Play Essays

Much Ado About Nothing is a typical Shakespeare comedy about the problems love can cause and how they are overcome. Throughout the play Shakespeare uses misinformation and overhearing (both fairly expected conventions in Shakespeare’s plays) as comic devices. The entire play is based around the over exploited subject of love, …

Two of the most important scenes in Shakespeare’s ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ are undoubtedly the gulling scenes between Benedick and Beatrice. These two scenes are inextricably linked, but similar as they are in how they are carried out and in purpose, there are also several differences. Before we can compare …

When reading “Much Ado About Nothing” I found the most interesting and entertaining character was Beatrice, this is because there are many aspects to her nature. This may have been difficult express in a play in Shakespeare’s time as all of the actors were male. Her attitude towards Benedick was …

Claudio’s gullibility and harmful obsession with his own reputation makes him a real difficulty for some readers. Andrew Lang called him, for example, ‘a hateful young cub.’ This is because Claudio is so insecure about himself that he has to conform to society’s rules and expectations. During the Elizabethan era, …

I sat in a chair, apprehensively facing an old friend. It had been such a tiresome and exasperating day, yet the only way I would receive counsel from him was to re-tell the occasion. I commenced my account. The day started off well; the sun was shining triumphantly over the …

In Much Ado About Nothing, the young lovers Claudio and Hero are pulled apart by the devastating forces of malicious rumours. After having been denounced as a ‘common stale’ at her own wedding in IV:i, Hero collapses and is taken for dead. Claudio, upon learning that Hero was never guilty …

In Shakespearean times, honour was a very crucial aspect of everyday life, especially among families of high status. In his “Much Ado about Nothing”, Shakespeare shows us just how circumstantial honour was taken to be, by a proud and prestigious family. In Act 4 Scene 1 and act 5 scene …

Elizabethan comedy was a big part of the culture. When Elizabeth came to the throne, she reinstated Protestantism as the country’s religion. Many disliked these ideas, many wanted to be Catholic. But she did amazing things. She beat the Spanish Armada. People rejoiced and enjoyed being English, many children were …

The witty comedy Much Ado About Nothing (1599) is marred, in the opinion of some critics, by an insensitive treatment of its female characters. The play Much Ado About Nothing is a comedy, which was written in the reign of Elizabeth I. In this era comedy had a slightly different …

Throughout all of Shakespeare’s comedies, there is no other character like Benedick. This is because Benedick undergoes a transformation like no other. The Character of Benedick appears in Shakespeare’s comedy, “Much Ado About Nothing.” Benedick is a good, honorable man, but his only problem is that he does not like …