Is Benedick the comic hero of the play? How far do you agree with this statement? Suggesting if Benedick is the comic hero of Much Ado About Nothing is difficult to pin point a precise hero as each character possess a different comical trait. For the reason that each character during the play being a character to laugh at or with for respite after tragic events, for instance Dogberry’s use of malapropism mocks authority and makes fun of those who are in it. Devices that are used by Benedick and Beatrice are Bawdy language, word play and puns, which are very different compared to Dogberry’s According to Aristotle the idea of comedy comes from speculation concerning men dancing, signing and cavorting around the image of a phallus.
The seriousness of their love results from the lovers’ disrepudance (?) of artificial language of ‘love’ and superficial code they had tired by at the beginning of the play. This is seen through the development of language form beginning with rhyme (Levin- “Comedy set the pattern of courtship embodied in dance (rhyme)) heavily used in the first act to its replacement of Blank verse which representative of a for more logical and realistic tone. This also reflects a common Shakespearean comment on Appearance versus Reality which is often a deeper theme discussed in tragedy. Tragedy is said to be further represented in Shakespeare’s use of opposites or antithesis.
However, the most incredible of all these passages is found in Act 4, Scene 1, Lines 164-177, where Macbeth contemplates his inner thoughts to himself. Here, Macbeth speaks to time, providing the audience with a more in depth image of its importance. Also, Macbeth’s diction is short and fierce, further pushing the play’s theme of insanity slowly taking over Macbeth’s mind. Lastly, the passage faultlessly illustrates Macbeth’s fatal flaw of ambition slowly ruining his inner being. With these things taken into account, it will be effortless for one to show just how lovely this passage is
Of course MAAN follows Shakespeare’s traditional comedy structure but modern critics have their own agenda that a comedy, being such a complex genre, should conform to. Since the time of the ancient Greeks critics have struggled to define it, Plato described it as a series of events you would ‘blush to practice yourself’. Susan Snyder who writes for the Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare Company, states that - ‘Comedy involves men of middling estate, its perils are small scale, its outcomes peaceful’. This is an excellent summary for the majority of Shakespeare’s plays; however it is not necessarily accurate in relation to MAAN. It is true to say that a comedy involves ‘men of a middling estate’, in MAAN the protagonists share the company of the Prince Don Pedro, and are socially superior to the watchmen such as Dogberry and Verges.
At the beginning of the play, we get an introduction which fulfills the audience's previous views of Cleopatra. Philo explains, "Nay but this dotage of our general's o'er flows the measure," and "to cool a gipsy's lust" lull the audience into a false sense of security before severely disrupting it and playing with their ability to make judgments. The juxtaposition of scenes contributes a significant amount to the complexity of Cleopatra's character. Also the combination of love and war is tightly knitted together to form an interesting contrast. The dramatic form reflects the chief thematic concerns of the play.
BMadness is a state of mind that is often explored in William Shakespeare’s dramas in order to evoke a reaction—often of sympathy or pity—from the audience. While this madness often ends in an undesirable manner, none is more tragic and appealing than Hamlet’s Ophelia. While her lines are set in Shakespeare’s original script, her actions must be directed to achieve the appropriate response from the audience; in the 1996 version of Hamlet, directed by Kenneth Branagh, Ophelia’s deranged state of mind is portrayed in such a way that entices the audience and brings them to tears. The slightly modern nineteenth century setting acts as a common ground between Shakespeare’s Elizabethan era and today’s modern world. Branagh’s decision to leave the script exactly as Shakespeare wrote it highlights to complexity of the story and adds to the appeal.
Dramatic Devices In “Othello” Shakespeare’s “Othello” is a classic example of dramatic devices at work, and while so many devices were identifiable in the play, I am going to focus on two. First, Othello is a paradigm of a tragic character, with several traits presented in evidence of his catharsis, although I shall spotlight upon his hubris. The love shared between Othello and Desdemona is a rare and brilliant one, but ends wretchedly because of Othello’s unwillingness to act out of love instead of conceit. “Othello” is one of the most famous tragedies in all of literature, and with good reason; a few of which will be given here. As evidenced by other great tragedies, the main character, that the audience has come to feel a connection with, must experience a downfall, and lose all he has worked for in life.
We always make decisions without knowing the exact outcome of what we do, despite whether our intent is good or evil. In the play, Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, he develops the idea that an individual’s good intentions can have devastating results. This idea is developed through the characters Romeo, Friar Laurence, Juliet, and Mercutio. In the scene where Mercutio and Tybalt were fighting, Romeo intervenes and ends up losing Mercutio the match, costing his life. “I thought all for the best.”(Act 3, Scene 1, line 99) Romeo had the best intentions however; best intentions in Shakespeare’s plays always have a negative impact.
Commonly regarded as Euripides’ most controversial work, Medea is a powerful story of how one’s impassioned love can turn into furious hared. As a tragedy, it is completely unlike the Aristotelian work, yet it has a nerve jarring impact due to the unforseen climax. Throughout the play, Euripides has positioned minor characters to subsidize the major characters. The clever work of Euripides also suggests that the less significant characters are used in the play to develop the plot of the play and also to reveal and recall the events that could not have been shown. As a result of this, secondary character present dramatic importance throughout the play.
Deception and overhearing is a device commonly deployed in typical Shakespearian comedies such as ‘Twelfth Night’ and ‘The Comedy of Errors’, and both play a vital role in the play ‘Much Ado About Nothing.’ The title of the play is reflective of the content as the word ‘nothing’, when it was first performed in 1598 would have been pronounced ‘noting’ which had several meanings; it can mean to take notice, eavesdrop, or to observe, however, these aren’t necessarily accurate. A character can misunderstand a meaning, mishear, or misreport something, in the process of noting, too which can lead to tragedy or comedy depending on the actions a character takes. The situations that result from noting, significant comedic features, are the basis on which the entirety of Much Ado about Nothing is built upon. When the character Claudio is introduced he is said to have performed ‘in the figure of a lamb, the feats of a lion’ which instantaneously presents his unstable nature and his potential for violence and foreshadows the denunciation of Hero in Act 4 Scene 1. He is a young character and therefore impressionable, easily manipulated and naïve.