The play brings together two sets of lovers in an aristocratic, elegant setting and the main action is regulated by masking, acting, eavesdropping, and spying. The relationship between Beatrice and Benedick, marked by wit and satire, is more relevant to modern audiences, in its display of unconventional discussions of love and marriage. Tragic potential surfaces in a hierarchical society with gender injustice in the face of male sexual jealousy. This paper evaluates the ways in which these two productions appropriate the comic and tragic aspects of Much Ado About Nothing.
In this manner, it shares many aspects with the later plays and problem comedies, from a seeming death and resurrection to slander and public humiliation, from villainy and illegitimacy to intentional and unintentional disguise, and from an acute class consciousness to problems raised by designated social roles. Its intricate composition can result in productions which are very different in tone and quality, changing the overall meanings of the play, depending on the aspect of the text which is emphasized.
Both were celebrated for their recent stint as the Doctor and his companion in the popular television series Doctor Who , in which they had a similar chemistry. The actors amplified the comic, festive elements in a significantly 80s atmosphere, with all the optimism it entailed, according to the director Josie Rourke. In his influential Shakespeare on Film , Jack Jorgens defines three categories of Shakespearean films: the theatrical, the realist, and the filmic. This play, however, is different from others in that there is no outer and immediate threat to thwart the union of the young.
Shakespearean comedy entails the young generation overcoming the problems caused by the older generation who try to prevent the union. In Messina, there seems to be no such social hindrance for the young to come together other than immanent gender roles and norms, and acute male rivalry in a hierarchical society.
The play is based on two sets of lovers: the conventionally romantic story of Hero and Claudio, which constitutes the main plot, and the unconventional relationship of Beatrice and Benedick as the underplot. The romantic relationship between Hero and Claudio is hindered by evil deception, culminating in public humiliation, only to be saved by chance or providence.
