Shakespeare Comedies – Much Ado About Nothing
When compiling Shakespeare’s plays, they were organized in 3 genres featured in the title of the collection--Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies.Comedy and tragedy were part of traditions stretching back to classical times. The history play had come forth much more recently, in the English popular theatre of the late 1580s and 1590s and was well established by the early 17th century. Shakespeare played a central role in developing the Elizabethan history play.
Comedies take their plots from fiction, tragedies from history. Comedy involves men of middling estate; its perils are small-scale, its outcomes peaceful. In tragedy, the persons and issues are exalted and they end unhappily. But even though comedies perils are small-scale, Shakespeare's comic protagonists regularly face alienation, abandonment, and death. What makes the difference is not less serious perils but the operation of a kind of 'evitability' principle whereby shifts and schemes and sheer good luck break the chain of causality that seemed headed for certain catastrophe. [Dogberry's watchmen accidentally uncover the villainy of Don John and deliver Hero from disgrace and death in Much Ado about Nothing.]
Conventions assist us in understanding literary works belonging to a particular genre; they help to categorize them and illuminate their common features. Genres set up certain expectations because of their shared characteristics. For example, you know to expect specific features when reading or viewing a western (good guys and bad guys; shoot-outs or duels), a detective thriller (false clues that lead in the wrong direction; ingenious solution to a mystery), science fiction (humans and aliens; futuristic technology; special effects). One's judgment of a given work is affected in part by how it meets or fails to meet generic expectations. An artist may deliberately manipulate or play with conventions, parodying or transcending the limits of a literary genre:Monty Python’s Holy Grail parodies Arthurian romances; Blazing Saddles parodies Westerns.
The major conventions of Shakespearean Romantic Comedy are:
- Setting – ordinary daily life is gone; everyone likes morning except drunks; young people are idle, no clocks / time; live in a world of make-believe.
- The main action is about love. There is always some form of love game – some play it without knowing they’re playing it
- The would-be lovers must overcome obstacles and misunderstandings before being united in harmonious union. The ending frequently involves a parade of couples to the altar and a festive mood or actual celebration (expressed in dance, song, feast, etc.).
- While these plays pursue love wholeheartedly, in their obstacles and misunderstandings they are equally energetic in negating death. They invoke the end of life only to avoid it, undo it, distance it, laugh it off. Only the most minor characters in them actually die. Quite a few, like Hero in Much Ado About Nothing, are believed to be dead, only to reappear in due course among the living in a triumph of 'evitability' and wish-fulfilment
- Frequently (but not always), it contains elements of the improbable, the fantastic, the supernatural, or the miraculous, e.g. unbelievable coincidences, improbable scenes of recognition/lack of recognition, willful disregard of the social order (nobles marrying commoners, beggars changed to lords), instantaneous conversions (the wicked repent), enchanted or idealized settings, supernatural beings (witches, fairies, Gods and Goddesses). The happy ending may be brought about through supernatural or divine intervention (comparable to the deus ex machina in classical comedy, where a God appears to resolve the conflict) or may merely involve improbable turns of events.
- The comic mode disrupts the social order, temporarily placing servants over masters and women over men, dislocating the hierarchies sanctioned by its society only to reassert them at the play's end. Shakespeare fostered his own tradition of women who control events in their plays--sometimes aided by disguise, sometimes relying on sheer force of wit and wisdom, as Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing. During this period the conventional stereotype of the idealised woman, and thus wife, was a woman who was silent, gentle, passive and submissive. Shakespeare’s comedic women exhibits assertiveness, intelligence, wit and strength of personality which had traditionally been associated with masculinity.
Much Ado About Nothing
Written between 1598 – 1600, Much Ado About Nothing is a romantic comedy set in Messina, Sicily about a pair of lovers named Claudio and Hero due to be married in a week. To pass the time before their wedding day they conspire with Don Pedro, the prince of Aragon, to trick their friends, Beatrice and Benedick, into confessing their love for one another. The prince's brother Don John, however, jealous of both Don Pedro's power and his affection for Claudio, conspires to sabotage the coming wedding by discrediting Hero’s purity.
Prose vs Verse
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The play is unusual for Shakespeare in that the characters speak in prose rather than verse most of the time. However, even when the passages are in prose, they contain the brilliant imagery typical of Shakespeare. The characters who speak most often in verse are Claudio and Hero, perhaps to express–and sometimes to mock–their lofty feelings of love.
Dogberry's Malapropisms– ludicrous misuse of a word by confusion with one of similar sound.
Dogberry is an archetype for bumbling police officers in modern film and television comedies., such as Inspector Clouseau (The Pink Panther) or Maxwell Smart (Get Smart). However, Dogberry gets laughs mostly for verbal faux pas–in particular, malapropisms–rather than for slapstick. Examples of his malapropisms are the following underlined words:
1. “You are thought here to be the most senseless [sensible] and fit man for the constable of the watch” (3. 3. 11).
2. “Comparisons are odorous” [odious] (3. 5. 11).
