Much Ado About Nothing

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Summary: What a PARENT wants to know about Much Ado for children
Review: Exposing children to classic Shakespeare is a great way to enhance their education in a fun way! As a parent, it is difficult to find 'child-appropriate' productions, especially in view of the fact that the Bard did NOT write for children in the first place! Language is typical Shakespeare, and every questionable word is in the original script. If you are studying Shakespeare, then you need to read the entire play first, before viewing any production of it, and thus, the scenes I am about to detail will be no surprise to you. After you finish reading the play, I strongly recommend watching the entire movie without your children first, so that you know exactly when the questionable content occurs. Then you can plan accordindingly. I will allow my own budding 'English Lit. Major' (12 yrs old) watch it, and will shield her from the following scenes:

1) In the opening, after Beatrice says, "No, not till a hot January," everyone runs to the house to get ready for a party. A 'bath house' scene ensues where they all shed clothing at an alarming rate! The men are separate from the women, and the nudity is 'confined' to lots of shots from the back. If the amount of 'skin' in Classical Art offends you, then this entire scene will offend you. I suggest skipping directly from the end of the picnic on the hilltop to when the soldiers approach the house on foot in formation.
2) At the masqurade, Hero's maid Margaret cavorts with Borachio, though their clothes do remain on. This sets up a later plot development. However, a careful parent is going to have some of those 'difficult things' to discuss with their children about appropriate vs. inappropriate behavior, as this is a great example of how no one wishes to see their own daughter/son behave. This part of the scene lasts about a minute, and is towards the beginning of the party scene.
3) The villain discredits Hero with the aid of his servant. I certainly wish they had been more vague in how this was presented to the movie camera, but it is straight from the play script, & shown in such a way as leaves no doubt about what is happening as Claudio, Don Pedro, & Don John look on. I will stop the movie after Don John verbally belies Hero (still in the house), and skip this scene out in the courtyard under her window. However, you will need to explain what happened, as the 'wedding scene' that follows will make no sense otherwise.

Concluding remarks: Having read the entire play first, I realized that I had missed some very important plot points that were revealed much more clearly when I actually watched it. If you are studying Shakespeare, then you really need to see the plays acted out, as this is the artistic medium through which they were intended to be displayed. Not every production of one of Shakespeare's plays is worth seeing just because Shakespeare's original script is used. However, this production stays very close to the original intent and design of the author, and is worth your careful consideration for educational viewing.

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Summary: Branagh brings Shakespeare to life!
Review: Kenneth Branagh is, undoubtedly, my favorite Shakespeare actor and director. He casts based on talent rather than popularity and his choices really pay off. His own roles are instilled with a vibrant energy and life not often seen in film.

This screen adaptation of Shakespeare's romantic comedy takes us on a light-hearted adventure of match-making and deceit. Branagh plays Benedick, a soldier in the company of Don Pedro of Aragon and a "professed tyrant" to the female sex who swears he will die a bachelor. Emma Thompson, then Branagh's wife, plays Beatrice, a free-spirited female version of Benedick. The two are engaged in a "merry war" of wits, and constantly offend one another. Their friends, however, see them as the perfect couple and endeavour to bring them together against their own wills.

The second love story is that of Claudio, another favored soldier of prince Don Pedro, played by Robert Sean Leonard, and Hero, a career-starting role for actress Kate Beckinsale. Theirs is a case of love at first sight, and they soon become engaged to be married. Don John, the prince's outcast brother, however, will do anything to destroy the happiness of one of Don Pedro's favored men. He and his henchmen enter into a plot to break up the engagement.

Don Pedro is played by Denzel Washington, and the role highlights his amazing versatility and talent as an actor. This is definitely one of his best performances. It is also refreshing to see a movie where the good brother is played by a person of color and the bad brother, Don John (Keanu Reeves) is white. Branagh made an excellent casting choice and both characters shine.

Comic relief is provided by an outstanding performance of Michael Keaton as Dogberry, the local sheriff who's more than a little off his rocker, but harmlessly entertaining. Delightful performances are also given by Richard Briers as Leonato, Brian Blessed as Antonio, and Richard Clifford as Conrade.

With great acting, verbal and physical comedy, and a wonderful musical score, this film is a definite must-see for any fan of Shakespeare and Kenneth Branagh. A truly delightful movie!

