Much Ado About Nothing Questions

1. In the Shakesperean play Much Ado about nothing, Don John vows to take revenge on his brother, Don Pedro. He vows to do anythimg that will embarass his brother whom he is greatly jealous of. He feels that Don Pedro has taken his glory. He wishes to be in his position. In the beginning of the play he tries to do this by tricking Claudio into beleiving that Don Pedro has seduced his love, Hero.
Claudio is deeply in love with Hero.

2. Claudio is in love with Hero.

3. Beatrice's and Bennedick's perspectives in the beginning of the play are quite similar. The both despise the thought of commitment, dread the thought of marriage and make mockery of any talk of love and romance. They think love to be unimportant. Beatrice in particular thinks that men are not capable of being faithful and that all they bring into a woman's life is pain. Bennedick doesn't have very quite contrary opinions of the opposite sex as a matter of fact he detests them.

4. The plan executed by Don Pedro is to make Beatrice and Bennedick fall in love. He plans with Leonato and Claudio that they go where they know that Bennedick is near and talk of Beatrice's undying love for him so that he could hear. He then will beleive that Beatrice loves him and somehow find it in his heart to love her in return. He plans something similar for Beatrice but this is executed by Ursula and Hero.

The Life of William Shakespeare

      
Willam Shakespeare: His Life

William Shakespeare was baptised on the 26th of April 1564 and died on the 23th of April 1616. He was an English actor, poet and playwright, infact he is recognized as the greatest writer and pre-eminent dramatist that ever lived. He was very handsome as you can clearly see in this picture and is frequently refered to as England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon". Because he was so handsome as soon as he turned eighteen someone wanted to marry him. Her name was Anne Hathaway. Personally I think she took his chilhood from him because she was eight years older than he was. Nontheless they had their first child,Susannah within six months of their marriage and then later had twins, Hamnet and Judith in 1585. Sadly Shakespeare's only son, Hamnet died in 1596 at the tender age of eleven.

William Shakespeare: His work

Some of Shakespeare's surviving works include a collaboration of 38 plays,154 sonnets and two long narrative poems among other narratives. Some of Shakespeare's plays such as Hamlet and Romeo & Juliet are among the most well known literary works in the world. However there have been rumors that Shakespeare didn't actually write all of his plays on his own and that either Christopher Marlowe or Queen Elizabeth were the real authors. But in my opinion I think this is a rumor and nothing more as there is clear evidence of Shakespeare's personal involvement within his plays.One of Shakespear'e plays, Hamlet was actually influenced by an incident which occured when Shajespeare was fifteen. A woman in a nearby village drowned in Avon. Her death was ruled accidental but still may have been a suicide. Shakespeare later used this in Hamlet leaving open the question of whether Ophelia died accidentally or by her own hand.
Hamlet was first printed in 1603. It is Shakespeare's largest drama, based on a lost play known as the Ur-Hamlet. Prince Hamlet, an enigmatic intellectual, mourns both his father's death and his mother's remarriage. His father's ghost appears to him and tells that Claudius, married to Queen Gertrude, Hamlet's mother, poisoned him. Hamlet, fascinated by cruelly witty games, swears revenge. "The time is out of joint; O cursed spite, That ever I was born to set it right!" He arranges an old play whose story has a parallel to that of Claudius. Hamlet's behavior is considered mad. He kills the eavesdropping Polonius, the court chamberlain, by thrusting his sword through a curtain. Polonius's son Laertes returns to Denmark to avenge his father's death. Polonius's daughter Ofelia loves Hamlet, but the prince's sadistically brutal behavior drives her to madness. "Get thee to a nunnery: why wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners?" he tells Ophelia who dies by drowning. Before the slaughter that ends the story, Hamlet says to his friend Horatio: "I shall win at the odds. But thou wouldst not think how ill all's here about my heart." A duel takes place and ends with the death of Gertrude, Laertes, Claudius, and Hamlet, whose final words are "the rest is silence."
According to a legend, he left Stratford for London to avoid a charge of poaching. After 1582 Shakespeare probably joined as an actor one or several companies of players. By 1584 he emerged as a rising playwright in London, and became soon a central figure in London´s leading theater company, the Lord Chamberlain´s Company, renamed later as the King´s Men. He wrote many great plays for the group. In 1599 a new theater, called The Globe, was built



William Shakespeare: His Childhood

Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon. He was the eldest son of Mary Arden and John Shakespeare who was a glover and wood dealer. At the age of eighteen, He married Anne Hathaway with whom he had three children. Wait a minute........He wasn't the typical eighteen year old of modern day so lets back up a bit. William Shakespeare's father, John Shakespeare was a man of status within the community so William was granted free education. It is assumed that Shakespeare attended King Edward 1V Grammar School. He was educated in Stratford from age seven in 1517 and finished his schooling at age fourteen in 1578. Following his father William Shakespeare also did some butchering at some point and time in his youth.

