How is the character of Hero presented in 'Much Adoabout Nothing'?
Monday, 02 February 2002 Jad Salfiti AS English Literature: Shakespeare coursework/ Much Ado about Nothing How is the character of Hero presented in 'Much Ado about Nothing'? Hero is the beautiful, young and vastly dutiful daughter of Leonato, and cousin of Beatrice. She and Claudio fall in love simultaneously, but when Don John slanders her and Claudio takes rash revenge by ruthlessly shaming her at their wedding, she suffers terribly. Hero feigns her death and watches as Messina mourns. When her name is cleared she forgives and marries Claudio. Many critics, write off Hero as 'two dimensional' and 'unworldly'. Initially Hero might strike the audience as the conventional heroine; fair, passive, mild and meek, and the likelihood is she will not contradict first impressions until later scenes. In this essay I will be looking at how Hero's character is presented in 'Much Ado about Nothing'. The name Hero would be familiar to the Shakespearean audience. Christopher Marlowe used the name for the heroine of the romantic epic poem 'Hero and Leander'. Hero is synonymous with the romantic heroine, therefore. Hero to an extent is the conventional romantic heroine: pretty, fair, lovely, kind, graceful, charming, gentle, modest, well-behaved, docile and most essentially passive. The audience is denied complexity resulting in a drive to discover what lies beneath the repressed
How does Shakespeare Present Relationships Between men and women in much ado about nothing
How does Shakespeare Present Relationships Between Men and Women in Act 1 and Act 2 Scene 1 In Much Ado About Nothing there is a lot of talk about different relationships but they are presented in different ways. Shakespeare presents some of the relationships as being very passionate, where as others are presented as being filled with conflict as well as love. At the beginning of the play we get to see how Beatrice and Benedick feel about each other without even getting to see them together. When the messenger comes with news about the soldiers returning back to Messina, Beatrice asks the messenger mockingly about Benedick," I pray you, is Seignior Mountanto returned from the wars, or no?" In Act 1 we get to see the relationship between Beatrice and Benedick. Shakespeare presents their relationship as being one containing conflict because as soon as they set eyes on each other they start quarrelling, but personally I wouldn't call it a quarrel as all they do is make snide remarks to each other, Benedick: "well you are a rare parrot-teacher." Beatrice replied, "A bird of my tongue is better than a beast of yours." This shows me that they know each other so well, that they what each other is going to say because when one of them is talking to the other they pick up on what they are saying and put it in their own remark, this is called Stichomythia In Act 2 Scene 1 once
How does Shakespeare present the developing relationships of the lovers in the play?
How does Shakespeare present the developing relationships of the lovers in the play? Shakespeare wrote in a time of theatrical excellence, his love of language and sense of theatre aided him in the production of countless plays and poems. Much Ado About Nothing is a play of love and war, with a twist of comedy to lighten the tension ensuring the audience does not become overwhelmed with the emotions of the characters. According to the Elizabethans, a woman's aim was to be a good wife, as their ultimate goal was marriage and their status was to be 'seen and not heard'. Shakespeare's intention was to show two contrasting women, Beatrice and Hero, and to demonstrate how they deal with the pressure of a male dominated world. Because of her wit and determined outlook on life, Beatrice is accepted in the male community but is thought to be obdurate by most men. Whereas Hero, has a submissive attitude to life and this is exposed early on; Act 1 Scene 1 she does not speak throughout the entire scene until she is spoken to. Hero portrays the accepted standard of a woman of her time, which she is expected to do, as she is the daughter of the governor of Messina. During the play the men's dominating power draws to a climax, and the men unite and condemn Hero and despite her independent outlook, Beatrice cannot express her deepest feelings. Even Hero's father briefly rejects her because
Characterization of Hero in Much Ado About Nothing
