Mr_Shank

In the final section of the story we see that Pertrucio was acting like a lunatic because that is how he believes he will tame Kate. We see that in the end he helped out Kate more than any of the others helped out their wives. She is now more obedient than the other wives. This reminds me of the Ugly Duckling. I know it is a children’s story and is kind of weak but it just sticks out in my mind. In the Ugly Duckling there is this black little duck among these beautiful yellow ducks. He is made fun of and nobody wants to be around him. That is Kate, she was ugly to people and nobody wanted her hand in marriage. As time went on the duckling grew and matured into a beautiful swan while his brothers and sisters were just plain ducks. Pertucio is the time and aging. He is what changes Kate like the time changes the duckling. The Swan was more beautiful than the ducks and is loved. That is Kate when she is tamed. She is polite and more obedient than her sister and the widow.

So my question for you is, do you think that Petrucio had this planned all the time or did he really want to marry for the money and this just popped into his head? Do you think that he is going to be fair to her and do you think they are actually in love?

Thank you

-Taran

 YEA IT’S THE LAST POST!!!!!!!!!!!

So we finished reading the last act of the play and overall I think it was a good play. As for a connection I have none. I have never heard or seen anything like this play, besides an episode of The Suite Life of Zach and Cody based on this play. There is nothing like Shakespeare’s plays that I know of. The closest thing I can come to connect it with again is Romeo and Juliet. The only reason it connects with that play is that the love situations in each don’t always work out the way they were planned. In Romeo and Juliet they are star-crossed lovers who end up dying for their love, and in A Midsummer Night’s Dream people are falling in love with the wrong person.

Questions:

1.       Now that we’re finished reading the play overall what did you think of it?

2.       Do you think that there I a possibility that some of the events that happened in this play could happen in real life today?

3. Do you think that this play is a good comedy?

The last two acts were filled with drama.  In act four we had Hero dying and friends being torn apart by love, when as in act 5 the friar and Hero’s friends help to unite the couple again and Beatrice and Benedick also get married.  Like in Romeo and Juliet the Friar helps to save the day in Much Ado About Nothing, too.  What do you guys think of this matter? 

Do you think this was one of Shakespeare’s signature details to put in a story, have a friar and let him help? 

 Or do you think that because friars are also monks that it is just their normal instinct to help people in need?

At the end of Act 4 scene 1 Beatrice and Benedick are left alone in the church.  Beatrice tells him how much she loves and, but also how he must kill Claudio to avenge Hero.  I have seen this happen before in movies, when the two lovers are finally together but the one wants the other to do something bad to their own friend.  Sometimes it didn’t turn out well and other times it, like in the musical WICKED.   Glinda is married to Prince Fiyero who is in love with Elpheba (Wicked Witch of the West).  Glinda and the rest of Oz want him to defeat her, while he wants to be with her.  This story does have a happy ending, Fiyero turns into the scarecrow and is with Elpheba in the end, while everyone else, including Glinda, thinks she is dead.

Can you guys think of any examples of where else you have seen this sort of thing happen?

I personally just want to say thank you, Leah, Alex, and Julian You guys have been an awesome blog group to work with this year and I will miss seeing you guys in English class next year. 

Thanks again: D

Rebecca Krick

The last two Acts (4 and 5) were very interesting.  They made for a very mysterious end to the book and then it had a happy ending.  The plan that the Friar concocted with Leonato and Hero reminds me of the plan the the Friar made with Juliet.  In both situations it was to help the case of their marriage.

In what ways are the plans from Romeo and Juliet and Much Ado About Nothing similar? Different?

I am going to connect this part of the book to the Lord of the Flies. In the Lord of the Flies, somehow Jack gets all of the boys to obey him, even though Ralph was the better and more mature one of the two. This connects to The Lord of the Flies because Kate learns to listen to Petruchio, and it seems as though he was tricking her into doing this, but he succeeds in taming Kate. Petruchio has done the unthinkable and blows all of his guy friends away. But Kate’s obeying is seen in a bright light rather than a dark light like in the Lord of the Flies. Do you agree with this connection? Is there a better connection that I could have made? I thought that this play was a very good/ cute play.

- Abbey

P.S. How many of you found that your predictions of Kate were wrong?

