at how he’s falling for it. After that Malvolio goes to see Olivia, and gets locked in the jail for acting crazy. The endings of both plays follow a similar path; almost everyone is happy and full of joy. At the end of Twelfth Night Sir Toby Belch and Maria marry and Malvolio is brought out from the jail, covered in dirt and in an awful situation. Much Ado About Nothing’s ending ends with Hero and Claudio getting married and all the characters are out, singing and dancing. Therefore it can be proven that Twelfth Night and Much Ado About Nothing are very similar Shakespeare plays. The years they were written, plots of the stories, characters and their traits and settings used, all prove that they are very alike.
The modernization of nearly outdated and cliché settings typically used for Shakespearian plays such as Much Ado helps enforce Whedon's attempt to make the film and play familiar, as well as creates accessibility for the audience regardless of how well they may understand Shakespeare's language. Both the ensemble and individual cast members assist in achieving Whedon's vision by creating an atmosphere that seems familiar if only that it could be our own family and friends throwing that same banter back and forth between each other. Their playful and occasionally raw performances combine with a spectacular setting to help make Whedon's Much Ado About Nothing a stellar film that is a nearly perfect modern translation of a classic, centuries old
In William Shakespeare’s play ‘Much Ado about Nothing’, there are many instances of trickery and deception, which seem to surround the whole of the play.
"Much Ado About Nothing: Entire Play." Much Ado About Nothing: Entire Play. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Mar. 2014. .
...rney from an insecure and paranoid boy to becoming a man worthy for woman such as Hero. He started the play as a vain young man mostly concerned about his appearance and his own selfish love and the perks that came with it. However, people learn from their mistakes and this is evidently true in Claudio’s case. The plays ends as all of Shakespeare’s comedies do, with Claudio and Hero dancing with the rest in the harmonious dance of life. In Much Ado About Nothing Claudio begins the play with a tendency to be very gullible and paranoid about everything, and he continues to show his immaturity by seeking revenge when he is upset; Claudio finally matures when he accepts that he was wrong and is willing to take the punishment that goes with his mistakes.
Transformations inherently contain traces of the author’s social and cultural context. Much of the same can be applied to “Much ado about nothing”. It incorporates comical features, yet retains the sense of tragedy which is attached to almost all of Shakespeare’s plays. Brain Percival’s role as a director, was determining, understanding and distinguishing the social norms and the social structure of the society, and how the themes represented in the play can be transformed into a modern text. The Elizabethan society was typically a patriarchal society. Percival has used as well as transformed certain themes and textual features to ensure, that the film is more appealing and assessable to the critical modern audience.
How Shakespeare Presents the Character of Claudio in Much Ado About Nothing and How Interpretations of His Character Can Vary
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.
They say opposites attract, but in the case of Much Ado About Nothing, by William Shakespeare, it's not. A boy, Claudio, falls in love only to believe a lie that's false. Caught up in this is Don John, the root of the problem, and Don Pedro, a trusted prince who plays cupid. These two brothers display completely different traits of one another. By doing so, they illuminate the idea that sometimes others hurt people for the entertainment and satisfaction.
When I read Shakespeare, I feel a connection to a time that has long passed yet the storylines and themes are relevant 400 years later. His words show that humanity which is ever-changing also stays the same. This particular play Much Ado About Nothing covers the theme of deception. Deception is a human trait and thus the characters are identifiable to a new generation of readers. When I read on this particular Saturday afternoon, I felt not only a connection to time, but to a group of people who are connected by one
Shakespeare’s play ‘Much Ado about Nothing’ has two main female characters, Beatrice and Hero, who are cousins. Both appear to be completely different in the beginning of the play but, as things progress and their characters develop, there are also some very obvious similarities between them. Hero and Beatrice have a very close relationship; they are best friends. Leonato is Hero’s father but Beatrice has no parents, which gives her greater freedom. Where Hero is polite, quiet, respectful and gentle, Beatrice is feisty, cynical, witty, and sharp.
The reading of the letter creates comedy the requests are outrageous. Malvolio is told to wear yellow cross-gartered stockings "to be opposite with kinsman, surly with servants" and to constantly smile. The thought of this is hilarious considering that Malvolio is a strict puritan and is very malice towards others.
Tensions amongst characters have been developing from early on in the play. Even the apparent nonchalance of the title is illustrative of the slanderous plot the play entails, many of the tragic elements of Much Ado About Nothing are a consequence of ambiguity and misinterpretation. This is typified at the masquerade ball, when tragedy is narrowly averted when Claudio, albeit somewhat artificially, deduces that “the Prince woos for himself.” (Act II, Sc. I, 80) A multitude of similar misinterpretations build tensions further, the accumulation of which result in female protagonist Hero’s ultimate censure. Events are even more tragic for the audience due to Shakespeare's use of dramatic irony. Tensions are built not only between characters, but amongst the audience as well. Prior knowledge of the malevolent gull the bastard Don John has created combined with an exclusive insight into how close the Watch had been to averting catastrophe, is difficult, even painful, for the audience to watch.
Critics call Twelfth Night one of William Shakespeare’s most poetic and musical plays. Shakespeare writes poetic lines for the major characters, Viola, Orsino, and Olivia, and gives the Fool, and other minor characters, songs to sing throughout the play. The particularly romantic lines of the play make it seem as if the characters are professional poets themselves. Shakespeare also uses the music and poetry in Twelfth Night to foreshadow what is going to happen for the rest of the performance and to reveal major themes in the play. Music and poetry become major characters in the play themselves.
With origins from Ancient Greece, Comedy is one of the original four genres of literature as defined by the philosopher Aristotle in his work Poetics. The three other genres are consistent of tragedy, epic poetry, and lyric poetry. Not to be confused with the comedy associated with television and film which focuses entirely on humorous discourse generally intended to amuse; literary comedy is characterised by general humour, happy endings and communal celebration. This assignment will critically analyse the comedies of William Shakespeare and Bernard Shaw and consider what characteristics they share and how they differ. It is also important to fully understand the genre of comedy, exploring its origins, definitions and sub-divisions.
In conclusion, these stories are very similar in many ways. Out of all the themes that could be used to compare the two, the most important ones are hatred, manipulation and hatred. Hatred is disliking some one or something and there are many characters that dislike each other. Manipulation is using your creativity to come up with a way to get someone to believe something that is not true. Lastly, jealousy, which is wanting something that someone else has and doing things to get it which is what Iago did in the play and Fernand did in the movie.