counterfeiting, or concealing one's true feelings, is part of this motif. everyone seems to lie; good characters as well as evil ones engage in deceit as they attempt to conceal their feelings: beatrice and benedick mask their feelings for one another with bitter insults; don john spies on claudio and hero; don pedro and his 'crew' deceive benedick and beatrice. who hides and what is hidden? how does deceit function in the world of the play, and how does it help the play comment on life in general? a central motif in the play is trickery or deceit, whether for good or evil purposes.
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 use of slapstick by Wilde produces a contrived and absurd plotline that is in every way unrealistic. The lack of morality in the characters defines how undeveloped they are. For example, Algernon uses the aphorism, "The only way to behave to a woman is to make love to her if she is pretty, and to someone else if she is plain" highlighting his ignorance and casual selfishness. Each one of the characters is in some way lacking either true morality or even awareness of reality. Gwendolyn in particular is fond and proud of her education yet in the end she easily forgives Jack for lying to her throughout the play underlying a sense of stupidity.
Cherry seems to become more nutty when she falls for Lewis. But that’s what the audience wants to see, the normality of people turning mad because of love. Nowra is trying to cut out the fact that these people are really insane and hid it with the fact that love is what is important in this play, for people to understand that love makes you mad whether you are or not. As Julie says ‘Love is hallucinating without the
He has the good traits and flaws of a typical hero such as loyalty and intelligence. Hamlet's negative features include his rudeness towards others and his violent nature. To be a good antihero, the audience must also have sympathy for the character. Also, Hamlet's main flaw, which inevitably leads to his downfall, is his procrastination towards killing Claudius. As an anti hero, Hamlet's good traits, loyalty and intelligence are seen throughout the play.
‘Men were deceivers ever.’ To what extent can it be argued that Shakespeare’s presentation of men’s attitudes to women in ‘Much Ado about Nothing’ allows for comedy? In Much Ado about Nothing, it can be equally argued that men’s attitudes towards women are actually used for comedy purposes, and it can be argued that their attitudes aren’t. For this argument, the relationship between Beatrice and Benedick at the start of the play can be seen as comical to the audience, as they both claim to dislike each other and take pleasure in making rude remarks to one another. On the other hand, the relationship between Hero and Claudio could be seen as quite dark to the audience, as there are accusations and trust issues between the two. The quote ‘men were deceivers ever’ comes from Act 2 Scene 3 of the play, from the song that Balthasar sings.
Passion outweighs reason at every point and Shakespeare wants to highlight the young love in this masculine society as well as show it is the men that cause conflict and a world of hate. Therefore, the audience feels a bond for the characters- especially Romeo and Juliet due to pity and admiration, and Piggy, Simon and Ralph as they are the targets of this boisterous, savage
How does Miller make us admire Proctor more as the play progresses? Initially Proctor is shown as a self-loathing hypocrite, who has committed adultery with Abigail Williams. Miller presents Proctor with a flaw to make us not make our minds up about him fully. However as the play progresses he gains our admiration by confessing and redeeming his sins as he is motivated by truth and justice, and to challenge a corrupt authority. Although we see how destructive Proctor’s sin has been and how flawed he is as a result, we admire his determination to atone and sympathise with his dilemma.
Throughout the play, Beatrice and Benedick’s exchanges provide obvious humour as they trade insults until Don Pedro, Hero and Claudio decide to ‘bring Signior Benedick and the Lady Beatrice into a mountain of affection.’ Her character’s freedom is a source of humour within the play as it is so far from the social orthodoxy of the time it becomes humorous, as, according to Dr Emma Smith, to be funny means being able to ‘push boundaries.’ Beatrice’s comments show her ideas on authority and her individuality as a female character being outspoken. Comedies are ultimately conservative as female characters are expected to be obedient and almost have to act as
It is due to his feelings, Orgon rejects any logical explanation of actions of Tartuffe, he is absolutely unreasonable in his judgments concerning Tartuffe because he is guided by his emotions and feelings. In stark contrast, Tartuffe perfectly understands the power of emotions over Orgon and he uses this weakness for his own benefits. Even when Damis, the son of Orgon, denounces Tartuffe’s plans to seduce Elmire, the wife of Orgon, Tartuffe effectively uses his reason and plays with religious feelings of Orgon admitting the weakness of his spirit. Overall, this was a very enjoyable play to read and review. I was thoroughly entertained