What Makes Much Ado About Nothing A Timeless Piece Of Literature? Essay, Research Paper
The play ?Much Ado
About Nothing? was written by William Shakespeare in the late 1600?s and over
400 years later is still a popular play with universal appeal. The play is one
of many themes including love, villainy, friendship, parent-child
relationships, society and customs. These six themes, among others which
Shakespeare explored throughout the play are all still very relevant in most
people?s lives today and many of them are frequently used as bases for story
lines on modern television and radio shows, as well as in magazines and best
selling plays and novels. ????????? In the play there
are also no dull moments to bore readers ? there is always something happening,
whether it is a new plot, an old conflict or songs and dancing. This is a key
factor in the popularity of the play. Although some would say that the double
and triple plots and storylines are too confusing, they do ensure that the
readers? or viewers? attention is always captured.One element of the
play which makes it appealing to people is the idyllic Italian town of Messina,
with large palaces, houses and beautiful cypress trees, scenery and warm
weather. At the time when Shakespeare wrote the play very few English people
would have visited Italy, but nowadays it is much easier and cheaper to do so,
so people can relate to the setting. Very few of Shakespeare?s original
audiences had visited Italy, but they could still relate to the friendly town
of Messina. Although the characters have foreign sounding names, the community
is very English sounding and the activities mentioned in the play include
eating, drinking, gambling, fighting and brothel-haunting ? all of which went
on in Elizabethan England and can still be related to today by many. The
community is also very close-knit and everybody seems to want to know what is
going on, which helps to link the many plots together. This is still a common
set-up in England, especially in more rural areas and the over-hearing and
misunderstanding of people?s conversations is a popular storyline in soaps
today such as ?Coronation Street?, which although fictional, is supposed to
represent a close-knit community of today in England.When Borachio
makes love to Margaret, she is mistaken for Hero, which was Don John?s plan,
but Borachio drunkenly confesses this to Conrade.? Borachio can?t help but boast ? ??I have earned of Don John a
thousand ducats? before telling Conrade the details of how he deceived Don
Pedro and Claudio ? ?she leans me out at her mistress? chamber window, bids me
a thousand times goodnight: I tell this tale vilely?? This kind of
villainy is also common today, and people such as Borachio seem to get caught
up in trouble, being bribed or otherwise convinced to do things that they are
unsure of. Deception, trickery and people being misled are common themes
throughout the play and are timeless elements, which are used in many
television programmes today, especially soap operas. Irony is also used
by Shakespeare in ?Much Ado About Nothing? and many successful stage shows
today. An example of both deception and dramatic irony in the play is when
Benedick recites his soliloquy about falling in love and the qualities of his
future wife, and then hides in the bushes when he sees Claudio, Don Pedro and
Leonato. The group of three know that Benedick is there; he knows that they are
there, but he doesn?t know that they know that he is there. Don Pedro begins
the deception of Benedick by saying ?Come hither Leonato, what was it you told
me of today, that your niece Beatrice was in love with Signor Benedick?? as the
group continue to talk of how much Beatrice loves Benedick. They then talk
about Benedick mocking Beatrice and Claudio says ?He would make a fine sport of
it, and torment the lady worse.? This is very effective, even today, especially
on a video or at the theatre, because the audience know the full story and none
of the characters seem to as Don Pedro is also ordering a similar trick to be
played on Beatrice by Hero and her attendant gentlewoman.???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
Love is probably
the key theme in the play and is never straightforward in the relationship
between Beatrice and Benedick and also between Claudio and Hero. Love is a very
common theme in many books, plays, magazines, television programmes and in
every day conversations and there are always twists and turns in the plot to
keep the audience?s attention. Love is quite a serious theme, and so the deep
and meaningful conversations are balanced out with contrasting scenes full of
good- natured wit and repartee from the beginning of the play.These
good-natured, friendly conversations are common amongst the group of friends
who fought in the war together ? Don Pedro, Claudio and Benedick. The three men
play light heartedly with the subjects of love, marriage, allegiance, troth and
religion, which were very serious matters in Shakespeare?s time. Benedick jokes
that if he ever falls in love, they can mock him as much as they want, which is
also very ironic. He says ?If I do, hang me in a bottle like a cat, and shoot
at me?? Some people are in Benedick?s situation today, for example, a young man
may have suffered rejection and tells his friends that he is no longer looking
for a girlfriend and never wants to get married, so Benedick is probably a
character who can easily be related to by some of today?s audiences. Another
one of Benedick?s situations with a modern counterpart is later in the same
conversation. Don Pedro says ?And I will fit thee with the remedy/I know we
shall have revelling tonight/I will assume thy part in some disguise.? A modern
day equivalent to this is when a man decides that he will ?pull? a girl for his
friend at a nightclub or party. Many events, such as these, could easily be
related to by the youth of today, and many modern television programmes such as
?Blind Date? are based on romance and finding a partner.Many other
television programmes and films that are popular today contain vulgar language
and bawdy humour, ? Men Behaving Badly? being an example of the latter. Bawdy
humour and sexual innuendoes are used by Shakespeare throughout the play. In
one conversation Benedick and Margaret?s remarks are full of double entendres.
Margaret says ?Give us the swords, we have bucklers of our own? and in response
Benedick says ?If you use them, Margaret, you must put in the pikes with a
vice, and they are dangerous weapons for maids.? The double meanings of both
sword and pike, in the time when the play was written, was penis and when
Benedick talks of using the vice, he is talking of gripping thighs. Such double
meanings are used in various conversations throughout the play, and even the
title can be interpreted in different ways.All pantomimes nowadays
have a ?baddy? and so does ?Much Ado About Nothing? ? Don John, Don Pedro?s
bastard brother. His role in the play was an important one, although he did not
appear in many scenes. His aim was to disrupt everyone?s happiness and it was
he who sent Borachio to make love to Margaret, in order to break up Claudio and
Hero?s relationship. The play does, however, have a happy ending, when Beatrice
and Benedick are content and so are Hero and Claudio. The very last lines of
the play are not spoken by Don John, but about him. Benedick says ?Think not on
him till tomorrow, I?ll devise thee brave punishments for him: strike up
pipers.? The dance at the end is a symbol of everyone?s happiness, as well as
Beatrice and Benedick?s kiss, although some people may think that this is a
sign that he has control of her and what she says and thinks.Overall, I think
that this Shakespeare play is timeless for a combination of reasons. Firstly,
because of the characters, which many people can relate to today. Secondly, the
themes, which are still very common in the media today and thirdly, the use of
dramatic tricks and styles, which make the play enjoyable to read and watch.
The only reason that I can think of why the play may not be enjoyed in the
future, is because of the changing English language. Many of the words and
phrases which were in common use in the 1600?s are not so common today and
therefore may put people off reading the play, although it has been adapted and
modernised by some theatre companies and has even been set on a 1930?s cruise
ship!
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