Characterization of Hero in Much Ado About Nothing "Much Ado About Nothing" is one of Shakespeare's most loved plays. This comedy about love, villainy, friendship, parent-child relationships, society and customs presents a rich ambiguous blend of life's relationships, folly and catastrophe. It is a play with two parallel plots given equal coverage and equal focus, one involving Hero and Claudio (the conventional, culturally acceptable lovers), the other involving Beatrice and Benedick (the outspoken, unconventional lovers). These two couples fall in love with each other during the play and decide to marry at the end. Then there is Don Pedro, Prince of Aragon, who assists in matching-up both couples. He comes to visit Leonato, the governor of Messina (Hero's father and Beatrice's uncle), after a battle against his bastard brother Don John who tries to take revenge by breaking up Hero and Claudio. Hero has a very dramatic role in this play. Although she seldom speaks, Hero is the source of much commotion, because Don John, the bastard, tries to frame her and her fiancé Claudio. He hatches a plot to convince Claudio, that Hero is unchaste. Because of that, the innocent Hero is accused at her wedding day, in front of the altar, of sleeping around. She gets so nervous and faints. Hero is declared dead and can only awake when her innocence is proven Everything turns out
Consider how Shakespeare presents the character of Claudio and how interpretations of his character can vary
English Coursework 01/05/2007 Consider how Shakespeare presents the character of Claudio and how interpretations of his character can vary Claudio is firstly presented, (though he is not in the scene where this takes place) as a brave, young and fresh addition to Don Pedro's troops and that he is quickly growing to be a hero and this is commented on by the messenger in the scene. He is extremely naïve in the early scenes, he has a very simple and trusting view of the world and the way it works, he seems to be flirtatious, making him possibly desperate or genuinely in need of love. However a small part of what Claudio says could make him be seen as an almost sneaky and power hungry individual by the audience. Later in the play, in the scene where Claudio learns his wife has been unfaithful, he could be interpreted as a possibly sensitive and caring individual. However in Shakespeare's time, men were the dominant sex in society, it was biased, so this allows Claudio to be interpreted as someone who likes to remain looking big, strong, brave and in charge, perhaps making him self conscious. It may be that he thinks Hero is a disgrace to be disloyal to him, "The mighty Claudio" also making him seem "bigheaded" but this was acceptable in Shakespeare's time as men were supposed to be superior sex as I have mentioned, it was a great offence to dishonour the sex that were almost
How Accurate is Benedick’s Description of Beatrice as ‘Lady Disdain’?
How Accurate is Benedick's Description of Beatrice as 'Lady Disdain'? - She constantly fights with Benedick. She is a pain to only him. - She is thoughtful with Don Pedro - She is faithful to her cousin Beatrice Is Described as 'Lady Disdain, by Benedick in Shakespeare's 'Much Ado About Nothing' This may be true in some ways, however, in my opinion she is far from contempt. Beatrice is given a very sociable character, we see this is the way she treats the Messenger in act 1, scene 1; "Messenger: I will hold friends with you good lady." "Beatrice; Do, good friend". I can clearly tell that Beatrice is a very warm and inviting person who is easy to befriend. However, The minute Benedick's name is mentioned, her choice of words alter; "He has a very valiant trencher-man; he hath an excellent stomach." I can understand why Benedick would refer to her as 'Lady Disdain' as she constantly mocks him. She treats most people apart from Benedick with a certain degree of respect as she feels no need to be a burden towards them; "No, my lord, unless I might have another for working days: your Grace is too costly to wear every day." This is an example of the way in which Beatrice talks to Don Pedro. However, the way in which she speaks to Benedick is quite different; "he is a prince's jester, a very dull fool." When one speaks to Don Pedro in the same manner as Beatrice spoke
Discuss Shakespeare’s treatment of contrasting views about love in “Much Ado About Nothing”
Discuss Shakespeare's treatment of contrasting views about love in "Much Ado About Nothing" William Shakespeare is one of the most famous playwrights of all time. He is well known for his plays such as, "Macbeth", "Romeo and Juliet" and "Midsummer Nights Dream" but maybe one of his least known plays, "Much Ado About Nothing" is the best of the lot. "Much Ado About Nothing" was written in 1598 and has all the main ingredients for a very good play. There are a number of types of love and William Shakespeare wrote the play in such a way that he incorporated many of them. He included love such as family, brotherly, unrequited and, of course, romantic Beatrice is the niece of the governor of Messina. She has a very strong attitude and is quite spiteful towards her former lover, Benedick. "...he will hang upon him like a disease" (I,I,19,pg25) At this point in the play Beatrice is telling Leanato, the governor, how Benedick holds onto his friends and doesn't leave them alone. Benedick feels the same way in return about Beatrice. "I would my horse had the speed of you tongue" (I,I,9-10,pg27) Benedick tells that she has a quick and always answers back. The pair may argue, but they do agree on one thing and that is that they will never love and marry anyone. Beatrice says: "I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a man swear he loves me" (I,I,31-33,pg26) And
