Satire In Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing

For centuries, people have ambled into the Globe Theatre delighted, waiting for the performance of a lifetime. What will they be a spectator for? Will they get to witness a uplifting show that makes them forget all of their current problems? Or will they be captive in a show of melancholic being? What are the types of shows that these high class individuals with pearls and dresses would have been present for? Shakespeare, the man whose work all these people came in to devour had an abundance of comedy and tragedy writings. A comedy is a literary genre and a type of dramatic work that is amusing and satirical in its tone, while usually still having a cheerful ending. The motif of this dramatic work is triumph over unpleasant circumstance by creating comic effects, resulting in a happy or successful conclusion. A tragedy is a drama or literary work in which the main …show more content…
A comedy is a story about characters who conquer unpleasant situations, so did Much Ado About Nothing fall into that spectrum? While in the end, Claudio finds out that Hero is alive, the aspect of a happy ending that is usually associated with a comedy is there, but more absent than if it was a just another comedy. The characters do end up conquering the situations in the end, but at what cost? Is Hero and Claudio’s relationship going to work out even though Hero saw that Claudio is willing to completely eradicate her public image? Can Hero ever look at her father the same, knowing that he wished for her to die so that the degradation would end? While there are no answers to these questions, the ending to Much Ado About Nothing left audiences around the world on a morally grey standpoint for they couldn’t decide whether or not to leave the theatre captivated or disturbed. As of now, the emotions are left up to audiences for generations to