Essays
Topics
preview

A Compare/Contrast Analysis of Plot Development Between Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing and King Lear

Better Essays
Open Document
Shakespeare’s dramatic theatre performances have long endured the test of time. His tales of love and loss, and even some history, make a reader think about events in their own life and what they wish to accomplish in life. Though written for the stage, Shakespeare’s plays have life lessons that readers of the great works can take put into effect in their own lives. Some may say that his plays are out dated, and are something of the past; though they were written in the 1600’s, they have morals and themes that can apply to life. “You've got to contend with versification, poetic license, archaisms, words that we don't even use any more, and grammar and spelling that were in a state of flux when the works were written,” says Pressley in an attempt to explain how to read Shakespeare. Once read and understood, however, one can start to compare and contrast different plays. The ways in which Shakespeare’s two plays King Lear and Much Ado About Nothing are similar out numbers the instances they are different, even though one is a Shakespearian tragedy while the other is a comedy.
Each play has a sub-plot that combines with the main plot toward the end, and the two sub-plots contribute to the overall outcome of each story. Lear is a tragedy, where two men, one a king and the other a nobleman, are betrayed by their children. The main plot is that of King Lear, who gives his power over to two of his three daughters, who in the end turn their backs on him. After Lear is thrown out into a severe storm by Gonreil and Regan, his daughters, he curses them and tells the weather to do its worst. “But yet I call you servile ministers,/ That will with two pernicious daughters join/ Your high-engender'd battles 'gainst a head/ So old and white as ...

... middle of paper ...

...y Online. N.p., n.d.
Web. 19 Jan. 2014. fromlink.cfm?new=display_rpo/indexcriticism.cfm&qs=>. Carroll, Joseph. "An Evolutionary Approach to Shakespeare's King Lear."
Academia. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Jan. 2014.
2702641/An_Evolutionary_Approach_to_Shakespeares_King_Lear>.
Dobson, Michael. "The Darkness at the Heart of Much Ado about Nothing." The
Guardian. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Jan. 2014. culture/2011/jun/17/shakespeare-much-ado-wyndhams-globe>. Friedlander, Ed, M.D. "Enjoying 'King Lear', by William Shakespeare."
Pathguy. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Jan. 2014. kinglear.htm>. Pressley, J. M. "Speech Analysis." Shakespeare Resource Center. N.p., n.d. Web.
19 Jan. 2014. .
Get Access
Related
Get Access