Much Ado About Nothing~DD~Megan Douglas~LAST POST!!
THIS IS OUR LAST POST OF THE YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!! Ok so in the last two scenes of the play, a lot happened to the plot and the characters. First of all, the scheme of Hero appearing as a whore comes into full play when Claudio announces it at the ‘to be’ wedding. A little while after, he finds out it is not true and much to his dismay, finds out that Hero has already died. Now the audience know this is not true, for it is yet another scheme the family is conjuring. In the end, everything comes to a comedic end, for there is laughter, dancing, proposals, confessions, and poking fun at one another. Overall, this play was much more enjoyable than Romeo and Juliet, if I do say so myself! Ok so for the LAST POST…
1. Did it surprise you that Leonato went along with the the trickery some of the characters were thinking about doing? Why or why not?
2. On a scale of one to ten, how romantic would you consider Benedick’s proposal to Beatrice? Explain your reasoning.
3. Compare and contrast Romeo and Juliet to this play. List at least five things for each category.
4. Why do you think Hero didn’t try to plead her case of being innocent more at the wedding?
5. If you had to put this play into a category, would you consider it to be a comedy? Why or why not? If not, come up with another appropriate category to place it in and explain its significance.
~Megan Douglas (did i mention this was our LAST POST?)
Category: Discussion Director 4 comments »
May 24th, 2009 at 10:32 am
1) I do not think it was surprising that Leonato went along with it because he is caring and I think he would do anything to make his daughter happy.
2)I am not sure how I want to rate this (I am not good at guessing) but I think it was romantic for him because we know how hard it is for him and Beatrice to express their feelings. For him it was very romantic.
3)Compare:
- Both have trickary and secret plans
- Two unexpected people fall inlove
- The bride is “dead”
- The frair in both help make the plan
- Their were both two sides that really didn’t get along
Contrast:
- In this play the main characters actually lived and got married
- In this play there are two sets of lovers
- In this play in the end everybody ends up happy
-The families are not wealthy and it is easier to relate to them
- Hero and Claudio are older that Romeo and Juliet were
4)I think that it was part of her plan to not make herself look helpless instead she was going tp get back at him.
5) I would consider it a comedy because the ending is happy and entertaining when everybody ends up with who they are ment to be with. The whole plot was some what comical too. Overall this play was much happeir in general than Romeo and Juliet.
~Lauren Gress~
May 24th, 2009 at 2:11 pm
Well, to start off Megan, thanks for asking us Mr. Shank questions for the last Blog! jk…anyway…
1. I am a little surprised that Leonato went along with it beacause he doesn’t seem like the kind of man that would condone trickery and deceit. He seems more of the type of man who would want to keep it real and not fake. It was a little surprising.
2. Yeah, so I don’t think that Benedicks proposal to Beatrice was all that romantic, but maybe her version of Romantic and my version of Romantic are very different. So in her eyes he could have been romantic, but in mine, he could have done better. He should have proposed on the beach, at sunset, and just as he asked the question, Free Willy would jump over their heads…that is how it should have happend.
3. Contrast
-this is a comedy, Romeo and Juliet was a tradgedy
-This involved way more sneaky plans
-No one actually died in this play
-There were more than one pair of lovers
-This didn’t involve a fight between two families
-Two men were not fighting over one woman in this story
Compare
-It had a play dead scheme in it
-Both involved some sort of lovers
-They were both written by Shakespeare
-They both involved some sort of scheming plans
-People got married
4. I think that Hero was too shocked to respond to anything that was going on. I mean, if it was your wedding day and you were just about to say ‘I Do’ and your fiance goes on a rage about you being a pimp or a whore, wouldn’t you be a little shocked too?
5. This is definately a comedy because it has a happy ending, and it is more upbeat and humorous than Romeo and Juliet, which was a drag if I do say so myself. It is a comedy.
Brittany Miller
May 24th, 2009 at 5:18 pm
1. I again would have to agree with Brittany on this one and admit that I was very surprised that Leonato was a part of one of the characters’ many “schemes”. He seems like a very honest character who would, yes want to make his daughter happy, in an honest, non-deceitful kind of way.
2. I would have to rate his proposal a one, for even though he was not good at being a gentleman, he could have at least not kept the rest of the characters in suspense. He had to wait until THEY found out for themselves with the notes for goodness sake! He’s the guy; he could have done better!
3.
Compare
- Both are romantic plays
- Both include some level of deceitfulness
- Both include fake deaths that lead to depression
- Both took place in the same time period
- Both involved ‘break up’ tactics
- Both had romantic aspects where the two main lovers fell in love within a few days of meeting one another
Contrast
- R&J is a tragedy and M.A.A.N is a comedy
- Romeo and Juliet seemed to be more in love with each other than Hero and Claudio
- R&J involved many murderous activities while M.A.A.N did not
- The two families not getting along aspect played a larger role in R&J than in M.A.A.N
- M.A.A.N had a friend trying to break up the marriage whereas R&J had a father taking this role
4. I think Hero was so shocked and taken aback at what was said that she could not make her mind work fast enough to rebuke. She KNEW it wasn’t true and could not believe what she was hearing. She went into a mental breakdown and was unable to speak the truth.
5. I would consider this play to be a comedy for it ends happily and there are many aspects that make it funny. Take Benedick and Beatrice’s excuses for loving each other for example. They wish to take pity on the other when they both truly loved each other. There is nothing malicious about that! The secret notes that were discovered also made me chuckle!
~Megan Douglas
May 25th, 2009 at 9:06 pm
1. I’m not suprised that Leonato went along with the plan to help Hero, because I think that he loves her and wanted to do anything to help her reputation, and clear that family name of any blemishes.
2. On my romantic scale I would give Benedict’s proposal a one, on his maybe a five or six. I think that he was being as romantic as he could be without feeling embarrassed.
3.
Compare:
-They both have a fake death.
-They both involve a “wedding gone wrong”
-They both had two people falling in love in a matter of days.
-Both plays were written by Shakespeare
-They both had some aspect of deception or trickery in them.
-Friars were the men that headed up the deceitful plans.
Contrast:
-Romeo and Juliet seemed like they wouldn’t do anything to hurt each other, where is Much Ado About Nothing, they didn’t care as much.
-Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy, Much Ado About Nothing is a comedy.
-There was no family feud in Much Ado About Nothing, where there was in Romeo and Juliet.
-Hero and Claudio are more common folk, than royalty or higher class citizens like Romeo and Juliet.
-Everyone lives [happily ever after] in Much Ado About Nothing; in Romeo and Juliet, they definitely do not.
4. I think that Hero didn’t defend herself any more because she was taken back by the audacity of Claudio and the outrageousness of the rumor. I think that she was just a little shocked.
5. I would consider this play a comedy because the play was humorous at times and the plot ended happily. Everyone ended up living happily ever after and nobody died or was separated from a lover. So I think that Much Ado About Nothing could very easily be placed in comedy.
-Maddie Zinn