Much Ado and Richard Iii
Much Ado About Nothing & RIII
Mcuh Ado About Nothing and RIII, written by William Shakespeare, have characters that greatly impact the story and the destruction in the plays. In Much Ado About Nothing we have Don John; a bastard child whom finds pleasure in plotting against others and finding any way to manipulate others into believing events that have not actually occurred. Don John operates as a plot-device as opposed to an actual character. He gives us a little speech about how he is a bad guy and enjoys being a bad guy, but there is not much that we can say about him because we never really know his motivations, or even his reaction to all of the chaos he has caused. In the end, he ran off before he can even be punished or have a warm, fuzzy change of heart scene. He is definitely not Shakespeare’s most compelling and complex villain. Although, it is not a failing of Shakespeare’s that this villain is so bland. It is actually a reminder to the reader that the play is not supposed to be a tragedy, and is not even supposed to really analyze evil at all. The more important take-home points of the play are about mirth and the folly of misunderstanding. In RIII, we find Richard; a conniving, evil, and manipulative trickster who causes all of the trouble in the play. In RIII, Richard is plotting against everyone in order to gain control of the thrown. The first glimpse of his conniving personality is from the very first scene in act one. “To set my brother Clarence and the King In deadly hate the one against the other” (I.i.34-35). This portion of Richard’s opening speech specifically details part of his plan to take the title as King. In this quote it is evident that Richard is going to instill death upon others in order to take what he wants. This opening speech details important aspects of who he is. He explains that he cannot be happy. The reason for his unhappiness though is only because he believes that a woman would not want any sexual
Mcuh Ado About Nothing and RIII, written by William Shakespeare, have characters that greatly impact the story and the destruction in the plays. In Much Ado About Nothing we have Don John; a bastard child whom finds pleasure in plotting against others and finding any way to manipulate others into believing events that have not actually occurred. Don John operates as a plot-device as opposed to an actual character. He gives us a little speech about how he is a bad guy and enjoys being a bad guy, but there is not much that we can say about him because we never really know his motivations, or even his reaction to all of the chaos he has caused. In the end, he ran off before he can even be punished or have a warm, fuzzy change of heart scene. He is definitely not Shakespeare’s most compelling and complex villain. Although, it is not a failing of Shakespeare’s that this villain is so bland. It is actually a reminder to the reader that the play is not supposed to be a tragedy, and is not even supposed to really analyze evil at all. The more important take-home points of the play are about mirth and the folly of misunderstanding. In RIII, we find Richard; a conniving, evil, and manipulative trickster who causes all of the trouble in the play. In RIII, Richard is plotting against everyone in order to gain control of the thrown. The first glimpse of his conniving personality is from the very first scene in act one. “To set my brother Clarence and the King In deadly hate the one against the other” (I.i.34-35). This portion of Richard’s opening speech specifically details part of his plan to take the title as King. In this quote it is evident that Richard is going to instill death upon others in order to take what he wants. This opening speech details important aspects of who he is. He explains that he cannot be happy. The reason for his unhappiness though is only because he believes that a woman would not want any sexual
Cited: “Much Ado About Nothing.” – Synopsis by William Shakespeare. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2013. Shakespeare, William, and Tucker Brooke. Much Ado About Nothin. New Haven: Yale UP, lllll1917. Print. Shakespeare, William, P.A. Daniel, and Charles Praetorius. Richard III. London: Produced by C. lllllPraetorius, 1889. Print.