William Shakespeare: What makes him so great?

Shakespeare possessed a vast aray of vocabulary especially for his time. He used 29,066 different words in his plays. Today the average English-speaking person uses something like 2000 words in everyday speech. Many numerologists even claim that Shakespeare wrote the King James version of the bible at the age of 46. Another fasinating fact about William Shakespeare was that he came from very humble beginnings but still somehow managed to be the best. This therefore makes him an inspiration for all those who may be struggling for a better life and a brighter future. Another reason which earns Shakespeare the title of "The greatest writer that ever lived" is the fact that his writings have lived on throughout the years. Instead of them being forgotten and discarded as I'm sure many other writings of his time have been, his writngs have been modified, modernized and translated for a younger audience to enjoy. 


A bit about the Elizabethan era.

The different types of ironies found in the book, "Brother Man"

Irony- A figure of speech. A contradiction of expectation between what is said and what is meant or an incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occurs.

There are different types of ironies. These include dramatic irony, tragic irony, situational irony, socratic irony and verbal irony. However I will be focusing mainly on explaning and identifying the first three listed ironies.

Definition of verbal Irony- A contradiction of expectation between what is said and what is meant.

Definition of dramatic irony- A situation in which the audience knows something about present or future circumstances that the character does not know.
This is evident in the book when Minette is so innocently unaware that Papacita is involved in illegal activities. When the police raid the bar/club where Minette, Papacita and Fellows enjoy a night out Papacita is extremely nervous that he will be caught by the police with the contraband. Despite the guilt expressed in Papacita's facial and bodily movements, Minette does not pick up on why Papacita is behaving in such a way. Lukily, the police leave without exposing and arresting Papacita so Minette ironically never finds out.
           Dramatic irony is also evident within the book where Brother Man is unaware of the deep hatred that Cordelia has for him. He is made blind to the fact that Cordelia thinks him to be wicked and evil meanwhile we the audience can see and feel her rage towards Brother Man throughout the book.

Definition of Situational irony- A contradiciton of expectation between what might be expected and what actually occurs.
         Situational irony can be found in the book, Brother Man with Cordelia's character. In the beginning and throughout the book we see Cordelia trying to save the life of her son,Tad. Ironically, Cordelia ends up killing her son,Tad.
        The murder of Papacita by Girlie is also an irony of situation as this is not what is expected. Although we see that Girlis was terribly angry at Papacita it is still ironic. This is because Papacita was always the abusive one and would be seen as the most powerful of the two.  

Definition of Tragic irony- the words an dactions of one character or more betray the real situation and tragic results ensue from those words and/or actions.

Letter to Editor

                                                                                                                                           Sea View Farm
                                                                                                                                           St. Georges
                                                                                                                                           Antigua
                                                                                                                                           3rd Nov, 2010

Dear Editor,
                   I am a concerned citizen of Antigua and Barbuda who witnessed the horrific beating of a rastafarian yesterday. Now tell me, is this what we've become as a people? Resenting others merely because of their religion?I would not wish this on my worst enemy.A large group of persons beat this man mercilessly with bricks and wood until he bled. They jeered him,mocked him,laughed at him and cursed him until they were satisfied. Even after all this the rastafarian still maintained peace saying, "peace and love". I was so scared, too scared to help him but my heart goes out to the young man and his family.
                  I am appealing to the public that we are all just human and should learn to love one another. Infact that is what the rastafarian religion is all about. Not only love but peace, unity and cleansiness of the heart. So perhaps persons should try to learn more about the religion before judging and attacking someone. I would like to extend a sincere thank you to the good samaritan who saved him from that bloodthirsty crowd. I now leave you the reader with this fruit for thought. Let us look into ourselves, at what truly defines us. For it is not the clothes we wear, nor the colour of our skin. It is not the length of our hair nor who we call God but our inner which is what rastafarianism is all about.

                                                                                                        Yours Truly,
                                                                                                      concerned citizen