Tragic Undertones In Much Ado About Nothing By William Shakespeare

Improved Essays
In the play Much Ado About Nothing Shakespeare prevents these tragic undertones from overwhelming the comic aspects of the play by using other characters and their personalities. As you read during the play the characters has a big part to play in the way the play goes. For instances in the play Hero’s pretending to die of humiliation this makes her death more realistic than it should've been. The play creates a strong sense of tragic undertones while the comic aspects join in and combines to make the play more interesting to viewers and readers.

In Act 4 scene 1 at the end everything seems to be irregular and not normal. With the next scene taking place in a courtroom where Dogberry questions the prisoners. He has no idea what he is doing

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    A summary of Much Ado about Nothing Much Ado about Nothing is a comedy play written by the famous author, William Shakespeare. The play is set in Messina about 1500 A.D. In the start of the play, Don Pedro of Aragon and his noblemen visit their good friend Leonato in Messina after having crushed an riot led by Don John, the prince’s half-brother. With him is the misogynistic and witty Bendick, the former flame of Leonato’s sharped-tonged and fierce niece Beatrice. The former couple are both very stubborn and proud.…

    • 657 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    My chosen theme is loyalty within the play, Much ado about nothing. There is a lack of loyalty between Beatrice and Benedick as we get hints that they used to be a couple in act 2 scene 1 line 245 ‘he lent it me awhile, and i gave him use for it, a double heart for his single one.’ However they we are certain they are no longer a couple because in act 1 scene 1 line 70 Beatrice stated ‘He will hang upon him like a disease.’ This quote that Beatrice used to describe Benedick is a simile. A simile is used to describe two things which are similar or alike in some way, this shows that Beatrice thinks of Benedick as a disease and that he is hard to get rid of.…

    • 638 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In my essay, I am going to analyse how William Shakespeare developed conflicts to show emotion in Much Ado about Nothing. The conflict of Claudio embarrassing Hero and stopping the wedding in front of all the towns’ people, was created by Claudio viewing what he interpreted to be Hero and Barachio kissing and sharing an intimate moment in Hero’s chambers. However, as we (the audience) know, it wasn’t really Hero in the window, it was Hero’s cousin Margaret.…

    • 925 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, the presence of jealousy is one of the main driving forces of the development of the plot. Don John is jealous of his brother’s reputation and takes it out on Claudio. Claudio then undergoes strong envious feelings after Don John’s jealous rage leads him to tricking Claudio. These men are taken over by the ‘green eyed monster’, jealousy, which eventually turns out to do them only harm.…

    • 319 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    The sacrifice of the precious in order to satisfy the expectations of the self and of society often leads to pain and destruction. This is true in the Shakespeare play Much Ado About Nothing, when Claudio forfeits his marriage to Hero and sacrifices a life of happiness with her because he suspects her of infidelity. His willingness to abandon her reveals in him pride and a deep value for female chastity. Claudio’s pride in his power and control, as well as his rigid conformity to societal gender norms, provides insight into the way Shakespeare uses this play as a commentary on personal convictions and cultural expectations.…

    • 1267 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    It’s All Fun and Games Until Someone Gets Hurt (A discussion on the similarities and differences in Shakespeare’s King Lear and Much Ado About Nothing) When renting movies nowadays, the movies are often organized according to their genres. There are thrillers, comedies, rom coms, action/adventure, horror, etc. The list goes on for ages. Before there were movies, there were plays. Shakespeare is the most famous playwright in history.…

    • 1268 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Deception is a tool that has been used throughout history to achieve power and political goals. It is used daily by people who desire to alter a situation in their favor, whether it be for good or bad. William Shakespeare wrote the play Much Ado About Nothing in 1599 for Queen Elizabeth I, someone who often interfered in the relationships among her courtiers and attendants. Shakespeare uses this play to comment on deception and how one may go about deceiving someone, by comparing Don Pedro and the Friar’s use of deception with Don John’s, it is clear that he believes deception has a place in society– but only if it is used for a good purpose. Through the contrast of Don Pedro, the Friar, and Leonato’s good intentions and his brother’s machinations…

    • 1895 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Shakespeare, a man who could weave humor into a tragic play, contrasts the somber events of the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. In Act 1, Shakespeare uses Lord Capulet, Montague's servants, and Juliet's nurse to show that there is humor, which impacts the meaning and tone of the play. Indeed, anybody could tell you that the play "Romeo and Juliet" is a tragedy. Although, Lord Capulet, Juliet's father, makes awfully comical jokes during the masquerade in Act 1.…

