19:38 Much Ado About Nothing

Day 19 of 38:38
Much Ado About Nothing

I love that Spring arrives on the weekend we get to read my two favorite Shakespearean comedies, Much Ado About Nothing and As You Like It.

Much Ado is a mature piece in the sense that the comedy is very good, the characters we love, and when it gets serious, the tension is palpable. On the one hand the relationship between Benedick and Beatrice feels so modern, on the other hand, Claudio's treatment of Hero is one that we have difficulty accepting (though we certainly do live in a society that falsely prizes female virginity, and certainly there are still places in this world where women are killed if it is discovered they are not virgins, but that's a different blog posting).

Much Ado affords us a perfect example of how people often take Shakespeare out of context. Sometimes when people talk about villains in Shakespeare, they use Don John as an example. Shakespeare doesn't always give his villains reasons for their actions, they'll say, they are just bad guys. In fact they know it. Don John says right out "I am a villain."

Well, no. That's not, in fact, what Don John is saying. Then entire section of that line is "I am a plain-dealing villain" but even that doesn't give us the full story. The line is "In this, though I cannot be said to be a flattering honest man, it must not be denied but I am a plain-dealing villain." I interpret this as not Don John saying he's a bad guy and that's that, but that he is pointing out the irony of the fact that all the people who are considered noble in this play are fake flatterers, and he, who refuses to be false, is a accused of being a villain. Sure, the guy is bitter, and he tries to ruin everything, but I think he's more complex than people give him credit for. Though we may not see any direct reason for his actions in the play itself, the text hints at past wrongs from Don Pedro and Claudio. We don't know what the back story is there, but I think Don John clearly feels justified in his actions.

But maybe I just feel this way because I played the role once so not only did I come up with a back story, but I feel quite protective of this character.

Plus, in the full text, Don Pedro is kind of a prick. And I think he's more interesting this way. I think it really adds a lot to the Don John-Don Pedro relationship if Don Pedro isn't the perfect man he's so often portrayed as. Usually though, Don Pedro's less noble moments get cut, and people tend to take their cue off of Denzel Washington's portrayal.

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Favorite Female Character:
Beatrice
Favorite Male Character:
Don John

Laugh out loud:
Leonato Indeed, neighbor, he comes too short of you.
Dogberry Gifts that God gives.

"That's what she said!":
Margaret 'Twill be heavier soon by the weight of a man!

How insulting:
Beatrice Scratching could not make it worse an 'twere such a face as yours were.

Shakey loves his meta:

Oh, misogyny:
Don John What is he for a fool that betroths himself to unquietness?

Boys are silly:
Beatrice Not till God make men of some other metal than earth. Would it not grieve a woman to overmastered with a piece of valiant dust? To make an account of her life to a clod of wayward marl?

Favorite Moment/Line:
Too many to count! But let's go with the "O God that I were a man" scene.