Comedy Paper: Much Ado About Nothing, Essay Example

William Shakespeare’s romantic comedy is a classic story with adaptations to plays and movies, written in England  in the year 1598. The story depicts the attitude  of social grace with courtship and romance, mixed with cynicism.  The theme of the story is about men and women wishing to be in a relationship; however, it is complex due to social order, expectations and the fear of being controlled and deceived. While rebuking marriage, the characters secretly wish to marry but fear creates jokes, slander, and animosity among the characters. The characteristics of the players are multifold and Shakespeare has combined comedy with serious and almost tragic events to detail social grace, loss of honor and humiliation.

The players in the story have unique characteristics which builds the story, supporting the concepts weaved throughout the movie; social order, values, honor, and stereotyping. The characters embark on a month together to prepare for a possible wedding. The setting coupled with the author’s dialog and manner of speaking illustrate the notion of social grace and masking the underlying meaning and feeling. The flirtatious behavior between the characters demonstrates the attraction and aversion they feel towards one another. The use of the mask in the story is a clear symbol of the attraction and antagonism they feel within themselves.

Don Pedro, Prince of Aragon, is charming and elusive. His charisma and social status gives him power and others look upon him to learn his trust. He uses his authority and charismatic attribute to manipulate the other characters. While his actions seem to cause the distention in the play, he has an ultimate goal in mind of good. While his actions seem to be motivated by the need to control and perhaps cause hostility, eventually resulting in happiness for all, the question still is left unanswered regarding the reasons for his actions. Charisma can often be used by individuals to mask the real motivation. Distinguishing charismatic attributes in the play are Pedro’s use of power and authority. It lends him the prevailing character of mystery.  He also appears to be the happiest throughout the movie but the ending shows him to be sad; again demonstrating the fine line between comedy and tragedy. Pedro uses verbal and non-verbal mannerisms consistent with this trait. Charisma is also a trait seen in leadership and Pedro demonstrates this as he uses direct eye contact and facial expressions to support his attempt to create the illusion of persuasion.  This is how he proclaims the deception on the part of Hero. This trait exhibits confidence and this can be seen by Pedro in the first moments of his appearance on screen. His nonverbal cues and body language lend the viewer to see him as an important role in the upcoming story.

Beatrice demonstrates conflicting characteristics, which is actually her vulnerability.  On the outside she is vocal, borders on abusive in her exchanges, and extremely sharp and quick-witted. However, this hides her prevailing characteristic of being vulnerable. This flows through the overall motif of the story and how people hide behind facades in reality. Vulnerably in people makes it hard to open up and get close to anyone, whereas on the outside most of these individuals appear to be confident, arrogant and loners. This is a contradiction as the quality of vulnerability can be seen as good or bad. Being vulnerable can mean a person has special sensitivity.  On the other side of this characteristic the person can be hard to get close to; making close friendships or romance difficult and create constant turmoil. This is seen very quickly in the movie as in the beginning Beatrice and Benedick swiftly engage in a verbal attack of wits on each other; each wanting and needing to have the last word. Beatrice is very strong and although she would like to be in a relationship refuses marriage proposal since she cannot stand the thought of being someone other than who she is. Her idea of marriage is submission and control. In the end she does admit her love and accepts marriage, but the pair have an unhealthy up and down romance bordering on immaturity. In the era of the story, males were the dominate figure in relationship. Beatrice’s vulnerability keeps her from surrendering her strong convictions of keeping control. This trait of vulnerability is Beatrice’s lack of trust in other  people and her inability to forgive and forget past hurts. She is unwilling to remove her mask of false self-confidence and trust her own feelings and personal awareness. As the story ends she is getting ready to wed, the audience are left wondering if she will be able to trust her new husband and deal with her vulnerable traits.

Claudio, one of Pedro’s men, is a young lord of Florence. His prevailing characteristic is naivety. His actions are the very heart of the play. Although he is seen as strong and brave, he is portrayed as young and naïve throughout the story.  He falls in love with Hero at sight; no words are spoken and he has nothing to base his love on or even what he is really feeling. His naivety has gotten in the way of logic. This also is woven throughout the story as his love for this stranger causes the events of the story and is the central plot for the title of the play; there is much chaos created over nothing. His naivety is evident as he goes from being head over heels in love with Hero to total devastation and despair when he is told she has wronged him; leading him to seek revenge. Since Don John wishes to destroy Claudio, he uses the trait of his naivety and honor to deceive and dishonor Hero as a part of his plan. Claudio is led by a strong sense of honor; however, he participates in Pedro’ public humiliation of Hero. His naivety throughout the story gives him a sense of immaturity and lack of depth to his character. He seems to be easily led by appearance over reality. The story further demonstrates his naïve trait as he agrees to marry a woman hidden behind a mask; trusting that it is the person he is told is concealed by the mask.

Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing is considered a comedy; however, it can be argued that this is a dark comedy bordering on being a drama due to the tragic undertones and symbolism.  There is a sense of anger among the characters which further creates the question of whether the genre is comedy or tragedy. The mask in the play is probably the most symbolic of all since it brings together the various characters and their traits. Each characteristic demonstrated in the play is intertwined and frequently is responding or revolving against each other.  The predominant characteristics in the story wax and wane, showing the change in the characters from honor to shame, love to hate and a complete turnaround to show hate turn into love. The variations throughout the play between comedy and tragedy make the story almost difficult to follow until the end. Hero and Claudio are the focus of the tragedy while Beatrice and Benedick provide wit and a bantering between them which signifies the love/hate they share.  The feeling between them in the beginning of the movie immediately gives the audience cause to wonder about their history and possible denied feelings for each other hidden in the obvious competitiveness between them. Shakespeare’s use of the mask again is the most significant symbol for the characteristics of the actors in this play; demonstrating manipulation, antagonism, and hidden emotions among the characters.

References

Much Ado About Nothing.  Dir. Kenneth Branagh. Videocassette. MGM/UA Home Video, 1993.