Much Ado About Nothing

                                      Much Ado About Nothing

Play

        William Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing" is a comedic tale of two pairs of lovers. One pair; Benedick and Beatrice, refuses to proclaim their love for one another whilst the other pair; Hero and Claudio, are affectionate and very open about their apparent love for each other. Within this play, conflict is extremely prevalent. The antagonist, Don John seemingly creates most of the trials and tribulations which go on throughout the play. 

         In the first scene the major characters are introduced to the reader/viewer and a messenger receives word of the Prince of Arragon, Don Pedro's return from a war in which Arragon is victorious. Thereafter, Leonato welcomes the group of conquerors into his household. 

           It is noted that Beatrice and Benedick's constant bickering over nothing in particular stems from their previous relationship in which Benedick abandoned her. This is observed from the statement made by Beatrice saying "He set up his bills here in Messina, and challeng'd Cupid at the flight, and my uncle's fool, reading the challenge subscrib'd for Cupid, and challeng'd him at the burbolt" , in which she describes a 'battle' of love between herself and Benedick that she has lost.

        Claudio and Hero's love on the other hand is pure and seems to be completely void of arguments of any sort because of Hero's submissive and 'lady-like' nature in the fist act and Claudio's naturally gentlemanly and affectionate feelings towards Hero.

Music        

         The music in the movie is very soothing and serene in the very beginning. However, as the scenes, setting and theatrical conventions change so too does the music, for instance as Don Pedro enters Messina the music is quite dramatic, Also, Claudio and Hero's scenes together indulge in passionate, romantic and emotional music. The music variation is a very appealing method of getting the audience's attention.


Movie
            The characters are vividly displayed within the movie. In the different scenes of both the play and the movie the contextual dialogue are similar. However, in the movie, the wording is more condensed and summarized; only using the important or significant roles within the book. Furthermore, the visual aspect of the movie denotes more imagery in the minds of the readers of the characters. For instance, In the movie one of  the main character Don Pedro has an air of villainy surrounding him, his wardrobe is dark and seems to add to his character. When watching the movie, the characters voices were more distinct than as in reading the play and having to imagine the voices. Also, In the movie the setting and scenery varies and alters from that of the text. In my personal opinion,  the characters in the book were more well-developed in the play than in the movie.