Much Ado About Nothing Essays (1519 words) - English-language Films

Much Ado About Nothing Written between 1598 and 1600 at the peak of Shakespeare's skill in writing comedic work, Much Ado About Nothing is one of Shakespeare's wittiest works. In this comedy, Shakespeare's drama satirizes love and human courtliness between two couples who take very different paths to reach the same goal: making the connection between inward and outward beauty. Much Ado About Nothing shows different ways of how people are attracted to one another, and how their realization and definitions of "love" relate to their perceptions of inward and outward beauty. The play is set in Messina, Italy, a small province facing the Straits of Messina, in northeastern Sicily, at the estate of the governor of Messina, Leonato. Don Pedro, Prince of Arragon, Don John, his brother, Borachio his servant, Bene*censored*, a young lord, and Claudio his best friend are all returning from war, and have been invited to stay with Leonato for a month. Shakespeare's antagonist Don John, bears much resemblance to Don John of Austria, the illegitimate son of Charles V, half-brother to the King of Aragon who defeated the Turks at Lepanto and returned to Messina after his victory in October of 1571 (Richmond 51). Don John of Austria had many of the qualities that Shakespeare's Don John did, he was not on good terms with his brother, and although he tried with much effort to gain status, he was frequently humiliated in attempts to bring himself fame. Shakespeare was known to draw parallels between his characters and actual historical figures, in an attempt to produce a sort abstract history of the times (Richmond 49). Upon returning from war, Claudio saw a young woman named Hero that he had seen before going to fight, and felt a strong attraction to her. Claudio expressed to Bene*censored* his attraction to Hero, Leonato's daughter, and Bene*censored*, with a mouth as loose as oiled hinge immediately told Don Pedro of the attraction. Don Pedro, being much closer to Leonato than any of the other veterans were, told the governor Leonato about Claudio, who in turn informed his daughter Hero of him, all with the lightning speed of gossip. Claudio's attraction to Hero is described by Shakespeare with skill as he puts emphasis on the Claudio-Hero relationship that is forming but at the same time keeps it in the background. Claudio is clearly attracted to Hero's outer beauty and knows nothing of her inner beauty, but after conversing with his friend Bene*censored* and then Don Pedro he decides he will marry Hero. A possible scheme of Claudio can be noted when after describing his attraction to Hero to Bene*censored*, he asks Don Pedro, "Hath Leonato any son, my lord?" Don Pedro replies that Hero is "his only heir."(I.i.262) An interpretation of this might be that Claudio's attraction to Hero was rooted in a pursuance of the love of Hero's wealth, masked by her outward beauty.(Brown 79) At this point the drama takes a twist and a sub-plot is formed as Don Pedro talks to Claudio about Hero and assures him that he will have Hero. Don Pedro describes to Claudio his plan of achieving this, he will don a disguise of Claudio and woo her for him. At this the scene closes, and Claudio and Bene*censored* are left to wonder about Don Pedro's intentions. Bene*censored* believes that Don Pedro wants Hero for himself, and Don John and Borrachio agree with his statement. This forces Claudio to act on his instinct and initial attraction to Hero alone and decide to marry Hero. Don John, feeling resentful of his brother is quick to accept his servant Borrachio's plan of deceiving Claudio into thinking that Hero is promiscuous, so that he can shame one of his prestigious brother's followers and prevent Claudio and Hero's marriage. Borrachio's plan included having an amorous encounter with Margaret, Hero's maid, and in the middle of everything announcing Hero's name for everyone who might be in earshot to hear. While Claudio describes his love of Hero, Bene*censored* reveals his attraction to Beatrice to Claudio, Leonato's niece, but at the same time profoundly states a declaration of bachelorism. Beatrice's character is described as a fine example of a woman in Shakespeare's time. She has a biting wit, and in her "high intellect and high animal spirits meet" (Jameson 349) Bene*censored* and Beatrice quarrel in a skirmish of wits which is merely a facade of their underlying attraction to each other, and an ongoing struggle of recognizing their love. Bene*censored* and Beatrice's attraction and pre-existing relationship is evident, and their battle of

Waking Life essays

Waking Life essays By watching Waking Life once, our minds could be opened up to some deeper life philosophies that most of us rarely think about on a daily basis. This movie takes us on a journey to explore different peoples views on life and our world and relate to them in one way or another. Characters in the movie talk about many philosophers and their philosophies of life and express their thoughts and opinions through them. The subject of existentialism is touched on as a teacher in the classroom of a university talks about existentialists views on life. He talks about how existentialism is viewed as an unorthodox and depressing philosophy of life by many people and he argues that it is not. He refers to Jean Paul Sartre, a famous existentialist, who once said that he never had a day of despair in his life. The teacher says that even though the philosophy of existentialism tells us that we are abandoned and alone in this world and that the whole concept of universe and human nature is absurd, it gives us great power because we are condemned to be free. He talks about the significance of freedom of choice and that we could be whatever we want to be in this life since we have a right for free will. The teacher says, Your life is yours to create and it is always your decision who you are and by this, in my opinion, he gives his students a great lesson. The language lady was talking about people creating words in order to be able to communicate spiritually. But do we really know we are communicating as we think we do? Here we could see Descartess method of doubt as he would doubt the words to be real and not a part of his hallucination. One thing that we can be sure of is that we exist, our body is real and Descartes says I think, therefore I am. We could doubt everything that surrounds us, everything we hear an ...

Supports or argues Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Supports or argues - Essay Example Therefore, Wade Allison’s contributions in the support of the massive use of nuclear power should be disregarded since no one knows when the use of such nuclear power may be uncontrolled. Allison clearly states notes the health concerns of nuclear radiation; however, he diminishes this fact and narrows it down to small quantity of admission like in the case of X-ray examinations. It is true that small amounts of absorption of radiation into the body are less harmful to the body. Nonetheless, he must have considered that erection of the nuclear power plants may emit such small radiation, but constantly. In other words, medically administered radiations are usually monitored and controlled and are never continuous; thus, they have minimal effect to the human health (Jha and Boseley 02). For instance, examining internal tumors in the body or cracked bones among other internal organs may only subject a person to the radiation once after sometimes. On the other hand, nuclear power plants will subject the environment and the humanity to a constant dose of radiation thereby increasing health risks related to the radiation. Additionally, imagining of a situation where such nuclear power plants are erected about ten to twenty in every nation. What is the amount of the nuclear related radiation will be submitted into the atmosphere? Nonetheless, it is worth noting that small amount of radiation is never highly dangerous to humanity and the environment, but cumulative small amounts per power plant will lead to enormous amounts of nuclear particles into the environment that cannot be tolerated by the human body thereby leading to devastating global health problems (Jha and Boseley 02). Reading from the Allison’s understanding of the history of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, he should have noted that massive emission of nuclear related particles or radiation into the environment usually have long and dangerous effects to the present and generation