Shakespeare's Greatness: Much Ado About Nothing, and King Lear

1434 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: William Shakespeare's influence on modern day

The ability of an author to capture the interest of the audience has and will always be an important factor in the art of storytelling and even the expression of research or related material. When an author is able to seize the attention of any partaking of their work, curiosity will develop which will lead to the wonder of what the conclusion my bring about. Not only is it important to snatch the audience’s attention in the beginning, it is necessary to hold it prisoner throughout the tale. Authors do this by having an interesting plot development in which many unexpected details come into play and the course of the story is thrown from the norm and into the conflict. Shakespeare was a master of this art in the work he produced throughout his life and was able to create stories of humor and those of tragedy. For example, his play King Lear is a terrible tragedy in which many awful things take place and the story ends by disastrous means. While in the play Much Ado About Nothing, very little conflict is present and if it is, it is resolved quickly and the play concludes with the joyfulness of marriage nuptials. His ability to develop plot and story in a way in which the audience who love to devour, Shakespeare will in a way immortalize himself, “Shakespeare proved himself to be both the "soul of the age" his works reflected and adorned and the consummate symbol of the artist whose poetic visions transcend their local habitation and become, in some mysterious way, contemporaneous with ‘all time.’” (Andrews) As stated, Shakespeare went beyond his time and created traditions, symbols, sayings, and even stories that people today will remember forever. King Lear and Much Ado About Nothing are each examples of Shakespeare's detailed ...

... middle of paper ...

...=GALE&role=LitRC>. Second.

Mabillard, Amanda. “Why is Shakespeare important?” Shakespeare online. N.p., 20 Aug. 2000. Web. 19 Jan. 2014. . Fourth.

Partee, Morriss Henry. “The Comic Equilibrium of Much Ado about Nothing.” Shakespearean Criticism. Vol. 88. N.p.: n.p., 1992. N. pag. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 19 Jan. 2014. . Third.

Smith, Austin. “Great Shakes.” New York Post 8 May 2011: n. pag. NY Post. Web. 19 Jan. 2014. . Fifth.

Show More
Related

  • Much Ado About Nothing Essay: An Exploration of Conformity

    939 Words  | 2 Pages

    Rossiter, A.P. "Much Ado About Nothing."  William Shakespeare Comedies & Romances. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1986.

    Read More

  • Does Shakespeare matter?

    437 Words  | 1 Pages

    By using just the right combination of words, or by coming up with just the right image, Shakespeare wrote many passages and entire plays that were so powerful, moving, tragic, comedic, and romantic that many are still being memorized and performed today, almost four centuries later. But the greatness of Shakespeare’s ability lies not so much in the basic themes of his works but in the creativity he used to write these stories of love, power, greed, discrimination, hatred, and tragedy.

    Read More

  • Foreshadowing In Macbeth

    460 Words  | 1 Pages

    Shakespeare always knew how to keep his audience on the edge of their seats. His use of dynamic characters, irony, and foreshadowing creates a sense of involvement for the audience.

    Read More

  • An Assessment of the similarities between Romeo and Juliet and Midnight Summer's Dream

    678 Words  | 2 Pages

    Shakespeare was an amazing, exhilarating author. After all, not many authors can pull off what he did. Not even close. He was able to write stories with such great emotional content and literature value but he had a secret. If you carefully read the many plays of Shakespeare, you begin to see something. Something peculiar and amazing. Shakespeare often uses the same basic story line over and over. Take Romeo and Juliet and Midsummer Night’s Dream for example. There are distinct similarities between Romeo and Juliet and Midsummer Night’s Dream in the first three acts, these are: (1) Act one of both plays, every character is certain of their love for another person, (2) in the second act, someone is trying to make someone forget their love for a certain person, (3) but in the third act of both plays, problems explode everywhere.

    Read More

  • A Review of King Lear by the Royal Shakespeare Academy

    842 Words  | 2 Pages

    in. The stage was right in front of the audience, so you felt like you

    Read More

  • Benedick and Beatrice's Love in Much Ado About Nothing

    1362 Words  | 3 Pages

    Shakespeare, William. Much Ado about Nothing. Ed. Paul Werstine, Barbara A. Mowat, and Gail Kern. Paster. New York: Simon &ump; Schuster Paperbacks, 1995. Print.

    Read More

  • A Quartette of Sensational Similarities of Shakespeare’s Superior Works

    1359 Words  | 3 Pages

    William Shakespeare, a playwright of the 1600’s, changed how English literature is looked at to this very day. He has influenced the way a character’s emotions are captured on a page and shaped the English language. Drama, tragedy, romance, and comedy are shown in a new light as he manipulated words to become stories of his own. Shakespeare has written numerous classic pieces that he has been credited to such as Romeo and Juliet. Each work has a new plot and storyline, but, Shakespeare seems to use common techniques and styles throughout many of the pieces. Numerous authors use this same method, which develops fluidity and patterns to their stories. This allows the author to be known for a style through their work. For Shakespeare, his works share similarities such as power struggles, love and romance, immediate conflicts, and interlinking sub stories.

