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CWL320MuchAdoPart 2
CWL320MuchAdoPart 2
Themes
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Courtliness/civility vs. warfare/soldiering Inside/outside The carnivalesque Character types 2.0 Misrepresentation and misunderstanding How love works Loyalty Comedy vs. tragedy The pleasure of wordplay
Relevant Quotes
Romeo and Juliet: Civil blood makes civil hands unclean. Hamlet: Such a sight as this/ Becomes the field, but here shows much amiss. Much Ado: There is a kind of merry war betwixt Signior Benedick and her: they never meet but there's a skirmish of wit between them (I.i.59-62).
The Carnivalesque
Mikhail Bakhtin Topsy-turvydom Temporary subversion of the status quo Locus of comedy Allows for transformative return to improved version of status quo (typically marriage)
Relevant Quotes/Plots
There is a kind of merry war betwixt Signior Benedick and her: they never meet but there's a skirmish of wit between them (I.i.59-62). Leonato: Never came trouble to my house in the likeness of your Grace, for trouble being gone, comfort should remain (I.i.97-99). The masquerade Don Pedro: The time shall not go dully by us (II.i.354-5) and We are the only love gods (II.i.378).
Character Types
Authority Figure Villain Trickster Don Pedro Leonato (see I.i.156-7) Don John Benedick? Boracchio? Beatrice? Margaret Boracchio? Dogberry Hero Beatrice? Claudio
Clever Slave Fool Young Woman Ugly Old Woman Irresponsible Young Man
Relevant Quotes
Don John: I cannot hide what I amI had rather be a canker in a hedge than a rose in *Don Pedros+ graceIf I can cross him anyway, I bless myself every way (I.iii.13,25-6, 66-68). Beatrice: We must follow the leadersif they lead to ill, I will leave them at the next turning (II.i.148-9, 151-2).
More Quotes
Borachio: And that is Claudio. I know him by his bearing. Don John: Are you not Signior Benedick? Claudio: You know me well. I am he. (II.ii.153-162).
Loyalty
Beatrice: He hath every month a new sworn brotherHe wears his faith by the fashion of his hat; it ever changes with the next block (I.i.70-71, 73-75). Beatrice: Indeed, my lord, he lent *his heart+ me a while, and I gave him use for it, a double heart for his single one (II.i.273-4). Don John: The lady is disloyal (III.ii.97).
More Wordplay
Benedick: She speaks poinards, and every word stabs (II.i.244-5). Leonator: If they were but a week married, they would talk themselves mad (II.i.344-5). Act III, scene iii (Dogberry and the Nights Watch).