Claudio's fall from grace in Much Ado About Nothing
Transfer-Encoding: chunked It is often said that Shakespeare meant Claudio to be the hero of the play as the climax of the play (the court scene) revolves around his love story and he finally achieves his beloved in the denouement. However, as the play progresses Claudio fails to live up to the expectation of being a hero and is barely tolerable through the course of the play. Claudio is a young Florentine and serves as Don Pedro’s right hand man. The very first impression that the audience gets of him is very deceptive just as the rest of the play is. He is said to have achieved ‘the feats of a lion in the figure of a lamb’. As the exposition scene progresses, Claudio reveals his feelings regarding Hero to Don Pedro. However, this impacts Claudio’s image negatively as he allows Don Pedro to woo Hero in his place. His manliness is put to question as he is not even brave enough to declare love to the person he loves. ‘The prince woos in Claudio’s name’ and discloses Claudio’s feelings to Leonato. In the meanwhile, Claudio acting like a fool is deceived by Don John into believing that Don Pedro has wooed for himself. Claudio appears to be a gullible character as he is deceived by the very devil into mistrusting his dearest friend. He is a brave person and a likeable man but his exasperating credulity takes the merits from all these qualities away and leaves
Examine the theme of deception in "Much ado about nothing".
Deception Essay The theme of deceit is apparent throughout the whole play and it helps to propel the plot forward. At the start of the play we are introduced to the idea that there is a gap between illusion and reality when Claudio is described as having “the figure of a lamb, the feats of a lion.” Despite being youthful, he is deceptively strong. Furthermore, “Lady Disdain” is presented to the audience as a contented maid, cynical about love “I would rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a man swear he loved me.” And Benedick is presented as a man who values his freedom and independence and proclaims that he would never succumb to marriage, he claims if he does his friends are free to “pluck off the bull’s horns and plant them in my forehead.” Both of these claims are false, as ironically, the two marry at the end of the play. The feuding pair, Beatrice and Benedick form a platform for the theme of deception as beneath the antagonism and mockery lies deep rooted emotions for each other. Their hatred is simply and illusion as a “false face” is presented to the world. Later in the play their love blossoms and Benedick’s views are ironically transformed “get thee a wife” Deception is further highlighted where Don Pedro offers to woo Hero on Claudio’s behalf. “I will assume thy part in some disguise.” Don Pedro’s dominance leaves the
Characterization of Hero in "Much Ado About Nothing".
Characterization of Hero in Much Ado About Nothing * Hero and Claudio are the conventional, culturally acceptable lovers...Unlike Beatrice and Benedick (the outspoken, unconventional lovers). * Hero has a very dramatic role in this play. Although she seldom speaks, Hero is the source of much commotion, because Don John tries to frame her and her fiancé Claudio. He hatches a plot to convince Claudio, that Hero is unchaste. Because of that, the innocent Hero is accused at her wedding day. She gets so nervous and faints. Hero is declared dead and can only awake when her innocence is proven. Everything turns out good at the end, and they get married. * She is a beautiful (Act 1 Scene 1,171), young woman (Act 1 Scene 1,278), who is dark-haired (Act 1 Scene 1,157), small (Act 1 Scene 1,157), and described as a "jewel" (Act 1 Scene 1,165), "a modest young lady" (Act 1 Scene 1,150), "the sweetest lady" (Act 1 Scene 1,171) by Claudio. She is friendly and well-behaved (Act 3 Scene 4,26) , and when she speaks she is mostly very factual and enlightening (Act 1 Scene 1,33). But she can also be very cheeky (Act 2 Scene 1,79-90) * Hero knows what she wants and does not let herself be influenced by others (Act 3 Scene 4,6-11). She also knows exactly what she is talking about and is able to express herself very correctly in a calm way (Act 4 Scene 1,76-80). * She is very timid (Act