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Summary: A little ado about not much
Review: I believe that the reading of this book/play shouls be encouraged for students across the country, because it shows a comical yet realistic view of love, and the effects it has on people.
When Shakespeare wrote this play, I believe that his purpose was to show the two differing sides of love. He uses two examples, the first being Hero and Claudio, who embody the spirit of romantic, superficial love. The two of them never seem to talk, and as far as the reader knows, they don't have a whole lot in common. Claudio puts so much stock in his "love" for Hero that he overreacts too easily. For example, at a party where Don Pedro agrees to woo Hero for Claudio, Don Pedro's bastard brother Don John tricks Claudio into believing Pedro wants Hero for his own. WIth this fresh in his mind, Claudio stomps off in a huff, without even checking the facts. This kind of love is based on gazing wistfully at the one's partner across the room, and sunshine, lollipops and rainbows.
The other kind of love that Shakespeare chooses to display in this play is the realistic kind of love that is displayed more often in society around us. This is shown in the couple of Benedick and Beatrice. These two quick wits are constantly bickering and at each other's throats, until they are tricked by their friends into each believing the otehr loves them. At this, all of their criticisms of love and claims to remain unmarried until death go right out the window. Suddenly, they are seized by a desire to be with each other, and their true feelings come out. It shows how love actually works in real lifeI would reccommend this play to anyone who enjoys a good comedy with just a twinge of love intrest in it.

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Summary: Hilarious Film Adaptation
Review: I think I'm yet to see a film by Branagh that I haven't enjoyed, and his interpretation of Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing" is no exception. His cast is excellent, from Michael Keaton to Denzel Washington, and I really enjoyed the interaction between the characters and the way they brought life to the work. However, my favorite performances belonged to Kenneth Branagh as Benedick and Emma Thompson as Beatrice. They were absolutely hilarious, and yet very sad. Beatrice especially seemed to fall into this category; while she was talking to others, she was very witty and humorous, but as soon as she fell out of the limelight and muttered under her breath or said something quietly, you realized that she wasn't all that happy. The idea that she used to be in a relationship with Benedick was particularly obvious in her performance, though I didn't even notice it while reading the play. In the film, Beatrice would follow up her wittiness with a longing or wistful expression and a solemn sentence, and after being directly insulted by Benedick during the festival, she seems to become very sad and reflective.

As a contrast, I don't really see this in Benedick at all. He never seems sad, just angry at his kinsman Claudio becoming married. Rather than mourning this fact, he simply becomes resentful and angry. This seems to add some clarity to what happened in the relationship between Benedick and Beatrice. While a little bit of humanity is shown through his character when he questions why Beatrice would ever love him, Benedick seems to be more than anything a simple and unfeeling character until his circumstances force him to grow up and make a decision (to challenge Claudio). However, even this decision isn't an original thought or something he wanted to do, so even in this he seems a little childish - he's just following the wishes of someone else.

Benedick seems to reflect many negative male stereotypes in that he doesn't really listen, he doesn't care about the feelings of others, and ultimately his actions are more for his benefit than anyone else. He struggles for power and even in the final marriage sequence; he proves that he's in control of the relationship when he decides to kiss Beatrice. Despite all these follies, he's still my favorite character in the film and play and I think that he, more than anyone, makes the play humorous and entertaining. This is just another way in which his character contrasts with that of Beatrice. Beatrice seems to reflect all the positive characteristics of a strong woman while Benedick reflects many negative stereotypes of an immature man.

These differences in characters, especially when involved in a romance, make "Much Ado About Nothing" a very compelling and entertaining story. The joking keeps the play funny and entertaining, while the subplots complement the humor by adding substance and seriousness.

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Summary: Does love always win?
Review: Much Ado About Nothing, a play written by William Shakespeare, is about two couples, who through a series of trials and schemes, fall in love with each other. This is a romantic play, and it contrasts two types of love, romantic and realistic love.
Benedick and Beatrice portray realistic love. They have a solid foundation for each other, they can tease each other, get mad at each other, and love each other at the same time. They are down to earth and practical about love. Once they fall in love, they cannot be swayed in their decisions even though they try to ignore their feelings. Claudio and Hero, on the other hand, represent romantic love. They live on Cloud 9, and their love is based on physical attraction. In the play they fall in love with each before talking. As soon as their relationship gats rocky, though, Claudio bails out, leaving a heartbroken Hero.
I think that Shakespeare wrote this play to show how comical love is. Benedick and Beatrice, who both swore mutual hate for each other, and pledged they would never get marry, fall desperately in love with each other after overhearing their friend's schemes to get them together. Claudio, who swears his undying affection to Hero, mentally dumps her once in the movie, and then leaves her at the wedding altar, because Don John plays tricks on his mind, and easily sways him to quit loving Hero. I think Shakespeare also tried to show us that true love conquers any obstacle in its way.
There are many life lessons in this play. The title, Much Ado About Nothing, relays one of the most important messages. Claudio constantly makes mountains out of molehills in this play. He is quick to jump to conclusions, and does not stop to verify the facts. He bases his judgments on perceptions, instead of reality.
I would highly recommend this book. Although it was written about 400 years ago, it is still applicable to real life. It was a good book, and it contained drama, action, romance, comedy, and deception. One of its downfalls was that it was hard to understand the language because it was written so long ago.

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Summary: much ado about nothing
Review: I thought Much Ado About Nothing made no sense really because it seemed shorter than Antigone, and there was a little too much love going on. I couldn't handle it all, especially the deception by Don John. The first love between Claudio and Hero were like two teenagers in puppy love, and Benedick and Beatrice who had crazy love, which means that they liked each other, but didn't confess about their feelings.

William Shakespeare's main purpose was I think showing what kind of loves there were through different types of people. The first of which is Claudio, the desperate type only looking for a girl to look cool. Whenever Don John told Claudio a lie, he would get all mad and act like he could never forgive Hero. He would whine like a little girl. I think the purpose didn't really click into to me because I am too young and don't understand love.

What I have personally learned from this is to not rush into love because even though Don John made up those lies and false judgments about Hero, those could really happen in real life, plus the fact that we are two young to understand it. We get into that high school puppy love which isn't the same as real love. When we are older we will understand because we will be at that stage where all of us will understand the true meaning of love.

I would not recommend this book because I think it had really no point but to show us what kind of loves there are and, how we should treat them with the person we love. The comedy in this was really good, but in this book, I didn't see the mix of comedy and love.

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Summary: My Review
Review: This story starts out as four people who don't really know how or that there fate lies with each other. Hero is a very charming innocent girl who likes to please people; she doesn't stand up for herself but basically obeys what her father tells her. She meets a man, Claudio, who falls in love with her because of her beauty. Claudio is very quick to judge and has no loyalty or consideration of other people. He is very selfish in what he acts on, he doesn't seem to care about anything else except what he wants. These two who fall in love with each other, at first they seem to be the perfect pair but soon much is found out about there character and perseverance when they face a trial that will test them and there devotion to each other.
At a first impression you would never guess their feelings toward each other but little did Benedick and Beatrice know. Beatrice is a fiery woman who is very opinionated and never ashamed to speak her mind, and especially shares her opinions with a certain man named Benedick. Benedick also has a very wild outlook and also likes to speak what he believes is right. They often bicker which they state there differences in a very fiery manner. Benedick protests quite openly how stupid he thinks Love and marriage is, which is comical seeing that later on, he would be giddy with the same love that he mocks. Slowly but surely there obstinate passion and their denial of there true feelings fall into the right place.
I think that Shakespeare's main purpose for writing this book is because he wanted to show how important marriage was. That you shouldn't base your whole relationship on what you look like but you should find out who that person is and then decide if you would want to marry them. Shakespeare wanted to describe the difficulties of having a fake-based love. Because then when you actually have to start dealing with the real issues then how are you going to be able to persevere. Whereas when you have that reality love, the love where you argue about stuff, but its realizing that there are different opinions and that you will get in arguments. So when you have that realistic love then you will know how to deal with the person you married. Whereas on fake love you dont even know who they really are let alone how to deal with them.

I have personally learned how important it really is when you are picking whom you are going to live with for the rest of your life. I have learned that you really need to look inside of the person to know who they are and to look at how they react to situations. Also not to base it on looks, because if you marry them then you are going to live with them for the rest of you life. God told us that if we get married then we are to be as one, and you should totally love them. Not just like how they look, but base your relationships on their character and personality.