    Read More

  • Love Theme in Shakespeare´s Much Ado About Nothing

    604 Words  | 2 Pages

    Greenblatt, Stephen. "Much Ado About Nothing." Introduction. The Norton Shakespeare: Based of the Oxford Edition. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt et al. 2nd ed. Vol. 1. New York: W.W. Norton, 2008. 1412. Print. Early Plays and Poems.

    Read More

  • How the Characters in Much Ado About Nothing Learn to Love

    2988 Words  | 6 Pages

    Rossiter, A.P. “Much Ado About Nothing.”  William Shakespeare Comedies & Romances. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1986.

    Read More

  • Skakespeare and his style of writing

    2363 Words  | 5 Pages

    Shakespeare’s plays are a product of the Elizabethan theatrical context in which they were first performed. A lot of pressure was put on Shakespeare as he wrote his plays because he was not allowed to upset the royal family. His style would have been different than others in those times and a lot more thought has gone into his writing than people listening would think. Usually, the audience take for granted the cleverness and thought of Shakespeare’s writing, however, now we have studied and gone into great detail about Shakespeare’s writing, we can appreciate it more than they did:

    Read More

  • Critical Study of Shakespeare's King Lear

    1267 Words  | 3 Pages

    Critical Study of Shakespeare's King Lear In this production of Shakespeare's King Lear, a feminist reading of the play has been chosen to be presented to the audience. Certain important factors must be taken into consideration as to how this reading will be reflected on stage. Thus, we will examine, in detail, two important scenes: Act I, scene i, and Act IV, scene iv, their impact on the action and main issues of the play (ambition/ greed, power, corruption, appearance versus reality and growth through suffering) and how the characters, specifically the women roles, are to be portrayed to reflect this particular critical reading. Act I, scene i, is worthy of our attention as a valid representation of the major issues within the play, an impetus for the play's ensuing conflict and a display of the nature of the characters. The scene opens with Gloucester and Kent discussing Lear's plan to retire and partition his kingdom amongst his daughters.

    Read More

  • Essay On Teaching Shakespeare

    719 Words  | 2 Pages

    Shakespeare works go back to approximately five hundred years ago and represent a true challenge for today's reader. However, today he is still available because his works represent life and lend themselves to various interpretations. Moreover, his characters are archetypes who show their humanity when they face difficult situations, and exploring these stories can help this generation of readers to make meaning of the real world. In addition, Shakespeare’s expressive language and powerful verse structure would seem difficult for a poor reader, but when he reads on, these tools can empower his reading skills more than any other type of literature.

    Read More

  • Essay on the Perfect Women of As You Like It and Much Ado About Nothing

    2758 Words  | 6 Pages

    Scott, Mark W., ed. "Much Ado About Nothing." Shakespeare Criticism. Vol. VIII. Detroit, Michigan: Gale Research Co., 1989.

    Read More

  • Comedy vs. Tragedy

    888 Words  | 2 Pages

    There is not one person in this world who has the exact same preferences as another person. Everyone has their own unique style, which creates the need for a wider variety of genres. In the Elizabethan Ear, one of the world’s greatest poets emerged. His sonnets, stories, plays were written in such varieties that appealed to the masses, even in today’s society. Of all his works, the most popular styles were comedies and tragedies. These polar opposites appealed to many because of the way they brought the story to life. The same story written in both of these styles could have a completely different effect on the audience based on the style used. Although completely dissimilar, the two styles did have some similarities, which kept them in the Shakespearian style. Shakespeare’s more widely known comedy and tragedy, The Twelfth Night and Macbeth, respectively, are great examples to show the vast differences between the two styles, but since both works are by the same author, similarities can also be seen if one looks carefully.

    Read More

  • Historical Context for Shakespeare's Plays

    1028 Words  | 3 Pages

    Arguably the greatest playwright of his time, perhaps in all of history, William Shakespeare's literary works have had a tremendous impact (see Appendix 2). Reaching into the pop culture of the modern world through movies and quotes used in everyday conversation, Shakespeare's influence is astounding (see Appendix 1). One rarely stops to think, however, about events that had an impact on Shakespeare's life, particularly his writing. The outbreak of the plague, social disparity, political unrest, just a few of the historical happenings that impacted Shakespeare's plays, including Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, and Henry IV

    Read More

More about Shakespeare's Greatness: Much Ado About Nothing, and King Lear

Open Document