    • 614 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Samuel Johnson, English writer and critic from the 18th century, states, “Shakespeare has united the powers of exciting laughter and sorrow not only in one mind, but in one composition. Almost all his plays are divided between serious and ludicrous characters, and, in the successive evolutions of the design, sometimes produce seriousness and sorrow, and sometimes levity and laughter”(Johnson). Johnson is explaining a profound truth about Shakespeare’s works, that perhaps these connections between Othello and Much Ado are just a smaller part of a bigger picture. Perhaps in all of Shakespeare’s plays, he tries to incorporate some aspects of his comedies with his tragedies. Shakespeare is a writer who aims to connect all of his works in some way or another, whether through style…

    • 1601 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Claudio And Benedick Foil

    • 909 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Character foils and relations have a great impact on the meaning and structure of literature all around the world. The play “Much Ado About Nothing” by WIlliam Shakespeare, takes place in Messina, Italy where the characters are reunited after many of them being away in war. Throughout the book, each character is faced with a struggle they must overcome ranging from tragic events, broken relationships, to even internal conflicts. In the play, Shakespeare uses character foils as a way of enhancing and developing the plot of the story while illuminating the meaning of his work. In the play, Claudio and Benedick are foils of each other due to their opposing personalities, reactions, and morals.…

    • 909 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Benedick and Claudio It is easy to say that Shakespeare was an accomplished poet, having written at least 35 plays (Shakespeare FAQ). In his many plays, love was a very common theme, especially conflict within love. Needless to say, in Shakespeare’s play, Much Ado about Nothing, love is the main theme and conflict.…

    • 1013 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the Renaissance Era men were proud to be vigorous in their pursuit of women. Like in many of Shakespeare’s plays, men were supposed to be in search of love even if it led to sacrificing everything, even their own lives. Juxtaposing this one with many of Shakespeare’s other plays, like Romeo and Juliet, instead of the main character gracefully falling in love and thus he gives his full loyalty to his lover, Much Ado About Nothing flips the script by making Benedick an already fully loyal man who reluctantly found himself in love and by cause and effect his lover has his full loyalty. In William Shakespeare’s comedy Much Ado About Nothing he tells of the sacrifices of both moral and physical that Benedick had to go through to show the everlasting…

    • 858 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The portrayal of love in Much Ado About Nothing is divided among many characters relationships; love is depicted to be a complex series of events starting with an initial honeymoon stage, followed by deception driving the relationship into failure and then giving it strength to regain its allure. In the various relationships within the play, Shakespeare implies a period of love in which both counterparts have faith in the relationship and are full of love for each other, seeing no failure up ahead. Shakespeare uses Hero and Claudio throughout the book as a principal couple, Hero is an ideal wife and Claudio is the most perfect man in Messina. Claudio decides he has been in love with Hero for a long time, and was merely distracted with the…

    • 1064 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    One of the concepts Shakespeare explores in Much Ado About Nothing is that of the different natures of relationships. Throughout the play, Shakespeare sets up two distinct pairs of lovers, both exemplifying a different model of relationship. Shakespeare contrasts two ideals of relationships, one of which being a relationship of immediacy based on necessity and a need to fulfill social norms, and the other being a relationship that is based on genuine feelings of love that are cultivated slowly and thoughtfully over time. The conversation between Anthony, Leonato, Beatrice, and Hero in Act Two Scene One, regarding how Hero should respond to her impending proposal, contributes to this exploration of differing types of love by juxtaposing the nature of relationship that Anthony, Leonato, and Hero subscribe to with the differing ideal of relationship that Beatrice favors.…

    • 1452 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Great Essays

    One of the many reasons behind Shakespeare’s success was his awareness of the human condition and his ability to accurately portray it in his works. His capacity to depict the ever-changing relationships and dynamics between people is what made the plays so appealing to audiences then and now. In his play, Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare demonstrates the power relations between men and women in the time period. The main storyline of the play gives the reader insight into how women had limits on what they could and could not do. During the exchange of words between Benedick and Beatrice in Act 4, Scene 1, it is apparent that men had more freedom to carry out plans than women did in this time.…

    • 1562 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays