Examples Of Courtship In Much Ado

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Much Ado about Sitcoms
Introduction
How I Met Your Mother is an American sitcom that has been airing on CBS for the past eleven years. The popular show follows the lives of five friends as they seek to settle down in their lives and marry. The show is narrated from the perspective of one of the main characters, Ted, as he tells his children the story about how he met their mother. As such, Ted narrates most of the story in the past tense and a key focus of the show is his own love life as he explains the process of courtship that he went through before finally getting married. One of Ted’s love interests in the show, Robin, is another main character and one of the five friends that How I Met Your Mother revolves around. Two other characters, Marshall and Lily, are a couple right from the start and eventually marry halfway through the show. The last main character, Barney, is a rich, womanizing bachelor that provides most of the comic relief in the show. His promiscuous exploits with different women in the city of New York regularly act as side plots within the show.
How I Met Your Mother and Much Ado have several similarities. Both of them revolve around multiple couples that are all connected by virtue of being friends. Additionally, a key theme in the show and the play is the complicated nature of courtship. Because of this, courtship is the theme that this script will address using some of the characters from the play in roles that were in the show. Applying characters from How I Met Your Mother as reimaginations of several parts from Much Ado can help show that the complexities of courtship are quite similar as expressed in the play and the television show.
Reimagined Scene
INT. MCLAREN’S BAR – NIGHT
McLaren’s Bar is fully ...

... middle of paper ...

...t me Marshall, you should realize that if you’re angry enough to storm into the room to fight me then you do care about Lily and you two should probably get married. Also, please don’t hit me in the face, its all I have…and a lot of money, and suits…
TED
[Interrupting Barney] Is that why you did this?
BARNEY
Well yes, contrary to what you think I do care about you guys
LILY
I never thought I’d say this, but you are one of the best friends I’ve ever had Barney.
Conclusion
The reimagined scene is similar to Act II Scene I from Much Ado in that a deception by one of the characters plays a role in bringing a couple together. This brings out various issues around courtship such as the uncertainty that people have and the question of trust. Similar to Much Ado, the scene sees love prevailing and the whole process of courtship ending in happiness for all.

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