P.S.S. How many of you are ready for SUMMER?!?!

Ok, in Act 3 a lot is happening.  Two of the most important things that happen are:  Beatrice and Benedict getting together, and Don Jon ruining Claudio and Hero’s love by telling Claudio that Hero’s a whore.  

The fact that Beatrice and Benedict are trying to date the other out of pity reminds me again of Drive Me Crazy.  In the movie two neighbors go through bad break-ups and decide that they will pretend to go out with the other out of pity, [and to try to make their ex’s jealous.  In the movie the two end up truly falling in love, which I predict will be the case in Much Ado About Nothing.  I think that Beatrice and Benedict will truly fall in love with one another, but may have a difficult time showing it.

Do you think that Beatrice and Benedict will truly fall in love or do you think that they are really just doing it out of pity for the other?

-Maddie Zinn

In this section we see that Bianca and Lucentio are becoming closer and seem to like each other. During this processes everyone seems to be something they are not. This reminds me of the movie Wedding Crashers. In that movie these two guys go to peoples weddings and pretend to be something they are not to pick up women. Eventually one of them actually falls in love with one of the people at the wedding. he goes and meets her crazy family along with his friend who is not looking for love but is roped into it. Eventually she finds out what he really is and is ashamed and turns him away.

This same type of thing seems to be happening. Although everybody is lying and being something they are not to find love instead of a cheap short lived “party”. Lucentio is in love with Bianca and Bianca may be falling in love with Lucentio.  Bianca definitely seems to have a crazy family with Kathrina. I believe that when Bianca finds out who Lucentio really is if she ever finds out who Lucentio really is the same thing might happen and she will turn him away and turn to Hortensio and Lucentio will have to fight to get her back.

So my question for you is do you think that Bianca will find out who everybody really is and if she does will she accept Lucentio or will she desert him and turn to another suitor? Or do you think something completely different will happen? Be creative.

-Taran

Well in this scene we have some sparked relationship between Bianca and Lucentio, and a horrible wedding scene. This section reminds me of… I am a really bad connector, I don’t know what to connect this to. I GOT IT! Kiss me Kate! I knew that it reminded me of something, and i got it, this reminds me of Kiss me Kate. I think that it is based off of this too, isn’t it? Any way, Kate was being a bratt, and the main guy falls in love with her, even though she is supposed to get married to the army guy, but she falls in love with the main guy (matt beres)! But the difference is that in Taming of the Shrew the guy doesn’t have gangsters that come and control Kate. Maybe that is what Petruchio is going to do!

Do you think that this is a pretty good connection? What is it that Petruchio had to do that was so important that they didn’t even get to have their wedding feast?! Jeez Louise. Finally, do you think that Petruchio is going to get gansters to help him tame Kate?

-Abbey (:

I am going to connect this play to Cinderella. I think this because the father is trying to find a wife for his older daughter becuase he doesn’t want to marry his younger daughter before his older daughter. His younger daughter has two suitors who are interested in her, but the eldest daughter, Katherine, does not have any. I my mind the eldest is ugly, arrogant, and obnoxious. The father then locks his youngest daughter, Bianca, in the house. This connects to Cinderella because the step mother locks Cinderella in the tower because she wants the two evil, mean, step sisters to be noticed by the Prince, when really the Prince wants Cinderella. Poor Cinderella, poor Bianca.

-Abbey Stefanides.

Hey guys.  I’m a little confused, Lauren and Megan are both in my group, but Megan blogged on All’s Well That Ends Well, and Lauren blogged on Much Ado About Nothing.  I think our comedy was Much Ado About Nothing, so that’s the one I’ll blog on.

In Acts I and II of Much Ado About Nothing, Don Pedro is trying to help hook Claudio up with Hero.  Don John is trying to break them apart.  This plot reminds me of the story of a movie called Drive Me Crazy, where there is a girl and a boy who end up falling in love with each other when they meet each other through a friend they both have.  Unfortunately the the girl and boy came from two very different groups of friends, and they friends try to break the two up by telling the one nasty rumors about the other.  Fortunately, the two stay together but I don’t know how this story will end.

What do you think are Don John’s motives for trying to break up Claudio and Hero?  Does he truly just want to be mean, or do you think he has another motive [maybe Hero]?

-Maddie Zinn