3. “Our watch, sir, have indeed comprehended [apprehended] two a[u]spicious [suspicious] persons" (3. 5. 23).
4. “O villain! thou wilt be condemned into everlasting redemption [perdition] for this” (4. 2. 32).
Themes
A theme common to Much Ado about Nothing and many other of Shakespeare’s works is cuckoldry, or infidelity of a wife. Several of the characters seem to be obsessed by the idea that a man has no way to know if his wife is unfaithful, and therefore women can take full advantage of that fact. Don John plays upon Claudio’s pride and fear of cuckoldry, which leads to the disastrous first wedding scene. Because of their mistrust of female sexuality, many of the males easily believe that Hero is impure, and even her father readily condemns her with very little proof. This motif runs through the play, most often in references to horns, which were a well-known symbol of cuckoldry.
The road to marriage is often lined with pitfalls and impediments. Benedick and Beatrice are hostile lovers before they warm to each other. Claudio doubts Hero's chastity before he is proven wrong.
People often wear masks to disguise their true feelings. For example, Benedick and Beatrice pretend to despise each other even though they love each other, and Don John pretends to be remorseful when all the while he is plotting revenge.
All is not what it seems. Mistaken identities, false accusations, misleading conversations, and ironic outcomes all confound the principle characters. This theme is a variation of Theme 2.
Love is NOT blind. Benedick well knows that Beatrice has a sharp tongue whose stings he must endure if he is to be her husband and live with her for decades to come. Likewise, Beatrice well knows Benedick's faults. Yet, before the end of play, they acknowledge their deep love for each other and marry.
Love IS blind. Hero ignores Claudio's faults. For example, she accepts Claudio as her husband even though only a short time before he so readily believed the slanders against her, called her a "rotten orange," and agreed to marry another in her place. Moreover, she never questions his motives–one of which, apparently, is to marry into money. (He had previously inquired whether Governor Leonato had a son and was told Hero was Leonato's only child and, thus, sole heir to his property.)
Main Characters:
Benedick: Young lord from Padua who thinks he hates Beatrice but really loves her.
Beatrice: Niece of the governor of Messina who thinks she hates Benedick but really loves him.
Leonato: Governor of Messina, uncle of Beatrice, and father of Hero.
Don Pedro: Prince of Arragon, a fine fellow who has led his forces to victory in a war against his brother, Don John.
Don John: Don Pedro's bastard brother, a wicked fellow who was defeated by Don Pedro.
Claudio: Young lord from Florence who falls in love with Hero.
Hero: Leonato's daughter, who falls in love with Claudio.
Minor Charcters:
Margaret, Ursula: Hero's attendants.
Antonio: Leonato's brother.
Conrade, Borachio: No-good followers of Don John.
Friar Francis: Priest who helps Hero regain her reputation.
Dogberry: Constable of Messina.
Extra Info (not for notes):
Characters:
Protagonists: Benedick and Beatrice, arguably, because they are both real, hotblooded characters–far more interesting than the other protagonist candidates, Claudio and Hero. The latter two are less animated, rather shallow characters who idealize courtly love.
Antagonists: Don John; mix-ups and misconceptions
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Benedick: Young lord from Padua who thinks he hates Beatrice but really loves her.
Beatrice: Niece of the governor of Messina who thinks she hates Benedick but really loves him.
Leonato: Governor of Messina, uncle of Beatrice, and father of Hero.
Don Pedro: Prince of Arragon, a fine fellow who has led his forces to victory in a war against his brother, Don John.
Don John: Don Pedro's bastard brother, a wicked fellow who was defeated by Don Pedro.
Claudio: Young lord from Florence who falls in love with Hero. He seems knightly and pure, but his conversations suggest that his attraction to Hero results partly from the fact that she will one day become a wealthy heiress.
Hero: Leonato's daughter, who falls in love with Claudio.
Margaret, Ursula: Hero's attendants.
Antonio: Leonato's brother.
Balthasar: Don Pedro's attendant.
Conrade, Borachio: No-good followers of Don John.
Friar Francis: Priest who helps Hero regain her reputation.
Dogberry: Constable of Messina.
Climax
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The climax of a play or another narrative work, such as a short story or a novel, can be defined as (1) the turning point at which the conflict begins to resolve itself for better or worse, or as (2) the final and most exciting event in a series of events. The climax of Much Ado About Nothing occurs, according to the first definition, when Claudio rejects Hero on their wedding day in the mistaken belief that Hero has yielded to another man the day before. According to the second definition, the climax occurs in the final act when Beatrice and Benedick grudgingly acknowledge their love for each other and marry in the same ceremony uniting Claudio and Hero.
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Summary:.
