Analysis Of Much Ado About Nothing

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Much Ado about Nothing, though interspersed with dark moments, is a comedy that ends with the expectation of multiple marriages. Shakespeare 's comedies usually explore the themes of love and marriage. The common characteristics of his plays include rural settings, mistaken identity and disguises, complex plots, disputes within characters, separation and reunification. Tension is usually built up around the various trials and tribulations the protagonists must overcome. In Othello, Iago wants to destroy the relationship between Othello and Cassio by accusing Desdemona of infidelity; unlike Don John, he is successful. In Romeo and Juliet, Lord Capulet 's tirade and outrage at Juliet can be compared with Leonato 's soliloquy where he wishes Hero Beatrice and Benedick are portrayed as slightly older than the Claudio and Hero, to suggest their cynical attitudes towards love, as well to act as a foil against the young lovers. It is also made clear in the opening scenes that Claudio and Hero are already in love and it is quite clear that this version of Much Ado about Nothing was intended to present a harmonious ending. In contrast, Iqbal Khan 's 2012 stage version is set in modern Delhi in India. The themes explored in Much Ado about Nothing echo within the Indian setting, in terms of arranged marriages and how a woman’s loss of honour is linked with her family’s reputation which is related to the important issue of honour killings, because in a way Hero has had an honour killing, in Leonato’s words: “She died, my Lord, but whiles her slander lived”, her death has brought honour back to herself and her Virginity was an important virtue and female infidelity was unforgivable, a woman 's honour and her family 's honour would be lost. Shakespeare 's Much Ado about Nothing presents the two female stereotypes that existed during the Elizabethan era through the characters of Beatrice and Hero. Hero is a typical girl, well-mannered and modest. Hero hardly speaks, at no point in the play do we ever hear of Hero’s feelings and views towards her marriage to Claudio, her silence reveals information about the values of other characters, and just like her name ironically suggests, and she is the true protagonist at the centre of the play. Beatrice is the total opposite, she is witty and possesses a sharp tongue, she is strong and independent, and because she speaks up for herself she would have been seen as a shrew that needed taming. Both character highlights society 's prejudiced behaviour and unfairness to women, this is evident in the ending of Act 4 Scene 1 when Beatrice says "oh that I were a man for his sake! Or that I had any friend would be a man for my sake!" Her frustration and anger at the mistreatment and inequality of women

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