Evaluating The Play 'Much Ado About Nothing'
Much Ado About Nothing
Aayush Singh
English 015
Mr. Allan Bassler
Evaluation Paper
29th October 2014
Rhetorical analysis:
Purpose: Evaluate the play Much Ado About Nothing
Audience: Peers
Stance: Evaluation
Genre: Analysis
Media: Printed on paper
Thesis:
Evaluate the play “Much Ado About Nothing” written by William Shakespeare. Giving a character analysis, brief summary and review.
Much Ado about Nothing
Important characters in the play:
1. Beatrice- Leanato’s niece and Hero’s cousin. She is generous and loving.
2. Benedick- An aristocratic soldier who has been recently fighting under Don Pedro and Claudio. Benedick is very witty, always making jokes and puns.
3. Claudio- A young soldier who has won great acclaim fighting under Don Pedro during the war in the play. …show more content…
4.
Hero- The beautiful young daughter of Leanato and the cousin of Beatrice. Hero is lovely, gentle and kind. She falls in love with Claudio.
5. Don Pedro- An important nobleman from Aragon (Aragon is an autonomous community in Spain). He is a long friend of Leonato, Hero’s father and is also close to the soldier who have been fighting under them- Claudio and Benedick. He is generous, courteous and intelligent.
6. Leanato- A respected, well-to-do, elderly noble at whose home, in Messina, Italy, the play is set. He is the father of Hero and Benedick’s uncle.
7. Don John- The illegitimate brother of Don Pedro. Don John is melancholy and sullen by nature. He is the villain of the play.
8. Borachio- An associate of Don John. He conspires with Don John to trick Claudio and Don Pedro into thinking that hero is unfaithful to Claudio.
9. Margaret- Hero’s serving woman, who helps Borachio and Don John deceive Claudio into thinking Hero is
unfaithful.
10. Dogberry- The constable in charge of or chief policeman of Messina. Dogberry is very sincere and takes his job seriously.
Much Ado about Nothing was written in 1600 by William Shakespeare. This evaluation is based on the performance of this play by Globe theatre production.
Play summary
In Messina as Don Pedro, the Prince of Aragon, who returns from a recently concluded war, sends out a message to Leonato that he wants to visit his house for a month. The play is entirely set in Leonato’s house. Don Pedro and his men arrive with Claudio who is attracted to Leonato’s only daughter Hero. Another visitor is Benedick a bachelor, who enjoy’s speaking his mind in witty arguments with Hero’s cousin Beatrice. Leonato holds a masked ball to celebrate the end of war and the engagement to Claudio and Hero is arranged. While his brother Don John, resenting the celebration seeks a way to stop the celebration. Don John plots a cynical plan with his associate Borochio to deceive Claudio into believing that Hero is false to him. A trick is carried out with the assistance of Hero’s maid, Margaret, who talks from Hero’s bedroom window with Borachio at night, while Claudio watches from a distance with a delusion that the girl at the window is Hero.
Hero and Don John meanwhile are convinced Benedick and Beatrice are ideal partners and by means of overheard conversation the two realize that they indeed are in love with one another.
At the wedding Claudio denounces Hero and leaves her apparently dead from shock, while her father, Beatrice and Benedick, are amazed at the situation, decide with the help of the priest that the Hero’s name should be concealed till her name is cleared. Meanwhile, the village constable Dogberry and his assistant arrest Borachio and Don John after overhearing them boasting of their deception of Claudio.
The play comes to a joyful conclusion when Dogberry’s information is eventually given to Leonato and Don Pedro. Claudio agrees to accept Leonato’s niece, who he has never met, in place of Hero. The niece turns out to be Hero in the end and the lovers are reunited. Benedick and Beatrice decide to share the wedding day. The play ends with a merry dance.
