A Guide to Much Ado About Nothing
Steph Jackson | Monday June 20, 2011
Categories: Courses, A Level, AQA A Level, AQA A Level English Language & Literature A, AQA A Level English Language & Literature B, AQA A Level English Literature A, AQA A Level English Literature B, EDEXCEL A Level, EDEXCEL A Level English Language & Literature, EDEXCEL A Level English Literature, OCR A Level, OCR A Level English Language & Literature, OCR A Level English Literature, WJEC A Level, WJEC A Level English Language & Literature, WJEC A Level English Literature, GCSE, AQA GCSE, AQA GCSE English Literature A, AQA GCSE English Literature B, OCR GCSE, OCR GCSE English Literature, WJEC GCSE, WJEC GCSE English Literature, Drama, Much Ado About Nothing, Hot Entries, Shakespeare, Shakespeare's Plays, Writing, Drama Analysis
Associated Resources
- A Student’s Guide to ’Much Ado About Nothing’ by Mandy Lloyd
- Much Ado Guide.doc
‘Much Ado about Nothing’ in context: ‘Comedy’ vs. ‘Tragedy’
Much Ado About Nothing is technically considered to be a Shakespearean ‘comedy’ of the classical kind; indeed, it’s even frequently taught at KS3 owing to its frequent comic tone. The witty and entertaining exchanges between the main protagonists Beatrice and Benedick have been the subject of much literary criticism and are often considered to be the most engaging and enjoyable parts of the play in performance.
The parallel story within the plot of the relationship between Claudio and Hero is therefore conventionally seen as the lighter, perhaps more one-dimensional and, frankly, rather implausible counterpart to the gritty and seemingly more ‘realistic’ relationship between Beatrice and Benedick. However, like many examples of literary ‘comedy’, Much Ado About Nothing also has its dark side, with constant reminders that – had things gone only slightly differently – a tragedy could have ensued. As a result of this approach, Shakespeare’s Othello provides an interesting complementary text, with a comparison of its villain, Iago, with Much Ado’s Don John being particularly illuminating. This will be particularly useful for A Level students...
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