This was my second attempt at Shakespeare - I liked Macbeth, but Much Ado About Nothing was so-so to me. It was supposed to be a comedy, but it seemed like a lot of convoluted stories and perhaps the 16th century upper class humor was a bit over my head!
One story line is about two characters, Claudio and Hero, who are supposed to get married. But Don John decides to play a trick and makes it look like Hero slept with another man on the day of her wedding to Claudio. Claudio abandons Hero at the altar, and Hero's family pretends that she's dead while they wait for the truth to come out about what really happened. Eventually, everyone learns that Hero is innocent and Hero and Claudio get married.
There is also another story line between Beatrice and Benedick. Beatrice's friends convince her that Benedick is hopelessly in love with her, and she takes pity on him and then falls in love with him; Benedick's friends do the same to him. Beatrice and Benedick, and Claudio and Hero have a double wedding.
There seems to be a lot of deceit in both Much Ado and Macbeth - it's interesting that the deceit in this play leads to good ends. Is it okay to deceive is there is a good consequence in doing so?
One story line is about two characters, Claudio and Hero, who are supposed to get married. But Don John decides to play a trick and makes it look like Hero slept with another man on the day of her wedding to Claudio. Claudio abandons Hero at the altar, and Hero's family pretends that she's dead while they wait for the truth to come out about what really happened. Eventually, everyone learns that Hero is innocent and Hero and Claudio get married.
There is also another story line between Beatrice and Benedick. Beatrice's friends convince her that Benedick is hopelessly in love with her, and she takes pity on him and then falls in love with him; Benedick's friends do the same to him. Beatrice and Benedick, and Claudio and Hero have a double wedding.
There seems to be a lot of deceit in both Much Ado and Macbeth - it's interesting that the deceit in this play leads to good ends. Is it okay to deceive is there is a good consequence in doing so?
This play was the first show i ever had a main role in, Claudio; so I haven't gotten the chance to hear many others' points of view, but I do think that yours is very interesting. I believe a lot of the story also follows the rules of comedy that were used in Shakespearean times, i.e. the mistaken identity, the numerous subplots, and classic and random slapstick character like Dogberry. Even now those are some of the rules that most comedies (especially love stories) use. I do think that this story took a lot of risks and there were a few things that were very unrealistic but I always just charged that to Shakespeare's day and age. In comparison to McBeth, another play i really do like, I think I like this one more. But that may only be because I like a story where a man can truly mess up, and still win in the end; it gives us all hope, lol.
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