Review
In “Much Ado About Nothing”, William Shakespeare describes how a person can do a lot of things out of nothing in a given situation. The story revolves around Hero, Claudio, Benedick and Beatrice during the play. Shakespeare describes the roles of these characters and how the relationship works between them. Shakespeare presents us with a play full of truths and illusions. Everybody is involved in some kind of illusion. From the masked celebration to unveiling Hero’s “niece” at the end of the play who turned out to be Hero. Two major schemes in the play are the Claudio/Hero plotline where the Hero is accused of having an affair with someone else and the other one is how Don Pedro, Claudio and Leonato getting Beatrice and Benedick together. Love: an intense feeling of deep emotion. This play showed plenty of love between the characters. The love showed is not just the romantic one like the Claudio/Hero plotline but also brotherly love. Some had difficulty in expressing their love for each other like Beatrice and Benedick who used to argue with each other all the time. Meanwhile, Claudio was so blind in love that he had to ask Benedick for his opinions on it. I had to watch some scenes couple of times to understand what was being said because of the complexity of the language. Much Ado about Nothing was written four centuries ago in the England of Queen Elizabeth I. Across the Atlantic, the first English colony at Roanoke Island had disappeared several years earlier, and the first permanent English colony at Jamestown was still several years ahead. So, near the end of the fifteenth century, England itself was the English-speaking world. The language of the play is the Elizabethan English of its day ("Much Ado about Nothing." Cliffsnotes). The artist’s message is really clear throughout the play. The message I was able to interpret from the play was that it is important to stay morally upright and never develop any false image against anyone as this destroys relationships. Also, Shakespeare was able to display the power of language. The play was worth the watch as it showed how important it is to have illusions in our everyday lives and also how deception is present in our social behaviors. As a college student, I noticed that the relationship shown between Benedick-Beatrice and Claudio-Hero is similar to what we have it in this generation. Shakspeare did a very good job in showing this. The play is relevant to today’s generation mostly because of the type of relationship and social deception showed in the play. The director did an excellent work in making use of the entire stage space. He used a Thrust arena. Thrust arena is a stage surrounded by audience on three sides. The Fourth side serves as the background. It was clearly visible that the roof of the arena wasn’t covered as rain water was coming in. The artists used various ways to come into the play. The one I liked was the way Benedick, Claudio and their men entered in the starting of the play through the audience. The costumes worn by the actors were completely how it would have been in those days. It gave me the exact picture of the ancient times. Use of the props were a delight to watch. The way Benedick came down after the guards took away the stairs was an excellent example of using the props to its perfection. The cast of the play did a fantastic job. They were not only delivering their lines and getting done but they were changing the atmosphere by the way the crowd was reacting. If someone laughed, the actors would look at them and give an appropriate expression. The actors would wait till the audience is done applauding and then they would deliver their next dialogue. I personally liked Benedick’s character. He made the play a little more humors. He was very confident in delivering his lines. It was impressive to see how in the starting of the play Benedick appears as almost a comic character, acting as if the most important part of character is his wit. However, by the end of the play by the end of the play it is shown that he is a clear-thinking character and is able to keep his head in crisis. This is evident by the part where Benedick with the help of the Priest, keep Hero concealed till her name is cleared.
Overall, it was an enjoyable play to watch. I went in with low expectations and thought it would be boring but I really enjoyed the entire length of the play. It was one of the best plays I’ve watched in a while. I would recommend everyone to watch this play at least once.
References:
1. "Much Ado about Nothing." Cliffsnotes. Web. <http://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/m/much-ado-about-nothing/critical-essays/language-and-literary-style-of-much-ado-about-nothing>.
2. Much Ado About Nothing. Dir. Jeremy Herrin. Perf. Charles Edwards and Eve Best. Globe Theatre, 2011. DVD.
3. Theatre 105 class.
Aayush Singh
English 015
Mr. Allan Bassler
Evaluation Paper
29th October 2014
Rhetorical analysis:
Purpose: Evaluate the play Much Ado About Nothing
Audience: Peers
Stance: Evaluation
Genre: Analysis
Media: Printed on paper
Thesis:
Evaluate the play “Much Ado About Nothing” written by William Shakespeare. Giving a character analysis, brief summary and review.
Much Ado about Nothing
Important characters in the play:
1. Beatrice- Leanato’s niece and Hero’s cousin. She is generous and loving.
2. Benedick- An aristocratic soldier who has been recently fighting under Don Pedro and Claudio. Benedick is very witty, always making jokes and puns.
3. Claudio- A young soldier who has won great acclaim fighting under Don Pedro during the war in the play. …show more content…
4.
Hero- The beautiful young daughter of Leanato and the cousin of Beatrice. Hero is lovely, gentle and kind. She falls in love with Claudio.
5. Don Pedro- An important nobleman from Aragon (Aragon is an autonomous community in Spain). He is a long friend of Leonato, Hero’s father and is also close to the soldier who have been fighting under them- Claudio and Benedick. He is generous, courteous and intelligent.
6. Leanato- A respected, well-to-do, elderly noble at whose home, in Messina, Italy, the play is set. He is the father of Hero and Benedick’s uncle.
7. Don John- The illegitimate brother of Don Pedro. Don John is melancholy and sullen by nature. He is the villain of the play.
8. Borachio- An associate of Don John. He conspires with Don John to trick Claudio and Don Pedro into thinking that hero is unfaithful to Claudio.
9. Margaret- Hero’s serving woman, who helps Borachio and Don John deceive Claudio into thinking Hero is
unfaithful.
10. Dogberry- The constable in charge of or chief policeman of Messina. Dogberry is very sincere and takes his job seriously.
Much Ado about Nothing was written in 1600 by William Shakespeare. This evaluation is based on the performance of this play by Globe theatre production.
Play summary
In Messina as Don Pedro, the Prince of Aragon, who returns from a recently concluded war, sends out a message to Leonato that he wants to visit his house for a month. The play is entirely set in Leonato’s house. Don Pedro and his men arrive with Claudio who is attracted to Leonato’s only daughter Hero. Another visitor is Benedick a bachelor, who enjoy’s speaking his mind in witty arguments with Hero’s cousin Beatrice. Leonato holds a masked ball to celebrate the end of war and the engagement to Claudio and Hero is arranged. While his brother Don John, resenting the celebration seeks a way to stop the celebration. Don John plots a cynical plan with his associate Borochio to deceive Claudio into believing that Hero is false to him. A trick is carried out with the assistance of Hero’s maid, Margaret, who talks from Hero’s bedroom window with Borachio at night, while Claudio watches from a distance with a delusion that the girl at the window is Hero.
