Skip to main content

How are language and communication central themes in Much Ado About Nothing? What are three examples of the importances of language and communication?

Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing is fraught with attention to language, word play, and the act of communicating (or not communicating!). The title itself is a lighthearted play on words: "nothing" refers to "noting," a word which once meant "to gossip."


It is through the power of language and communication that the story's protagonists, Benedick and Beatrice, come together; language is also what makes this reunion so comical and sweet due to the pair's obsessive, loud insistence that they despise each other.


The first remarkable instance of the use of language occurs in Act One, Scene One, when Benedick and Beatrice engage in an epic battle of tongues: they fight each other verbally with each retort riffing off the language that the previous lash used. For example, when Benedick attacks Beatrice, saying, "Well, you are a rare parrot-teacher," Beatrice spits back, "A bird of my tongue is better than a beast of yours," to which Benedick speedily replies, "I would my horse had the speed of your tongue, and so good a continuer." See how Beatrice carried on the metaphor involving birds to her comment, at which point Benedick picked up on the tongue from hers? These two are all wits and wiles in an argument, and their mental agility is thrilling to read or watch. 


The next major instance involving language occurs in Act Two at the masquerade ball, where Don Pedro (the Prince of Aragon) agrees to help a very nervous Claudio (a friend of Benedick) court beautiful young Hero (cousin of Beatrice). Another deception occurs here as well: in disguise, Benedick convinces Beatrice to dance with him. This masking of words and of intentions leads to the next instance...


Don Pedro and friends decide that they will prank Benedick, and Hero and her maid decide to deceive Beatrice. Beatrice is set up to overhear the women talk about Benedick's love for Beatrice, while Benedick is set up to hear the men talk about Beatrice's love for Benedick. It is through this act of mis-communication that the two rivals find unlikely love with each other.


These patterns of gossip and of manipulating words to benefit the speaker or others continue throughout the rest of the play with varying effects. Don John, the evil "bastard" brother of Don Pedro maliciously uses language to destroy Hero and Claudio's wedding by lying to Claudio about Hero's "unfaithfulness." Claudio then uses cruel language to humiliate Hero at their ceremony. Dogberry, the master of the Watch and a frequent user of malapropisms (incorrect word usage due to similarities in sounds or pronunciations), ultimately saves the day by forcing a confession from the antagonists behind the wedding fiasco. Of course, the play ends with another intentional miscommunication: Hero's family pretends that she is dead and convinces Claudio to marry her "copy." As all comedies do, this ends well for the couple: Claudio is able to marry the woman he once defamed, her reputation is restored, and Beatrice and Benedick are united as well. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

etymology - Origin of the greeting "Sweet dreams".

Does anybody know the etymology of the phrase "sweet dreams"? I tried googling but did not find anything satisfying. Is this a relatively new phrase of the modern world or has this been in use for some time? I think it's the latter one. Answer The OED has the interjection as "a farewell to someone going to bed" from the 20th century: 1908 Sears Roebuck Catal. 198/1 Tenor Solos..Good Bye, Sweet Dreams, Good Bye. But it goes back until at least the 19th and possibly 18th centuries. John Wolcot, writing under the pseudonym of Peter Pindar, used it in his poem "Orson and Ellen; A Legendary Tale" published in 1801: Also from 1801 in The infernal Quixote (Page 287) by Charles Lucas: In the March 1776 of The Universal Magazine was published "The Serenade. A Pastoral Tale. From the German of Gesner" , where the shepherd Daphnis watches over his beloved as she sleeps and sings: The same tale appears in 1776's as Idyl XI, " Daphnis ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

What are the similarities between the relationships of the characters in The Outsiders and Romeo and Juliet?

At first glance, it might appear as if the characters in  The Outsiders  by S. E. Hinton and  Romeo and Juliet  by William Shakespeare do not have much in common; however, when one isolates the core of the conflicts, it becomes clear that the relationships in both stories are rooted in rivalry and secrecy.  In both  The Outsiders  and  Romeo and Juliet , an overarching theme is rivalry. While   socioeconomic status separates the greasers from the Socs in The Outsiders , last names separates the Montagues from the Capulets, who appear to be relatively equal in terms of socioeconomic status. Due to these rivalries, there are instances of deadly interactions in both stories. In  The Outsiders , Johnny kills Bob (whether his actions were justified or not is debatable). In  Romeo and Juliet , Romeo kills Tybalt and Paris, and Tybalt kills Mercutio. These deaths have profound effects on the main characters. In Ponyboy's case, the Johnny's death and other events in the novel inspire h...
Post a Comment
Read more