Ben Jonson

I partly agree that the function of Beatrice and Benedick is simply to provide comic relief. Much ado about nothing is known as a comedy; however the plot and key parts of the play include serious themes like deception, wit and slander which overrule the humorous elements in the play. Beatrice and Benedick’s role could be strongly argued to fulfil the comical relief role and there is a clear contrast between serious themes with the witty characters of Beatrice and Benedick and their “merry-war.”…

Love can be expressed in numerous ways. From the earliest times, poetry has been used to express one’s love. Such is the case in these two poems to be discussed here: “Sonnet 130” by William Shakespeare and “The Flea” by John Donne. Donne is known for his dense erotic poems and Shakespeare is greatly appreciated for his rich and numerous sonnets and plays of varied interests throughout literature history. Therefore, here the plot, tone, expression and meaning of the poems by Shakespeare and…

A character foil is when a character contrast with another character to highlight their particular qualities. The book Much Ado About Nothing takes place in Messina ,Italy. Much Ado About Nothing is a story when a few soldier's return from battle and everyone is jocund. Don Pedro makes Hero and Claudio get married, but Don John( Antagonist) spreads a rumor to have fun and cause a ruckus. In “Much Ado About Nothing” by William Shakespeare, Don Pedro is a character foil to Don John because of…

William Shakespeare wrote about 38 plays, 154 sonnets, and 5 poems. In this play Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare, Don John portrays different and opposite character traits of Don Pedro. Much Ado About Nothing is a play about intertwined romantic relationships between Leonato and Hero, and Beatrice and Benedick in which other characters, such as Don John, use deceptive tactics to mislead others. Don John and Don Pedro help illuminate in the play that deception can be used to hurt…

In its fall production of Much Ado About Nothing, the American Shakespeare Center stay true to the theatrical roots of the Elizabethan Era with the use of character doubling throughout the play for dramatic and thematic purposes. For a play that relies heavily on the idea of deception, the usage of actors for multiple roles is given additional significance, as it emphasizes how appearances are the driving force behind the plot of the comedy. This is observed through the transformations of three…

Related Things can be Different Shakespeare wrote 34 whole plays, plus 154 sonnets, and one of his most well known is a romance named “Much Ado About Nothing”. “Much Ado About Nothing” is about a town called Messina having the pleasure of the royal army coming by on their way back from war. As they are there, however, love blossoms between two couples, Hero and Claudio, and Beatrice and Benedick. Meanwhile, mischievous plans are created by the illegitimate Don John, who is a foil to his brother…

Shakespeare's play Much Ado About Nothing takes place in the town of Messina. The play promptly begins with the annunciation of Prince Don Pedros arrival. While this classic play tells the story of Claudio and Hero, and Beatrice and Benedick, many variations of this play exist where the story differs in some elements. However, despite the differences, the use of modern images and setting improves the audiences connection to the story and does not undermine the stories overall message.…

Closure in Lycidas What is the right response to death? How and to what extent should we mourn the ones we love? When John Milton's college friend, Edward King, drowned off of the Welsh coast 1, Milton wrote Lycidas in memoriam. A pastoral elegy, the poem represents King as the lost shepherd Lycidas and uses agricultural imagery to portray loss. The majority of the poem is spent highlighting the irrevocability and completeness of death, that is until lines 165-168: "Weep no more, woeful…

John Donne and Lady Mary Wroth are two popular and controversial poets from the early seventeenth century. Donne often wrote sensuous and spiritual poetry, while Wroth had written Petrarchan (in nature) sonnets concerning love from a woman’s (practically unheard of for that time) perspective. In both Donne’s “A Valediction: forbidding Mourning” and Wroth’s “Sonnet 22” (in the sonnet sequence Pamphilia to Amphilanthus) the issue of separation between lovers is explored by means of nature,…

Dogberry’s Revelation of the Truth The characters in Much Ado About Nothing, a comedy by William Shakespeare, are victims of miscommunication, deceit, and social injustices. Hero, the main victim in the story, had the chance to have her dignity and social status saved when Dogberry and his watchmen forced the truth about Don John’s destructive plan through Borachio. Instead, Dogberry found the chance to reveal the truth after Hero has already been humiliated by Claudio and Don Pedro. The order…