After defeating his troublemaking brother, Don John, in a military campaign, Don Pedro of Arragon and several of his compatriots visit relatives and other friends in Messina, a city in northeastern Sicily. Leonato, the governor of Messina, receives word that Don Pedro is but three leagues off (about nine miles) and will arrive in Messina in a few hours with a company of men, including the defeated Don John. Also with Don Pedro are two of his most valiant soldiers, Benedick of Padua and Claudio of Florence. A messenger tells Leonato that Claudio performed heroically: "He hath borne himself beyond the promise of his age, doing, in the figure of a lamb, the feats of a lion: he hath indeed better bettered expectation than you must expect of me to tell you how" (1. 1. 8).
...... The messenger has already informed Claudio’s uncle, who lives in Messina, of the young man’s battlefield heroics. So overcome was Claudio’s uncle with joy at this news that he broke down and cried.
...... When Leonato’s niece, Beatrice, inquires about Benedick, the messenger tells her that he also distinguished himself in battle. Benedick and Beatrice are old acquaintances who inwardly love each other but outwardly display nothing but contempt for each other.Whenever they meet, they spend most of their time insulting each other in a long-standing verbal war. When hearing that Benedick has become Claudio’s friend, she says Benedick will surely be a corrupting influence on the Florentine: "O Lord, he will hang upon him [Claudio] like a disease: he is sooner caught than the pestilence, and the taker runs presently mad. God help the noble Claudio! if he have caught the Benedick, it will cost him a thousand pound ere [he] be cured" (1. 1. 34).
...... In temperament, Beatrice is the opposite of Leonato’s lovely daughter, Hero, a delicate gentlewoman of utmost propriety who obeys her father and keeps her tongue in check.
...... After Don Pedro and his company arrive, they exchange pleasantries with Leonato, and Don John expresses remorse and repentance for waging war against his brother. Inwardly, however, he seethes with bitterness and looks for an opportunity to gain revenge. When Claudio first beholds the sight of the comely Hero, he falls madly in love with her. She is to him the paragon of young womanhood–as sweet as honey, as innocent as a lamb. Hero does not shy away from Claudio’s wooing eyes.
...... Meanwhile, when Benedick sees Beatrice and she sees him, they fall madly in hate all over again even though they secretly love each other. Of course, as they parry savage insults that burn to the quick, the audience and the reader realize that the sparks they make will eventually ignite the fires of passion.
...... At a masked ball, Beatrice asks a masked man whether he knows Benedick, not realizing that the man is Benedick himself. Playing a little game with her, Benedick denies knowing the man and asks who he is. Beatrice replies, “Why, he is the prince’s jester: a very dull fool; only his gift is in devising impossible slanders: none but libertines delight in him; and the commendation is not in his wit, but in his villainy” (2. 1. 64). (An interesting argument could be made here that Beatrice does, in fact, know that she is addressing Benedick and, further, that she improvised the insult to prick his ego.)
...... Later, when they confront each other without disguises, Benedick returns the insult when, in a conversation with Governor Leonato, he compares Beatrice to a harpy, a hideous winged monster in Greek mythology. Don John, the revenge-seeking troublemaker, tries to thwart the flourishing romance between Claudio and Hero. Claudio, after all, won glory in the military action that subdued Don John. He had humbled and humiliated Don John. Did not Claudio, therefore, deserve a comeuppance of his own? Don John then tries to convince Claudio that Hero loves Don Pedro. After much ado and confusion, his plan fails, and it is agreed with the governor’s blessing that Claudio and Hero will marry.
...... While all Messina prepares for the wedding, Don Pedro sets himself to a Herculean task: making Benedick and Beatrice fall in love. With the help of Hero, Don Pedro arranges occasions in which Benedick overhears that Beatrice loves him, and Beatrice overhears that Benedick loves her. Their enmity for each other softens; their love for each other quickens.
...... In the meantime, the evil Don John tries another scheme, designed by his henchman, Borachio. Borachio tells Margaret, one of Hero’s servants, to dress in Hero’s clothes and stand at Hero’s window at midnight on the evening before the wedding. Margaret is only too willing to do as she is told, for she is sweet on Borachio. However, she is unaware that she is about to take part in a plot against Hero. Just before midnight, Don Pedro and Claudio arrive in an orchard nearby, having been told by Don John that Hero has been trysting with another man and that she will meet with him again that very night. While they watch, Margaret appears at the window in Hero’s clothes and Borachio, pretending to be a paramour, climbs out while Margaret bids him loving farewells. In the darkness, Don Pedro and Claudio fall victim to the deception and believe Hero has surrendered herself to some unnamed man.
...... At the altar the next day, Claudio condemns Hero as a whore for making love with another man on the eve of her wedding. He tells Leonato, “Give not this rotten orange to your friend. . . . She knows the heat of a luxurious bed” (4. 1. 25. . . 34). Hero faints. Her father, Leonato, takes Claudio at his word, believing Hero is indeed a whore.
...... Only Benedick and Beatrice–as well as the local priest, Friar Francis–believe in Hero’s innocence. After they plead their case in Hero’s favor, Governor Leonato has second thoughts about his daughter, and Friar Francis persuades Leonato that it would be best to pretend that Hero has died of grief. The friar says,