Much Ado About Nothing DD Period 1 Megan Douglas
Ok, so in Act 3, a lot has happened that we should consider. First of all, Hero is trying with all her might to try to get Beatrice and Benedick together. She is successful in doing so by having a conversation with Ursula and Margaret that is meant for Beatrice to overhear. Beatrice has the same initial reaction as Benedick, she is a bit caught off guard but not at all opposed in giving a romantic relationship a try. They both figure that it wouldn’t hurt to take pity on the other one, an excuse bound to lead somewhere. Don John is busy in this act trying to break up the marriage plans of Hero and Claudio. He is also successful in tricking Claudio into thinking that Hero is truly a whore and that she is not worthy of his love. This is all an awful set up and the wedding in the next scene will not be pretty!
1. How do you guys think Beatrice and Benedick will express their love for each other to each other?
2. How is Claudio going to humiliate Hero at the wedding? And lets be really creative here!
3. Even though it is unknown, any other ideas about why Don John wants to break this relationship up so badly?
4. What is it that makes both Beatrice and Benedick so ‘witty’ and stubborn? How they were raised? And could their interaction with each other have ‘boosted’ their wittiness and in turn their stubbornness?
5. In the world today, how well would the plans and schemes thought up in this play so far work? Would they be successful? Is there anything today in the world that is an equivalent to either of the schemes played out in this act?
~Megan Douglas
Category: Discussion Director 4 comments »
May 16th, 2009 at 12:13 pm
1. I think that Beatrice and Benedick will continue to maybe try to hide their love for one another in this story because that is what they have been doing for the entire play so far. This could get rather interesting…
2. Well, Claudio might try to humiliate Hero by saying mean things or making up stories and planting fake evidence at ‘the scene of the crime’. All in all, I am not so sure how he is going to humiliate her, but I am pretty sure that he will do it in a very mean and humiliating way because he doesn’t sound the least bit happy that his fiance is a whore. Again, this wedding will be rather special and I bet that none of the characters will forget this event.
3. I still think that Don John is jealous that everyone is starting to be happy except him. I think that he secretly wants for himself what Claudio and Hero have. He could also have a crush on Hero and that could be why he wants to break them up so bad, because he wants her all for himself.
4. I think that the way these two characters were raised would definately play a part in how they act, but also I think that this is just their personalities. Their personalities are very similar which causes some tension at certain points in the play. This similarity is also why they are so perfect for each other.
5. Well, I guess in today’s society, anything is possible. Most of all, the stupidest of plans seem to be the ones that work the best so it is possible that these plans could work in modern day society. In fact, it would probably work faster in modern day society because of all the advanced technology like cell phones and the internet. News would be able to spread a whole lot quicker now a days than back in the time period of this play.
Brittany Miller
May 16th, 2009 at 9:23 pm
1) I think that Beatrice and Benedick will continue to fight in public because they are afraid to show how they really feel, but together I think we might see that softer and more caring side of both.
2) I think that maybe Claudio will pretend like everything is fine at the wedding but then when he has to say ‘I do’ he will say something alone the lines of ‘I can’t marry a whore’ or something and leave her at the alter. I don’t know just being creative.
3) I think that Don John is in love with Hero and doesn’t like that fact that she is in love with Claudio and is jealous of their love, because he never had anything like that. I think he is a bitter and rude man, and hopefully is nasty plan will not work.
4) I think that the reason Beatrice and Benedick don’t get along is because they are both witty and independent. They are so much alike that they clash with each other which causes the problems between them.
5) I agree with Brittany. Anything is possible with today’s technology and communication. I think that if this was to happen today, Hero would find out about Don John’s plan and be able to stop it, which seems to not be the case in the play.
~Lauren Gress~
May 16th, 2009 at 10:42 pm
1. I think that B&B will continue to fight in public, like you guys said, but people will begin to realize that they like each other because they will not be as harsh with their words and actions towards each other. I think that they may hook up at a dance!
2. I like your ideas! I think that he may do something to sabotage her dress in order to embarrass her. I also think that he may have one of the ’singers’ at the wedding sing a song that will get his point across.
3. Again, I think that Don John is just a mean and bitter man who has nothing better to do with his life. He has not had good luck with his life in the past and therefore believes that he has no chance of making it any better in the future. I think it makes himself feel better to make others feel worse.
4. I think that it is a combination of both how they were raised and their own life experiences, including their interaction with each other. Also, their personalities when they were born probably contained at least a little bit of this trait!
5. I see what you mean and definitely agree! With technology, secrets are not kept very easily. Word spreads like wildfire with texting, email, and other online sites. Rumors are another thing that are spread throughout the many aspects and levels of technology, which is an equivalent to the ‘balcony scene’ in the play.
~Megan Douglas
May 17th, 2009 at 5:02 pm
1. I think that Beatrice and Benedick will continue being mean to each other and bickering in public just to keep people from thinking that they like each other and become suspicious. I think that they will still be nice to each other in private though.
2. I think that he will act all cool and like he’s perfectly happy and content getting married and then very discretely throughout the day he will drop little hints to Hero, which will confuse her and make her feel awful. I think that then later he will make some type of mean announcement at the speeches.
3. I think that Don Jon may like Hero and be jealous. If he does not like her I think that another reason he’s acting like this could be that he doesn’t like seeing others happy and he’s trying to make everyone else feel just as bead if not worse than he does.
4. I think that how the two were raised certainly plays into the reason they act the way they do, but I think it’s also just the way they are. I think that they don’t get along because their personalities are so similar and they may feel that they always have to get their way or out-wit the other just to prove a point.
5. I agree with everyone. I think that tech secrets can certainly not be kept and are spread very quickly. I think that Hero would find out about the plan before it was put in practice, and would be able to tell Claudio about it and the whole thing would just pass over and Don Jon would feel stupid.
-Maddie Zinn