Skip to main content

William Shakespeare: Much Ado About Nothing

 This is a play that I grew up watching with my dad. We loved the Kenneth Branagh adaptation (bare butts at the start and all) and I watched it many times with him. My dad's love of Shakespeare was definitely a big reason that I love it so much, and it has been literature we've bonded over. Since becoming an English teacher, this is my favorite play to teach, and I love sharing it, with its complicated but funny plot, with my students over the years, who have reported liking it more than they thought they would.

Much Ado About Nothing begins on the heels of some sort of short war. The prince, Don Pedro, and his brother, Don John, have just returned from fighting each other. In a gracious move, Pedro has forgiven his brother, and has taken him back into his company. It is from this conflict that the armies arrive in Messina to stay at the house of the governor, Leonato. As the soldiers stay in Leonato's house, Claudio, Pedro's right hand man, falls in love with Leonato's daughter Hero. They quickly get engaged and are set to be married the following week. In the meantime, a plan is hatched to get Beatrice (Leonato's niece) and Benedick (Claudio's best friend and solider) to fall in love with each other. The two have a tumultuous relationship, often battling wittily when they meet. As the wedding is about to happen, don John delivers devastating news to Claudio: Hero has been cheating. What will happen to the wedding, and can Benedick and Beatrice overcome their disdain for marriage?

This play is so delightful. While my students frequently question the sincerity of everyone's feelings, they always find the trick on Benedick and Beatrice funny and love the outcome of it. I also love how it all turns out with them saying they'll marry each other out of pity. I also love to watch them get annoyed at Claudio and baffled that Hero marries him anyway, even after all he put her through. It is a fun story, and I try to highlight what went wrong in it and how they can relate to it.

If you're looking for good editions of Shakespeare, I always recommend (and personally use) the Folger Shakespeare Library because of its excellent notes throughout the play. It gives helpful "translations" and some cultural or historical explanations to make it easier to understand.

I give this book a PG rating for inuendo, and as it's my favorite play, my rating is of course ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐



Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Prince Harry: Spare

 My coworkers were all reading this, and I have to say that I'm fascinated by the royal family, so I gave into temptation and listened to this on Audible. Listening to the audio book was totally the way to go, since Prince Harry reads it himself. Spare  by Prince Harry is a heartbreaking memoir outlining Harry's treatment by the British tabloids. He outlines his experiences with the tabloids from the time his mother died until his departure from the royal family. This fascinating memoir gives an inside look into the workings of the royal family, and their relationships with the press. The memoir certainly makes it look as if all is not well in the house of Windsor, and attempts to set the record straight (from Harry's perspective) of what happened among the family members. Overall, I did enjoy this book. I loved the way Harry writes (and because I listened to it, the way he reads). I found his descriptions of events and places beautiful, and wish I could use it in AP! His p...
Post a Comment
Read more

Brandon Sanderson: The Lost Metal - Wax & Wayne (Mistborn Era 2) Book 4

 I finally finished Mistborn era 2! I loved this series so much (though I think I love era 1 the most still). This story was an incredible addition to Scadrial's story. In this final installment, we pick up in Elendel at a time of great uncertainty. The outer cities are threatening war, their tentative alliance with the Malwish is falling apart over the Bands of Mourning, and Wax is still in the middle of all of it. Now serving on the senate, Wax is desperately trying to help the Elendel nobles maintain peace while hunting the Set. Unsuccessful thus far at locating his sister, the leader of the Set, Wax is still trying to uncover her plans. Can Wax, Marasi, and Wayne uncover the Set's plans before the invasion of Trell crushes Scadrial? This was a fitting conclusion for Mistborn's second era. I loved the character development we saw in each of the characters: Marasi, Wax, Wayne, and Steris. I love the involvement of some era 1 characters (one who I am not going to spoil), a...
Post a Comment
Read more

2022 Reading in Review

 I thought it might be fun to look at my reading challenge from last year and look at what I enjoyed the most. I picked my top 5 favorite books from 2022 to highlight one more time. Choosing only five was actually more difficult than I imagined, since I had a lot of favorites. It was also hard to rank them if I'm completely honest, but here is my list! #5 - The Girl Who Drank the Moon  by Kelly Barnhill I loved this book. I loved the whimsical storytelling style and the plot. I loved the characters and how they were developed. I loved how the author carefully crafted the foreshadowing and how she carefully guided you through the mystery of Xan's memories. Overall, this book was so well written. Even though it was a middle grade book, I found myself unable to put it down. #4 - I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys If you've followed my blog, then you probably know that I don't usually care much for Ruta Septys's writing. It's not that I dislike the stories she tells,...
Post a Comment
Read more