Much Ado About Nothing in Never too Late to Read Classics

Feb 25, 2012 midnightfaerie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, classics

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Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare is absolutely fantastic. I've only read a few Shakespeare so far, but I have a feeling it will be my favorite. I love the characters, the plot, the dialogue and the interaction between the characters. Every other Shakespeare will have to surpass this. Like the typical Shakespeare, it's difficult to give highlights of the plot because there is so much going on, but basically it's one of his comedies about Click here for William Shakespeare Disclaimer

Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare is absolutely fantastic. I've only read a few Shakespeare so far, but I have a feeling it will be my favorite. I love the characters, the plot, the dialogue and the interaction between the characters. Every other Shakespeare will have to surpass this. Like the typical Shakespeare, it's difficult to give highlights of the plot because there is so much going on, but basically it's one of his comedies about Leonato, a nobleman who lives in the idyllic Italian town of Messina. Leonato shares his house with his lovely young daughter, Hero, his playful, clever niece, Beatrice, and his elderly brother, Antonio (who is Beatrice's father). As the play begins, Leonato prepares to welcome some friends home from a war. The friends include Don Pedro, a prince who is a close friend of Leonato, and two fellow soldiers: Claudio, a well-respected young nobleman, and Benedick, a clever man who constantly makes witty jokes, often at the expense of his friends. Don John, Don Pedro’s illegitimate brother, is part of the crowd as well. Don John is sullen and bitter, and makes trouble for the others. When the soldiers arrive at Leonato’s home, Claudio quickly falls in love with Hero. Meanwhile, Benedick and Beatrice resume the war of witty insults that they have carried on with each other in the past. Claudio and Hero pledge their love to one another and decide to be married. To pass the time in the week before the wedding, the lovers and their friends decide to play a game. They want to get Beatrice and Benedick, who are clearly meant for each other, to stop arguing and fall in love. Their tricks prove successful, and Beatrice and Benedick soon fall secretly in love with each other. But Don John has decided to disrupt everyone’s happiness.

Once Don John starts to cause mischief, the group is torn apart and characters begin to choose which side they're on. At one point, Benedick even challenges Claudio to a duel on behalf of Beatrice. Much chaos ensues.

It's a delightfully entertaining story, with much wit between Beatrice and Benedick, my favorite characters. As they are being tricked into believing the other one is in love with them, they are still trying desperately to cling to dignity, and the wit and jibes at each other escalate. Their banter and play with words is one of the highlights of the play and only gets better and better as they each try and outdo each other.

When reading reviews and plot summaries of this play online, I've sadly come to notice that one of the absolute best characters often gets underplayed, or not even mentioned at all. Dogberry, our chief policeman, is the one who uncovers Don John's evil plot and brings it to Leonato. He is the only middle-class character and often tries desperately to use big words to impress the nobles, and often fails. This is cause for much of the humor of the play as we can't help but love him. He misuses words or uses the wrong word completely when trying to explain things. And then, when one of the plaintiff's (he means defendant's) calls him an ass, he wants to make sure it goes on record because he's so offended. So he goes around saying, "Let it be known, that I am an ass!" Too funny! He's a fantastic character and doesn't get enough recognition in my opinion. I absolutely loved this play.

The movie I chose to watch was one I watched years ago back in college and revisited again after reading the play. It has many stars in it and I think they all do an excellent job except for Robert Sean Leonard. You might remember him as the kid who killed himself in Dead Poet's society. My college professor went on and on about how terrible Keanu Reeves was as Don John, but I myself think he actually did him justice. Leonard, however, especially when realizing he has wronged Hero, does an abysmal job of carrying on about it. Emma Thompson as Beatrice and Kenneth Branagh as Benedict were a brilliant move, as they did an outstanding job. I can't say often enough just how much I love the dialogue between these two characters! And even more of a brilliant move, casting Michael Keaton as Dogberry! If you never see but one of Shakespeare's plays made into a movie, see this one if not for Keaton alone. He's fantastic and hilarious! He brings a new kind of comedy and abasement to Dogberry that no one else could do. Completely wonderful! I can't recommend this play or movie enough! Five stars to both!
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Mar 25, 2017 Jamie rated it it was ok

Literally, the title of this play quite accurately reflects how I felt about it... much ado about... nothing. It was short, I didn't feel it was sufficient enough to really develop the characters and perhaps that is because it is a play and supposed to be accompanied with visuals? The story was fine, nothing groundbreaking. I don't know. I feel as if there must be something wrong with me to react this way to Shakespeare. I must be missing something or not digging deeply enough into the text. I m ...more

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