Term Papers on Much Ado About Nothing: An Overview

Term Paper Title	Much Ado About Nothing: An Overview
# of Words	1072
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	4.29

Much Ado About Nothing: An Overview

     It is a beautiful spring afternoon.  The air is full of the radiance of
freshly bloomed daisies and the energizing chill of the periodic spring breeze.
Puffy large cumulus clouds fill the azure sky with gray thunderheads looming off
in the distance.  Looking down from the clouds, one can see a gathering of
finely dressed people.  Birds flying overhead hear the murmurs of the crowd
gathered for a wedding of gentry.
     Shakespeare could never have planned the first scene of Act IV in Much
Ado About Nothing so well.  The serene sky overhead symbolizing the beauty and
joviality of the occasion; dark rain clouds looming in the distance
foreshadowing the mischief to come.  Despite his inability to control weather
patterns, Shakespeare developed marvelous scenes which he displayed in his own
theater, The Globe.  How did Shakespeare portray the emotional aspects of his
characters and their strife to his audience?  How did he direct the actors and
what did the open air stage of The Globe look like?
     Imagine yourself in London circa 1600, a short year after the completion
of the Globe Theater and perhaps a few months after the completion of the play
Much Ado About Nothing, Act IV has just begun.  Claudio and Hero are facing each
other in front of a simple, yet anciently beautiful altar, garbed in Elizabethan
costume fit for the occasion.  Hero is wearing a long white dress with trailer
and high neck which is adorned according to the fashion trends of the time.
Claudio has donned a royal looking doublet with silver trim and hose to equally
as majestic.  Sitting on either side of the couple in ancient pews, shrouded in
solemn silence, are Don Pedro the Prince of Aragon, Don John the Bastard,
Leonato, Benedick, Beatrice and the attendants of Beatrice and Hero.  Facing the
couple, positioned in between them so the audience may hear him, is Friar
Francis wearing a simple white robe and golden cross, his only posessions.  Don
Pedro wears a doublet ornately embroidered with golden designs.  He is the only
person on stage looking finer than Claudio, marking his royal blood to all.  The
others wear fine doublets and dresses, although not decorated elaborately, to
show their respect for the wedding pair.
     Scene IV actually begins when Leonato stands and makes his brave but
respectful request to the Friar to be brief with the ceremonies (IV i,l1).
Knowing his duties, the Friar continues square-faced with the wedding by asking
Claudio of his intentions to marry Hero (IV i,l5).  Without hesitation Claudio
responds, "No." (IV i,l6) He means that he does not intend to marry Hero.  The
audience and the attendants of the wedding are slightly shocked.  Murmurs run
through the crowd of people standing on the floor of the theater asking whether
they heard correctly or not.  Leonato stands up from his seat meaning to correct
the Friar by informing him that the Lady is to be married to the Count, and not
vice versa (IV i,l7).  As relief spreads through the audience, the tension is
cleared.  The audience knows of Don John's plan to ruin the ceremonies of the
day, but they hope his schemings do not come to fruition.  As the audience
contemplates the possibilities, building up more tension than was washed away
merely seconds ago, Hero continues the scene with the affirmat...

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