Much Ado About Nothing
...1600. It is a mature romantic comedy, and has enjoyed considerable success in the theatre. This would make Much Ado one of Shakespeare's later comedies. This is a specific comedy because the humour of Much Ado about Nothing does not depend upon funny situations. Though it has some similarities with earlier plays, the comedy of Much Ado derives from the characters themselves and the manners of the highly mannered society in which they live. Much Ado is about many things: intrigue, gossip, remorse, trust, pride, graciousness, honour, love, cruelty, and loyalty - but it is certainly not about nothing. In this comedy, Shakespeare's drama ridicules love and human courtliness between two couples that take very different roads to reach the same goal: making the connection between inner and external beauty. Much Ado About Nothing shows different ways of how people are attracted to one another, and how their realization and definitions of "love" relate to their perceptions of inward and outward beauty. All of the main characters in "Much Ado About Nothing" are the victims of dishonesty, because they are deceived that they act in the ways that they do. Although the central trick is directed against Claudio in an attempt to destroy his relationship with Hero, it is the one involving Beatrice and Benedick, which gives the play's dramatic centre. Nearly every character in the play at some point has to make conclusion to what he or she sees, has been told or overheard. Moreover, every character in the play at some point plays a part of pretending to be what they are not. The characters challenge Love, and after all the difficulties they went through, they win and bring Shakespeare's most unlikely couple together, transforming Benedick's and Beatrice's sparks into a true and mature love. Even for Hero and Claudio's young, naïve romance, we can see that love is not so easily won....
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