Blog #7- Much Ado About Nothing, After Reading
After
Reading: Choose one of the following concepts
and explain what Shakespeare is saying about this idea through the play. Use
cited evidence to strengthen your response.
- · Deception
- · Guilt and/or Innocence
- · Loyalty and/or Betrayal
- · Gender Roles: Men and/or Women
Remember to
sign your post with your first initial, last name, and class period.
Shakespeare uses the concept of gender roles throughout the entire play. For example, Benedick states “Do you question me, as an honest man should do, for my simple true judgment? Or would you have me speak after my custom, as being a professed tyrant to their sex?” (1.1.162-165). Benedick admitted that he had a problem against the entire female gender, and he would constantly go on anti-women rants. Both Beatrice and Benedick expect way too much out of the other gender. Beatrice explained that she wanted a man "With a good leg and a good foot, uncle, and money enough in his purse" (2.2.14-15), which means that she was looking for someone handsome, agile, and extremely wealthy. Benedict described his ideal woman as being rich, intelligent, virtuous, beautiful, well-mannered, and noble. If a woman lacked any of those qualities, then he would want nothing to do with her. Beatrice also described her insight on gender roles by saying “Not till God make men of some other metal than earth. Would it not grieve a woman to be overmastered with a piece of valiant dust? To make an account of her life to a clod of wayward marl? No, uncle, I'll none. Adam's sons are my brethren, and truly I hold it a sin to match in my kindred” (2.1.57-64). Beatrice doesn't actually believe this, but incest was the easiest excuse for not wanting to get married. By claiming that all of Adam’s sons are made of the same material (Earth and dust), she proposed the argument that men and women were created as equals.
ReplyDeleteE. Crawford (5th Period)
During the last couple scenes, many of the characters experiences guilt because they believed that Hero died because of the rumors that were heard about it. They started to feel a lot of guilt. In act 5 scene 2, Claudio and the prince began to feel terrible for what has happened to her when they found out it was not the truth. Her dad had some guilt has well because he did not believe his daughters words. He is using guilt throughout the play to show how the characters felt after betraying hero and listening to Don John. (S.Bates7)
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that there was guilt displayed in the end of the play. To add onto your answer, Borachio also felt guilt when he found out that because of him, Hero was "dead." The guilt Borachio felt led him to confess the true story of how Hero became accused of having an affair. Without Borachio feeling guilty, Claudio and Hero might not have got married and Hero probably would have stayed "dead" forever. If Borachio did not have a guilty conscious in the end of the play, he probably would not have told the truth, and this could have changed the whole outcome of the play.
DeleteL. Miller 7th
I believe that Shakespeare says that deception can be used in a good and bad way throughout the play. The good way that it is used is when Benedick and Beatrice friends and family deceive them into confessing their love for each other. This is good since they probably never would end up with each other with them the deception. During part of scene 5, Benedick and Beatrice start talking about loving each other and they deny it. They come to a conclusion they they were deceived and suggest just to get together and their family pushes the conversion along so at the end they are together. (5.4.75-100) Without deception in their situation they probably would not have gotten together. The bad way deception was used was to bring apart Claudio and Hero. Don John and his friends though up a plan to tear them apart. They ended up deceiving Claudio which lead him to betray Hero twice. After Claudio got brought back to his senses, Don John ran away because he knew what he did was wrong. I think Shakespeare says that deception can be used for good if for good intention and will most likely have good outcomes. But not to if there are bad intention not to because it may ruin things and it get out of control.
ReplyDeleteG.Cime 2nd Period
Wow , I really liked what you said about how Benedick and Beatrice would probably never have confessed their love for each other if their families had not deceived them and because they did deceive them Benedick and Beatrice ended up getting married. I also agree with you about how deception ruined Claudio and Hero's marriage because of Claudios trust issues this mainly led to him betraying Hero and accusing her of being unloyal. (A.Davis 1st)
DeleteI agree! Deception is usually thought to be a negative thing, which it is, but in this play, Shakespeare uses a negative action to create a positive outcome. Deception turns out being necessary to the plot. (Z. Simmons 1st)
DeleteIn the last few scenes, Claudio, Don Pedro, and etc. began to experience guilt and grief when they found out Hero "died". When Claudio found out that Hero did not cheat on him, he began to feel grief and wanted to make it out by marrying Leonato's other niece that looks like Hero. Claudio wrote a poem trying to make up for the guilt he was feeling. Shakespeare incorporates guilt throughout the play to show how the characters feel after falsely accusing Hero. (C.Le 7)
ReplyDeleteGuilt was found throughout this whole play. One instance that really stuck out to me was near the end when everyone thought that Hero had died because of all the stories going around about her and what she did, which was not really true. For example, Claudio and the Prince started to have guilt about what they have done to Hero, since they found out that what was said that she did was not true. Another person that had guilt was Leonato. He did not believe his daughter and should have paid attention and knew his daughter more to know that she would never do anything like that. This has all happened in Act 5. Shakespeare uses guilt in this situation to show how what everyone did to Hero hurt her and made them feel bad about what they did. 7th-B.Massengale
ReplyDeleteI agree with the fact that guilt is an important theme in the play. After Hero fainted at her wedding, the family made a plan to fake her death. By doing this, they would make everyone feel guilty for accusing her of such an awful act. (E Crawford 5)
DeleteShakespeare uses deception in the play to establish personalities, reveal true intentions, and add a little chaos to an already crazy story. One example of deception is when Hero got the idea to trick Beatrice into accepting Benedick's love for her. Hero's plan was to have Margaret find Beatrice and "whisper her ear, and tell her, I and Ursula walk in the orchard, and our whole discourse is all of her... When Beatrice doth come, our talk must only be of Benedick... how Benedick is sick in love with Beatrice. Of this matter is little Cupid's crafty arrow made, that only wounds by hearsay" (III.i.p31). The plan's purpose is to make Beatrice feel guilty about having been so scornful towards Benedick by having her eavesdrop and hear how he 'truly' feels about her. Shakespeare used deception to change the character's attitude completely. Now that Beatrice has forced herself to accept Benedick's so-called love for her, she is actually more open-minded to the idea of love. Deception is thought to be negative but it, in fact, had a positive effect on the play. Had Hero and Ursula not fooled Beatrice, she may not have been so forthcoming to accepting her true feelings for Benedick. Shakespeare uses deception throughout the play to add plot twists and make the story more interesting to read. Z. Simmons 1st
ReplyDeleteI think Shakespeare used deception in a good way throughout the play. Shakespeare uses deception in different spots in this play. Deception is used especially in the situation pertaining to the relationship of Beatrice and Benedick. Early on in the play, Beatrice and Benedick pick on each other. later on in the play they begin to flirt with each other and end up getting married. this is an example of deception because you would believe that the two hated each other. Also, When they brought up their love for one another they each denied it. This is deception. I believe deception played a big role in the makeup of this play and in a lot of Shakespeare's writing. Shakespeare displaying deception a lot of times can add excitement to the writing and make the plot more interesting.
