Analyzing the Character of Don John in William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing
The play Much Ado About Nothing was written and performed in the
Elizabethan period. It was set in Italy in a place called Messina. As
expected the play has an happy ending with a marriage, as it is an
comedy, except throughout the play you think it may end as an tragedy
with lots of talk of death and misery. The mood swings from light
comedy to dark tragedy.
The play appealed to the Elizabethans because it mirrored life of that
time. The play includes love, status and relationships between men
and women. Shakespeare play was popular because there wasn’t many
sources entertainment and he wrote it in a style that provided them
with varied emotions.
Shakespeare’s plays wouldn’t entertain us as much today because of the
racist comments; prejudice against women, as they were treated as a
possession and had no use beyond being a wife or mother. Today we
have different views on what’s entertainment.
We are generally more equal today, where as men (particularly
farthers) dominated Elizabethan society. This period was racist and to
be an illegitimate child you were seen as evil and malicious. This is
why Don John adds excitement; tension; drama and a dark side. As Don
John is a bastard child and wants to cause suffering to those who look
down on him he feels he has a right to claim the legitimate heirs,
therefore he’s a threat.
As a character don John is generally not thought that highly of.
Beatrice strongly dislikes him as shown when she says, “How tartly
that gentleman looks, I never can see him, but I am heart burned an
hour after....
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...y for John. Through the use of dramatic irony Shakespeare
allows us to feel closer to John because John reveals his true self to
the audience and not the other character within the play. While other
characters use soliloquies to connect with the audience John uses
dramatic irony. An example of this is “…it must not be denied but I
am a plain dealing villain.” In this quote he cant hide that he’s a
villain, this makes the audience aware of his darker side, whereas the
other characters are oblivious to his evil side.
To conclude John is portrayed as a sinful, malicious character and by
Shakespeare adding this dark side that Don John adds he gives a
contrast of good and evil, with his brother, Pedro. He varies the mood
from light to dark; and finally gives the play drama, tension and
makes the audience more intense.
Have you ever been tricked or deceived? Have you ever been tricked into dating someone you like because you thought what you were told was true? In the book Much Ado About Nothing trickery and deceit is used a lot to get the characters to fall for one another even the ones who say they don’t love one another end up getting involved intimately with each other. For Example, trickery and deception takes place when Don Pedro tells Claudio that he will woo Hero for Claudio to marry her. Tricking her to believe that Don Pedro has feelings for Hero. Don Pedro says Claudio, I will assume thy part in disguise and tell fair Hero that I am Claudio, and in her bosom I’ll unclasp my heart, and take her prisoner with the force and strong encounter of
In today's society, true love can be described as someone buying a sparkly present for the significant other, celebrating their special anniversary with a beautiful getaway from their hectic life, or even risking anything in the world for that one person. These are all real examples of true love but these are also the things that Claudio didn’t do to show his affection and love towards Hero. Instead, he chose to humiliate her on their wedding day, he didn’t trust her to stay faithful until marriage, and even “killed” her. In the play, Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare, the main characters, Hero, and Claudio, are not truly in love and their actions display that.
This shows how he is a hippercrite against being a Puritan. Even though he is a religious man he still has the human character of having an evil side to himself.“But I will cut off my hand before I ever reach for you again.” John is talking to Abigail and how he is finished with seeing her and that he doesn’t want any part of her. John goes through from being amoral to immoral and then to moral, then back to amoral at the end. “It’s winter in here yet.” Elizabeth and John were talking about how he was working all day seeding even though he was at Salem to see what the fuss was all about. Here he shows his character toward Elizabeth by lying to her and she can’t trust him.
What makes the plot of Much Ado About Nothing so interesting is the use of deception and betrayal; though deception is used more frequently than betrayal. To deceive someone is “to cause (someone) to believe something that is not true, typically in order to gain some personal advantage.” Throughout the book divergent people manipulate others for an advantage. Whether deception is okay or not depends on the intentions of the deceivers – if the intention is to promote happiness, then the deceiver is a good friend, but if the deceiver intends harm, then he’s a bastard. The play is built on the problems caused by deception.. Benedict and Beatrice are deceived into thinking they love each other. Hero and Ursula deceived Beatrice and for that, they are good friends. Don Pedro, Claudio and Leonato deceived Benedick and that makes them good friends as well. However, Don John deceived Claudio into thinking hero b...
Aldous Huxley’s, “Brave New World,” explores the roles of people in society, morals concerning sexual activity, and other controversies in our reality. One of the principal characters in the novel is ‘John the Savage.’ John is a unique character in the story because unlike the other characters in the book, his emotions and morals were similar to those of the majority of our society. He felt emotions in a way others did not, and his morals can be regarded as ethically right (for example, he did not consider sex to be meaningless; in fact, he considered it an intimate act. Unfortunately, by the end of the story, John develops into a corrupt and barbaric man- the novel even finishes with the image of John whipping both himself and others, eliminating our prior perception of John’s character. This paper will analyse the themes and importance of the final moments of “Brave New World,” and explore how a person’s sexual experience is heavily experienced by their environment.
With this ending and the treatment of Don John throughout the play, it is clear that he will never be able to mingle positively without suspicion, and with other characters. His harsh sentencing for deceit is hypocritical as almost every character in the play, from Don Pedro to Leonato himself have deceived people, albeit not with bad intentions like Don John. His reputation ever since he was born has dictated his life and his only alternative to being called an untrustworthy bastard is to become a “plain-dealing” villain, to forge himself his own identity. Although everyone believes he is a conniving villain, Don John’s just forcing himself to be one; to prove he has his own identity among the “posh” people of Messina even if it is antagonistic.
