Much Ado About Nothing

Even though this is a play, I read this one. Although, as with all Shakespeare works, one must always watch a video version (or at least parts) to get a feel for how it is supposed to be performed and how the delivery of the lines makes a difference.

Now I will not say that I dislike Shakespeare, since that would be a lie. However, I am definitely not his biggest fan. I must admit that while the stories are all unique, they have so many similarities. The tragedies all follow the same general descent of great kings, and the comedies are all about lovers in disguises and the one criminal who never gets his happy ending because he is a criminal.

So this story is about the love between Hero and Claudio. Claudio and his friend Benedick are soldiers and close friends of the prince Don Pedro. Benedick has many word battles with Beatrice, Hero's cousin. When I say the play is about Claudio and Hero, I mean that it is supposed to be. In reality, it is about Benedick and Beatrice pretending that they do not love each other until their friends trick them into admitting it. Poor prince Don Pedro is the only single guy in his group of friends by the end. His bastard brother, Don Jon, comes up with a scheme to convince everyone that Hero is unfaithful in order to stop her marriage with Claudio. He is a villain simply because he is illegitimate and it makes his life terrible, so he wants other people to be brought down to his level and to suffer like him. Hero fakes her own death in order to make Claudio feel guilt for accusing her of being unfaithful. In the end she comes back with a (temporary) disguise and they get married.

There is more to it, but not really (if you know what I mean).

It has a lot of disguises, as always, because of Shakespeare's favourite theme: appearance versus reality. He also has this weird idea in the play to have a mini version of the main outcome occur in the ballroom scene.

I honestly don't know if I would recommend this play. If you feel like it, give it a try. Just a quick tip: the word play can be easy to miss because it is in Victorian English.