Read Much Ado about Nothing

Much Ado about Nothing is a wonderful comedy, perhaps one of the most original comedies that I have read by Shakespeare. The characters are all very fresh, no repeats here. Dogberry is humorous, and he is perhaps the dumbest Shakespearean character I have ever seen. He is a disgusting embodiment of pride, the same disgusting, prideful image that exists inside Benedick and Beatrice. And that which helps Benedick fill the role of the Prince’s jester very well, and Beatrice is one of the strongest females I have seen. She is not, however, as pleasant as the Prince suggests because of her pride and her manipulation of her love. Hero would be much more attractive if she had some of Beatrice’s pride, at least enough to defend herself (and I know I am doing the same thing that Beatrice does to Don John and Benedick in Act II). Benedick and Beatrice are the power players. Everyone else tends to fade.
Don John is a weak villain, who rarely speaks. I almost pity him in being less sinful than the main characters. Let’s be glad Shakespeare does not punish these prideful men the same way he punishes Malvolio. The Prince is a perfect gentleman who is complementary in most relationships except his condemnation of Hero. The princes represent opposite ideals in the tango of this prideful play, that begins and ends with dancing. Pride is both dangerous and necessary to all of the characters who are affected by love in the play. At the end, pride almost keeps Benedick and Beatrice apart, save for the poetry of their feelings.
Truth comes in Act V in many ways. It seems to be the unmasking of pride for all characters from the evil prince to the good, and only Dogberry is left doting on himself. One weakness in the play is the lack of a sacrificial ideal. Hero is the closest to that, but she wins in the end, at feigning to be dead. And Claudio begins to feel it, but again, he nothing has been truly sacrificed. No one truly suffers besides Benedick and Beatrice, and we only really see this in contradiction and what seems to be games—lovemaking through games. Borachio comes to the realization of his ills very subtly, without much anguish. And Don John is, like I said before, absent for most of the play as is his anguish; however, he does have lines strikingly similar to Hamlet’s initial feelings on his father’s death.
Still have to write some materials in order to teach and watch the Branaugh version tonight. The real question is what kind of essays does one put together on this play.