ReplyDeleteM.Thomason 6
In much ado about nothing, Shakespeare often uses deception to move the plot along. From the way that he used it, I concluded that he meant to show that deception is a simple thing to do that can have colossal bad effects. The main antagonist of the story, Don John, first deceives Claudio when he tells him that Don Pedro has taken Hero for himself. He tells Claudio, "Signor, you are very near my brother in his love. He is enamored on Hero." (2.1.135-37) Not only does he fool Claudio this once, but he does it again, telling him that Hero is not a virgin, with the help of Borachio, to destroy Claudio and Hero's marriage. He tells Claudio and Don Pedro, "I came hither to tell you; and, circumstances shortened, for she has been too long a-talking of, the lady is disloyal." (3.2.79-81) To prove it, he has Borachio have sex with Margaret on Hero's balcony. This is what led to the major conflict which ran until the last scene of the play. Don Johns small actions ended up causing severe problems.
ReplyDeleteDsmith Period 5
Throughout the entire play of Much Ado About Nothing Shakespeare plays with the concept of loyalty and betrayal. All of the men converse in the beginning of the play about how marriage inst good because the woman wont be loyal.For example when Claudio believes he catches Hero cheating on him with Borachio and he calls her out upon their wedding day at the alter,
ReplyDelete"Claudio:Sweet Prince, you learn me noble thankfulness.—
There, Leonato, take her back again.
Give not this rotten orange to your friend.
She’s but the sign and semblance of her honor.
Behold how like a maid she blushes here!
Oh, what authority and show of truth
Can cunning sin cover itself withal!
Comes not that blood as modest evidence
To witness simple virtue? Would you not swear,
All you that see her, that she were a maid
By these exterior shows? But she is none.
She knows the heat of a luxurious bed.
Her blush is guiltiness, not modesty."
This is an example of betrayal on n=both ends because Hero ends up innocent and Claudio falsely accuses her.
Although this is not the only concept he uses throughout this masterpiece. AK 1st Donaldson
In Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare portrays a lot of deception. One major example of deception is the relationship between Benedick and Beatrice. As shown in the first three acts, Shakespeare makes it look like they hate each other because they are always insulting each other and throwing witty remarks at each other. He then has them confess their love to each other but every time they do that they end up denying it.This shows deception to our minds.Then later on in acts four and five Shakespeare switches their relationship. He shows that they actually love each other and feel for each other. He shows that really when they were insulting each other they were really flirting with each other. He then ends the play with them getting married. ( A.Davis 1st)
ReplyDeleteI agree with the example you used to show deception in the play. Don John and Borachio worked together and did deceive Claudio into thinking that Hero cheated on him. This then led to later problems that affected the whole play and how everything played out with the people in it. These problems were that Claudio called Hero out in front of everyone at their wedding in which fell through. This then led to tensions between Hero's dad Leonato and Claudio. This also caused Hero to fake her death and to see if everyone would feel bad for her. But at the same time, all of this led to Hero and Claudio's actual marriage and a happy ending because of forgiveness. B.Massengale 7th
ReplyDeleteShakespeare uses gender roles to express how women are treated harshly if accused of a certain situation/rumour. For example, when Don John planted the rumour about Hero cheating on Claudio and told mainly the men, Claudio got really upset and called Hero words such as "bashful" and Leonato turned against her saying "Do not live Hero" (Act 4 Scene 1) and acting as if he is the one that also suffers along with Hero. Women were not really heard and assumptions were made about them without them defending themselves. At the time of Shakespeare's existence, women were not really heard and did not think to have mattered other than marrying and giving birth to offspring. If men could give birth to babies then they probably would have had many by then (and now). On the other hand, according to Beatrice, they did talk and speak there mind at times but probably not enough. Overall, it can be determined that men assumed many about women but that did not stop them from talking sometimes.
ReplyDelete