Upon Malvolio’s entrance in Act II Scene V, Sir Toby states “here’s an overweening rogue!” (Act 2, scene 5, line 27) after plotting with Fabian and Maria to punish Malvolio, referring to him as a “little villain” (Act 2, scene 5, line 12). Upon his entrance in the scene, Malvolio states his ambitions for nobility, “To be Count Malvolio!’ (Act 2, scene 5, line 32) to the group. The disdain the other characters have for Malvolio throughout the play is only met with vanity, hubris and patronizing comments on Malvolio’s part, doing very little to conjure any remorse for the character following his downfall later in the play. Malvolio opposes the fun and festivities of the “Twelfth Night” and chastises the characters in the play several times for their celebrations. Malvolio questions their actions in the form of patronizing dialogue by asking “My masters,
He’s useless tricks display vanity and indicate his wastefulness to the audience. The Tempest is a problem play; Prospero is presented with the opportunity for spiteful revenge but realises the importance of forgiveness. Doctor Faustus is a morality play; he never realises the importance of repentance and banishes any opportunity to save himself, which results in his eternal damnation in hell. In the first act of the play, the audience is confronted with a magic fuelled spectacle. We see Prospero with the help or Ariel conjures the tempest.
This was careless and senseless of Romeo to do, as a couple of hours ago he was “in love” with Juliet’s cousin Rosaline. He is simply acting on the feelings he has at the moment, and decisions made impulsively or rashly are poor choices and usually result in disaster. Another example of Romeo acting on his impulsive emotions, was when Mercutio had died. This anger had boiled up inside him, and he suddenly had this courage
This, to the audience, will seem ridiculous and unnecessary creating a subtle sense of humour. Nearing the end of Act 2 we learn about Viola’s plans for her disguise in order to appear less vulnerable. She then goes on to say ‘thou shalt present me as an Eunuch to him’ which will yet again appear an overdramatic act to the audience. In act 3, Sir Toby Belch is introduced into the play. Shakespeare’s wit and word play used even for simply just the names of the characters can build up laughter.
Is Benedick the comic hero of the play? How far do you agree with this statement? Suggesting if Benedick is the comic hero of Much Ado About Nothing is difficult to pin point a precise hero as each character possess a different comical trait. For the reason that each character during the play being a character to laugh at or with for respite after tragic events, for instance Dogberry’s use of malapropism mocks authority and makes fun of those who are in it. Devices that are used by Benedick and Beatrice are Bawdy language, word play and puns, which are very different compared to Dogberry’s According to Aristotle the idea of comedy comes from speculation concerning men dancing, signing and cavorting around the image of a phallus.
The first impression most have of the Fool is that his presence serves as form of comic relief, in order to set a lighter tone to the play; however, because of this, his death is crucial to the bleak ending of the play. The Fool uses wit, rhyme and music and criticises Lear in an entertaining way, alleviating some of the tension particularly when Lear has been cast out in the cold night by his daughters. The fool remarks ‘naughty night to swim in’, in which the alliteration bring rhythm to his words, and the verb ‘swim’ highlights the rainy weather and the danger it poses for Lear’s health. ‘Naughty’ also suggests disobedience, which has been demonstrated by Lear’s daughters, however by using it instead to refer to the ‘night’, the Fool deflects the blame and attempts to draw Lear into the present in order to reach clarity. His comedy is so great that he is able to transcend normal societal rules; Elizabethan England was an incredibly hierarchal society in which absolute respect ought to be shown to those in power, and yet although he is a servant, the Fool’s humorous nature seems to exempt him from the expectation of respectfulness.
This shows that he is highly unpopular with lawyers as he believes if they do not do their job properly they should be fined however lawyers are the only category which state that he is un-liked compared to the ‘whole people’. Sources 1 and 2 both agree that he had a lot of power over the nobility and they were not fond of that. Source 1 state’s ‘his hostility towards...nobles’ this shows that Wolsey was aggressive towards the nobles which created ‘great irritation’. Wolsey saw himself above the nobility so he did not give them any respect and believed they could not do their job properly. Source 2 agrees that he had a lot of power of the nobility as he ‘shakes them by the ear’ this quote show that Skelton was taking the mick out of the nobility for not standing up to Wolsey which shows the amount of power he had over them but also that the nobles did actually fear Wolsey.
Shakespeare uses Iago as the character that is gifted with the art of persuasion and deception as Shakespeare has allowed him to deceive the gullible character of Roderigo. Iago seems to have the power to make a character feel worthless and depressed “It is silliness to live when to live is torment.” But by letting Iago’s character have soliloquies it allows the audience to get to know the motives behind what Iago is doing “He hath a daily beauty in his life that makes me ugly and besides the Moor may unfold me to him.” When it says ‘He hath a daily beauty in his life’ I believe Shakespeare is talking about Michael Cassio just generally having a happy life. Shakespeare also lets Iago show a small bit of concern for himself in the quote when he says ‘And besides the Moor may unfold me to him’. He may be showing concern because may get
Let’s explore the moments within the text where Hamlet actually used his smarts to trick the other conniving characters into thinking that he didn’t love Ophelia and was going insane instead. Throughout Act 3 and 4, the play leads readers to believe the Hamlet does not love Ophelia. He is constantly saying contradicting statements and in a way mistreating her. Hamlet says “I loved you once,” and then four lines later he says “I loved you not.” What’s going on with the mixed messages? Well Polonius, Ophelia’s father does not approve of their courtship and Hamlet know this.
You can tell that nobody takes them seriously, especially when Leonato shows no sign of gratefulness that he has captured two men by simply saying “go drink some wine” (Shakespeare 46) As we look into the theories of comedy for the play, it is clear that an option is Freud’s theory. He believes that the essence of comedy and laughter come at the extent of others. Comedy is often a disguised form of anger or aggression. We find ourselves, as well as some of the characters in the play, laughing at the fact that some of the characters are being manipulated into believing one thing from another. Much Ado About Nothing was a difficult play for me to understand at first, but after watching the play and going back and reading it again it definitely helped my understanding of the sarcasm happening by the characters.