The strength of Much Ado About Nothing lies in its balance of contrasting elements

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Sophie Hicks

The strength of Much Ado about Nothing lies in its balance of contrasting elements.

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Much Ado about Nothing is a romantic comedy which depicts a story of love, tragedy and mistaken identity. The story is told with a typical comic edge which incorporates witty wordplay with simple slapstick situations; however it also has contrasting elements of potential tragedy which completely contradict the otherwise romantic stance of the story.  The balance of these contrasting elements certainly improves the overall effect of the play, adding viewing value in the form of interest and enjoyment. However, does the strength of the play lie in the balance of contrasting elements or the principal comic romanticism?

In the sense of Comic Romanticism, Shakespeare takes the same route with Much Ado About Nothing as many modern comedy directors, using the same age old conventions to amuse the audience. However it is in the complex and articulate language he uses to invent and conduct the comic interplay, complex courtships and overall predictability of the story line that makes Much Ado About Nothing so successful in the terms of a romantic comedy.

   One of the main conventions of romantic comedy is the possibility for potential tragedy. Shakespeare achieves this to a very successful level, incorporating changing levels of tension and still managing to take a comic route. The potential tragedy first occurs in the play with a classic case of mistaken identity. Claudio and Don Pedro are misled by the villain of the play, Don John, into believing that Claudio's betrothed is having an affair with Borachio (admittedly Claudio's sheer gullibility does help this cause). This potential tragedy truly unfolds at the wedding scene, with Claudio exposing Hero's 'adultery' to the whole congregation and plunging the whole story into turmoil. However, one of the strengths of comic romanticism lies in the predictability of the story, and in Much Ado About Nothing this convention allows audiences to enjoy the touch of tragedy, knowing the story will end in high spirits.

    A further convention of Comic romanticism is creating a 'shallow' story which is enjoyable to watch, with no additional factors, other than the potential tragedy affecting the characters in a negative way. Shakespeare achieves this in Much Ado About Nothing by creating characters whose position in life is extremely comfortable and generally very satisfying for the audience to watch. For example, characters of a noble birth are very apparent in Much Ado', with Don Pedro, Prince of Arragon, Count Claudio and Signor Benedick featuring heavily in the story line. Further more, the overall class of the characters is high, the majority being educated, well spoken, refined and self confident. These upper-class characters are set against the backdrop of a utopian, idealistic Mediterranean paradise in the court of Messina, the household of Leonato which, attended by servants, musicians and gentle woman, further accentuates the characters high position. The main meaning of what would be associated with the word 'shallow' also features in the play. Shakespeare portrays the characters as attractive, which would be very apparent in the casting of the play and make the characters more enjoyable to watch. The refined intelligence of the characters, although admittedly not in the case of Claudio and Hero, also has this satisfying effect. Shakespeare has used this convention to full effect.

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   The traditional wedding convention has been used heavily by Shakespeare in Much Ado about nothing. All romantic comedies include the suggestion of a wedding. The wedding is a way of dispelling all potential tragedy and assuring the audience that the characters will live happily ever after. However, Shakespeare, in Much Ado’, has twisted this convention. The first wedding scene actually becomes the setting for the escalation of the plays’ potential tragedy, and is the point that the story is ‘plunged into turmoil’. However, the predictability of comic romanticism leads to the characters’ enlightenment of mistaken identities, lies and villains, ...

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The main strengths of the essay are its persuasive understanding of comedy as a genre and its sense of engagement with the text. There is occasional lack of clarity in expression, and more attention should be given to technical accuracy in quotation technique and use of apostrophes. ****