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Summary: The piece that made me feel like dancing
Review: I thought that the play "Much Ado about Nothing" was a very positive and a enjoyable play to read. Shakespeare's main point in the play is that Love makes you act weird. In the play when Benidick over heard Don Jon, Claudio, and Leonato in the garden giving the illusion that Beatrice was in love with him you saw his true feelings come out of him that you thought you would never see. Beatrice and Benidick fight like cats and Dogs but as soon as Benidick overheard that Beatrice was in love with him he acted like a 3 year old when they find out there going to Disney world. He was thrilled at the fact that Beatrice fancied him. Now on the other side of the garden, Hero and another Woman are doing the same Don Jon, Claudio, and Leonato did to Benidick, only to Beatrice. When Beatrice over hears that Benidick fancy's her she is in shock. She acts as if nothing in thw world was wrong with a huge grin on her face and singing like a love struck teenager. Now these are 2 adults that couldn't stand to be in the same room with each other and now they love each other!There's more to that story then just what we think. But you have to read to find out! I have learned a couple of things from reading this play. Iv learned to like people for who they are inside not on the outside. Hero and Claudio's relationship was based on looks. Iv also learned that when u do wrong things punishment may not come to you just then but eventually it will catch up with you. Don Pedro tricked everyone into thinking common things of Hero and he got what he deserved. And last but not least I learned to put family 2nd to God because when everyone else leaves you will still have family. When Claudio made that scene in front of everyone about Hero Beatrice was right there to comfort her. And I would recommend this book to anyone because it was funny and interesting, And I'm a teen. It's hard to keep our attention but me and my class seem to agree that this play was excellent!

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Summary: Much Ado About Nothing
Review: Much Ado About Nothing

This is a great story about two couples that like each other and will eventually marry each other, and the couple of Benedick and Beatrice tend to go against each other, but they are really do love each other, and there is the deception of Benedick and Beatrice, and they will both not like to hear that but they will come around eventually. Hero and Claudio on the other hand tend to be a bit more gullible and will learn that Hero had an affair and Claudio will call off the wedding, only to find out it was not Hero, but Margaret who only looked like Hero from the back, and he "killed" Hero by talking himself out of the wedding the first time and then learns that she was still alive when she surprised him when he was going to marry Beatrice, but then after the real wedding, Benedick calls forth Beatrice and will also marry her.
Throughout the play Don John plans to go against Claudio and tells him that he saw Hero with a mysterious man and that made Claudio call off the wedding. Shakespeare wanted to make this play for all of the irony that it brings the readers or the watchers because of the deception in the Garden of Eden and the deception of Beatrice and Benedick in the garden about them liking each other and that was the irony that he wanted to follow.
I have learned that I should not be gullible like Claudio and be more courageous like Benedick and I would do my best to work for God and not I like Don John.
I would recommend this play for anybody, it was the greatest of William Shakespeare and was a great story, I really liked it, the best part was with Dogsberry and he was interrogating the prisoner, which was the greatest. Almost too good.

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Summary: Truly written under a rhyming planet
Review: Much Ado About Nothing is a romantic comedy filled with a large amount of wit and comedic situations. In this delightful play the imperfection of human nature is humorously revealed. Shakespeare shows the weakness of romantic love and the reality of true love. This play provokes the reader to examine their thoughts about love and questions whether their preconceived ideas and attitudes of love are entirely correct.
In Much Ado About Nothing Shakespeare shows how the characters are swept away with violent passions, which lead to near tragic consequences. As various mishaps, ominous occasions, strong emotions, and betrayal occur, this creates much ado over trivial circumstances. There are many examples of this motif, including Claudio's suspicions of being deceived by either Don Pedro or Hero, Leonato and Antonio's threats empty threats to Don Pedro and Count Claudio.
My study of Much Ado About Nothing has personally taught me of the different types of love. Claudio's love for Hero was very superficial and his opinion of her was easily swayed. Their love was unrealistic and based on romantic views their lack of communication was the relationship's biggest downfall. Benedict and Beatrice's love, however disorderly and unromantic as it may seem, was in fact very realistic and true.
I have learned that love is not perfect; there are problems in every relationship. It takes hard work, commitment, and dedication to make it work, the more time and effort you put into a relationship the more benefits you get from it. There is no such thing as love at first sight. However, attraction at first sight is very common. Love needs chemistry, compromises, and genuine respect for each other for a lasting relationship.
I highly recommend this play because it is not only very funny but it is laced with strong moral values and makes a lasting impression. It clearly showed the comparison between the two couples and the witty battles between Beatrice and Benedict were exceedingly entertaining. This is truly one of Shakespeare's best works; a play to read over and over again.