...e one of the main issues raised is that there is not enough equality and that women do not have enough of a voice. The way that the character Beatrice is represented in this play the way that doesn’t conform, whereas Hero is the idealistic women, wife, daughter of Shakespeare’s time. Whilst Much Ado About Nothing was written 400 years ago the relevance of Shakespeare’s issues of Love and Deception are still universal. The theme of love transcend, Beatrice and Benedick relationship is an archetypal for unconditional and unwavering love. Deception is still a common occurrence in our modern world. Don John is still the most deceptive character in the play even though Don Pedro, his brother deceives; his deception is used for good instead of bad. This play is still popular today as the themes of love and deception are still relevant in daily life and in this society.
Don John plays an essential role for nearly all of the trickery and deception in this play. He acts like a catalyst and an instigator for trouble, whose sole aim is to marmalize the love and happiness between Claudio and Hero. Shakespeare uses foreshadowing of Don John’s villainy to display the trickery and deception: ’It better fits my blood to be distained of all than to fashion a carriage to rob love from any, in this, though I cannot be said to be a flattering honest man, it must not be denied but I am a plain-dealing villain. I am trusted with a muzzle and enfranchized with a clog: therefore I have decreed not to sing in my cage. If I had my mouth, I would bite, if I had my liberty, I would do my liking.
In the context of the seventeenth century, Shakespeare was writing in a time where he would have had to create great atmosphere and setting. Creating the important bond with his language and attachment between the actors and the audience whilst competing with the racket of the crowd who called out, hurled fruit and tried to join in with the performance on stage. These performances would therefore demonstrate the isolation and seclusion of the racial or female roles that Shakespeare carefully constructed in his work.
When being an illegitimate child like Don John, one begins to think of themselves the way people treat them. Therefore, when Don John acts in his villainous ways, one blame it on Don John or rather the people who made him feel that he is less than human. Don John believes that his only way to be acknowledged is to act in a way no one will forget, therefore he acts as the villain in Much Ado About Nothing, because that what society made him out to be.
Merriam Websterś Collegiate Dictionary defines a hero as ¨A man admired for his achievements and noble qualities.¨ In the play Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare, there is not a clearly defined hero, but that does not mean there isn't one. Although there could be many, Don Pedro is the most deserving of being labeled the hero because of his creation of love between people and his loyalty.
The character of Hamlet is portrayed as a melancholy intellectual who is driven in to madness due to learning of his uncle’s betrayal of his father. Shrouded in mystery, Hamlet likes to keep the reader and the other characters of the play guessing whether or not heis is sane and righteous in his actions. Hamlet is a character that is stricken with grief, plagued by disgust towards his mother, and dwelling on existentialism. These problems contribute to the madness that Hamlet has and drives the play in a way that lets you see the vaguest insight to why he is behaving as he is. Even so, because of his monologues and soliloquies the play also seems to allow open interpretation of Hamlet’s character. This openness of Hamlet’s character allows the other characters roles to shine by showing juxtaposition to how the other characters in the play interpret his actions
Much Ado About Nothing, a play by William Shakespeare, is about a (very large) group of friends visiting one another in the Italian countryside. A group of warriors, just returned from battle, greet their host greet their host, engage in pleasantries, fall in love, and prepare weddings. However, not all are enjoying this air of happiness, as a villain is soon introduced, seeking to destroy the relationships he sees forming. The play then proceeds to show his various attempts at breaking the other characters apart, turning them against each other in the process. In the final scenes, the villain’s identity is revealed, restoring peace and harmony among the characters. Throughout the play, however, there is a large amount of deception, not only from the villain, but among many of the characters. The title of the play comes, in part, from this deception. In Shakespeare’s day the word “nothing” was similar to “noting,” which meant eavesdropping. Almost all the deception in the play takes the form of “noting,” with three specific instances. One instance creates a relationship, one is an attempt to end another relationship, and, finally, one brings reconciliation.
Much Ado About Nothing presents a picturesque love story between two characters that meet us as individuals full of hate, and leave us as an inseparable pair. These two characters are Benedick and Beatrice and act to us as sweethearts who have fallen deeply and passionately IN love in a way that we would all fantasize over- slowly, and then all at once. Their relationship in Shakespeare’s play has been presented through their matching characteristics, the way they speak and the way the language has been written to show their affection, the events that occur to push them together, other people influencing a bond, the connections between how Shakespeare has presented love in his other plays and finally the different versions of this portrayal through movies and theatre productions. Much Ado About Nothing shows us the difference between Perfect love and perfect love and also depicts the social hierarchy of around the time of the play through characters doing things out of honour and reputation, and not because it is the right thing to do. The title of the play plays a huge role in depicting the ideas of Shakespeare, as nothing is similar to the word ‘noting’ -slang for gossip and therefore it is ideal as the play is entirely ‘A whole lot of fuss about gossip’. This is because the characters are under false knowledge and create aggravation over fabricated rumours.
Proculeius is a friend of Octavius Caesar sent by the latter to ensure Cleopatra does not kill herself so he can parade her in the streets of Rome. Considering the fact that Proculeius is aware of her fragile state of mind, it seems unusual that he would address her with thee/thou especially as the default pronoun here should be you. However this is how he greets her in Act 5 Scene 2: