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Much Ado About Nothing Customer Reviews (1 - 3 of 37 Reviews)

Katie A gbcs
William Shakespeare's play "Much Ado About Nothing" was an extremely funny piece of literature. I thought that it was very cleverly planned out and humorously executed. With Dogberry and his men constantly mixing up words and their meanings it gave the readers a comic relief. The deceit and mistaken identities added so much humor to the already capturing story.
I believe that Shakespeare's main point in writing this play was to show that many times, people get worked up over simple miscommunications. You mishear something wrong, or in your anger, you tune out someone before getting all the facts. All that we would need to do to fix a certain problem would be going to the source of the information, but many times we take the easy way out. We jump the gun a little and choose to believe whatever is told to us despite our gut feeling that the information is wrong.
An example of this would be when Leonato has heard of Hero's scandalous evening with Borachio. Despite the fact that she is his daughter and he would know her better than anyone, Leonato believes the lies told about Hero. Leonato, being her father and the one who raised her, should have known his daughter well enough to know that she would not dishonor her fiancé and herself. Especially the night before the wedding that she has been waiting for. Instead of choosing to believe his daughter, who firmly denies any and all sexual relationships, he joins Claudio, Don John, and Don Pedro in disgracing her.
One lesson learned from "Much Ado About Nothing" is never should people automatically assume something to be correct. We should "take everything with a grain of salt"- test everything. People in the world these days are so willing to lie to us and readily do so without a second thought. Many times people are lied to without even knowing that someone has done so. True, sometimes the lying and deceit is all in good fun, but it still has the possibility of hurting someone. Even innocent lying has its consequences.
Benedick and Beatrice both believed almost immediately that what they had overheard their friends saying in the garden was correct and completely true. Neither person decided to test what they had heard. To see if what was said was true. Because both did not check to see if the information they heard was correct, everything worked out. Both assumed what they had heard was true and acted on it. There were no visible consequences. What a mess you would have if Benedick decided that what he had overheard could not possibly be true. Beatrice would have made a fool out of herself while thinking that Benedick felt the same way. The same could be said the other way around.
I would recommend this play to other readers. If people don't like to read, then I would not tell others about it. The combination of not liking to read and the difficulty of understanding Old English would not make a very fun and pleasurable read. Many would miss out on the humor and cleverness that Shakespeare brilliantly displayed to his audience. Readers on the other hand would most likely like this play. The humor and lightheartedness makes it an enjoyable play. I found myself constantly wanting to know what would happen next and how it would end- how Shakespeare would wrap it up. The happy ending was also a nice touch. Yes, the Old English adds a challenge to the reading. The sometimes hard to understand language makes you stop and think about what Shakespeare is trying to say and ultimately makes you stop and realize what he is truly trying to communicate to his audience.


Matt Jones' Much Ado Review
This play was a particular relief of your average Shakespeare play, in that it is not a deep philosophical piece of literature. I personally loved reading this play and it does have many interesting values and lessons that one could learn and apply. In several instances I found myself laughing out loud just reading the script. Over all I would say that this is yet another one of Shakespears timeless classics that can still very easily be applied in almost every persons life today. Shakespeare wrote this play, as I believe, to show people how stupid they are and the foolish things that they do when they are in love. I personally do not really enjoy the drama of a love story, but this is a whole different animal.The characters in the story are completely normal citizens of an almost care- free society, but, when love comes knocking at their door they transform into completely zaney lunatics. The characters are, however, people and react in different ways. No matter how they do react it is a far cry from what they normally would do. Indeed, this story shows someone to what great lengths they will go in the name of love. For instance, Benedict, one of the main characters, falls in love with the main female and all of a sudden becomes a quiet, softspoken gentleman, who now cares about his appearance. Whereas before he was an opinionated man, who used sarcasm to get his points across. The story does portray very well what love is, different types of love, and how it is reacted to. This play has taught me many things, especially about women, but most of all it has taught me that there are two very specific types of love and that a person should experience both. One type of love, presented by Beatrice and Benedict is the real heart felt one, where both people know and care for one another and the other was demonstrated by Hera and Claudio. This type is known as "puppy love." Each couple represents their type of love very well and has helped me to realize which sort of love that I have, and have had with other people. This book is well worth whatever they are asking for it. If you really apply yourself you can get alot out of this story. The storyline is very good and lets you feel that you are a part of the story, like you know something that the other characters do not know. It is so involved that I often wanted to strangle some of the characters and tell others some great secret. Then I felt like a retard and stopped myself. This is a very light read and though it is mildly difficult to understand it is easy to understand what point Shakespeare is trying to get across. This story is so good because it teaches so many lessons without having this heavy blanket of philosophy shrouded around it. I would recommend this play to anyone who just simply enjoys a good read. If by chance you read this review, then realize this, I am not exagerrating of making any of this stuff up. This is a really good story without the deep thoughts and questions of life. So, in conclusion, this is just one person talking, but READ THE PLAY! It is really good and worth it, but you do not have to take my word for it.

mrs.depp
Much Ado About Nothing was a very well written play. It was a much lighter reading than Antigone and I think I liked and understood it better too. It was still hard to read and understand but I think the movie and actually seeing it being acted out helped a ton. I really didn't understand a lot of what was going on in the garden scene when they are trying to get Beatrice and Benedick to think they both love each other. So I was a little bummed when our group chose that to do the skit. But then as you read and actually break down the words it was actually very easy and fun to figure out what it means.
I think Shakespeare's main point in writing was to show people how funny love is. He has done tons of serious works and I think this was a great piece that kind of gave you a breath of fresh air. I think that was one of the reasons for writing this. To give the people who were coming to see it something a little lighter. I think this because the play focused a ton on the comedy of love. How you can get to people who started out hating each other to like each other.
I surprised myself in this question. I came into this play thinking that I will not like and I would not understand it. Although one of those statements is true the other one was false. I loved this script. In the beginning I thought it could show me nothing about my life or teach me anything and I was completely wrong. From this play I learned to not judge a book (or play) by its cover. I mean this literally. I came into this with a bad attitude and I realized that instead of doing that I should of had a good attitude and I could have enjoyed it more. Also in Beatrice and Benedick's situation they thought they could never like each other and they ended up falling in love. Some of the people I thought I could never be friends with I am very close friends with now.
Another thing it taught me was to not believe everything I hear. When Claudio heard that Hero was having an affair with someone he got mad and disgraced her and everyone thought she was a horrible person. But she never did and she really loved Claudio. I am a very big gossiper and I now realize how much they can hurt people.
I would totally recommend this script to others. Although you may think you can't learn much from it you really can. I would suggest, though, watching the movie after you read each act. It makes them so much easier to understand. Without the movie I think I would completely be lost and not understand the book at all. Also I would go into reading the book with a good attitude thinking that this can help you because if you don't, like me, you will wind up more confused than ever.

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