Much Ado About Nothing is a comedy, which I found more to my liking than my last Shakespeare venture. It follows Claudio as he, fresh from battle, travels to Messina, where he meets Hero, daughter of Leonato, the town Mayor. Claudio's colleague, the Prince (Don Pedro), assists in winning Hero's heart for Claudio. Don John, the Prince's brother, is the villain, doing what he can to smear Hero's virtue and destroy the impending marriage. You can guess that he doesn't succeed, or this would be a tragedy. Beatrice and Benedick, respective friends of the happy couple, spend most of the time engaging in an exchange of wit and insult; they are both deceived by their friends into loving each other. The play ends with two upcoming weddings, and all's well that ends well.
You must remember that, in Shakespeare, I'm reading something meant to be performed. Invariably, that will shade my opinion of the work in a negative way. I enjoyed it, and found many valuable quotes & insights in it. But, it still suffers from the difficult Elizabethan English and reading a script. So, go see the play.
Final thought: you may ask why I bother reading Shakespeare if my ratings consistently reveal slight disappointment. I see value in two areas:
1) Shakespeare, using his Elizabethan English, can produce such wonderful, eloquent twists on wise sayings. I write down every memorable bit of wisdom or wit, to facilitate later reference. So, I like reading Shakespeare for the quotes.
2) As Shakespeare is so influential, I think there's value simply in being familiar with the plots of his most famous works, and since enjoying them all onstage is a goal nigh impossible for me to realize, reading is the more realistic alternative.
Rating: B+
No comments:
Post a Comment