Hero and Don John meanwhile are convinced Benedick and Beatrice are ideal partners and by means of overheard conversation the two realize that they indeed are in love with one another.
At the wedding Claudio denounces Hero and leaves her apparently dead from shock, while her father, Beatrice and Benedick, are amazed at the situation, decide with the help of the priest that the Hero’s name should be concealed till her name is cleared. Meanwhile, the village constable Dogberry and his assistant arrest Borachio and Don John after overhearing them boasting of their deception of Claudio.
The play comes to a joyful conclusion when Dogberry’s information is eventually given to Leonato and Don Pedro. Claudio agrees to accept Leonato’s niece, who he has never met, in place of Hero. The niece turns out to be Hero in the end and the lovers are reunited. Benedick and Beatrice decide to share the wedding day. The play ends with a merry dance.
Review
In “Much Ado About Nothing”, William Shakespeare describes how a person can do a lot of things out of nothing in a given situation. The story revolves around Hero, Claudio, Benedick and Beatrice during the play. Shakespeare describes the roles of these characters and how the relationship works between them. Shakespeare presents us with a play full of truths and illusions. Everybody is involved in some kind of illusion. From the masked celebration to unveiling Hero’s “niece” at the end of the play who turned out to be Hero. Two major schemes in the play are the Claudio/Hero plotline where the Hero is accused of having an affair with someone else and the other one is how Don Pedro, Claudio and Leonato getting Beatrice and Benedick together. Love: an intense feeling of deep emotion. This play showed plenty of love between the characters. The love showed is not just the romantic one like the Claudio/Hero plotline but also brotherly love. Some had difficulty in expressing their love for each other like Beatrice and Benedick who used to argue with each other all the time. Meanwhile, Claudio was so blind in love that he had to ask Benedick for his opinions on it. I had to watch some scenes couple of times to understand what was being said because of the complexity of the language. Much Ado about Nothing was written four centuries ago in the England of Queen Elizabeth I. Across the Atlantic, the first English colony at Roanoke Island had disappeared several years earlier, and the first permanent English colony at Jamestown was still several years ahead. So, near the end of the fifteenth century, England itself was the English-speaking world. The language of the play is the Elizabethan English of its day ("Much Ado about Nothing." Cliffsnotes). The artist’s message is really clear throughout the play. The message I was able to interpret from the play was that it is important to stay morally upright and never develop any false image against anyone as this destroys relationships. Also, Shakespeare was able to display the power of language. The play was worth the watch as it showed how important it is to have illusions in our everyday lives and also how deception is present in our social behaviors. As a college student, I noticed that the relationship shown between Benedick-Beatrice and Claudio-Hero is similar to what we have it in this generation. Shakspeare did a very good job in showing this. The play is relevant to today’s generation mostly because of the type of relationship and social deception showed in the play. The director did an excellent work in making use of the entire stage space. He used a Thrust arena. Thrust arena is a stage surrounded by audience on three sides. The Fourth side serves as the background. It was clearly visible that the roof of the arena wasn’t covered as rain water was coming in. The artists used various ways to come into the play. The one I liked was the way Benedick, Claudio and their men entered in the starting of the play through the audience. The costumes worn by the actors were completely how it would have been in those days. It gave me the exact picture of the ancient times. Use of the props were a delight to watch. The way Benedick came down after the guards took away the stairs was an excellent example of using the props to its perfection. The cast of the play did a fantastic job. They were not only delivering their lines and getting done but they were changing the atmosphere by the way the crowd was reacting. If someone laughed, the actors would look at them and give an appropriate expression. The actors would wait till the audience is done applauding and then they would deliver their next dialogue. I personally liked Benedick’s character. He made the play a little more humors. He was very confident in delivering his lines. It was impressive to see how in the starting of the play Benedick appears as almost a comic character, acting as if the most important part of character is his wit. However, by the end of the play by the end of the play it is shown that he is a clear-thinking character and is able to keep his head in crisis. This is evident by the part where Benedick with the help of the Priest, keep Hero concealed till her name is cleared.
Overall, it was an enjoyable play to watch. I went in with low expectations and thought it would be boring but I really enjoyed the entire length of the play. It was one of the best plays I’ve watched in a while. I would recommend everyone to watch this play at least once.
References:
1. "Much Ado about Nothing." Cliffsnotes. Web. <http://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/m/much-ado-about-nothing/critical-essays/language-and-literary-style-of-much-ado-about-nothing>.
2. Much Ado About Nothing. Dir. Jeremy Herrin. Perf. Charles Edwards and Eve Best. Globe Theatre, 2011. DVD.
3. Theatre 105 class.