Much Ado About Nothing-Why is it a comedy?
Explain why the ending of the play proves that it is a
comedy, and give specific examples from the play. What would have had to
happen instead were this play a tragedy?
Whether the play is a tragedy or comedy can be determined by numerous characteristics, but the most simple way to tell the difference is by the ending. In a comedy the ending usually has a wedding, a new birth, the antagonist changes their ways or is punished and leaves the audience with a reminder that life is good. In a tragedy the ending is more tragic, usually with death and the opposite of a comedy.
Much Ado About Nothing is a comedy by Shakespeare and is a comedy because it is a fairly lighthearted play. There are jokes inserted throughout all the lines and the ending especially proves it. The antagonist is assumed to be dealt with at the end ( pg98 line 121-128 Messenger: My lord, your brother John is ta'en in flight, And brought with armed men back to Messina. Benedick: Think not on him till to-morrow: I'll devise thee brave punishments for him. Strike up, pipers.) Much ado About Nothing also ends with a wedding and not one but two (pg 97 line 98 Don Pedro: How dost thou, Benedick, the married man)
If this play was a tragedy, the ending would have to be sadder. Don John the Bastard would probably have succeeded with his plan and it would have gone a little like this.
instead of Hero swooning and the people thinking that she died, Hero would have actually died. Claudio then, out of guilt or love, would kill himself. This would bring about the tragic events needed to make a tragedy.
Whether the play is a tragedy or comedy can be determined by numerous characteristics, but the most simple way to tell the difference is by the ending. In a comedy the ending usually has a wedding, a new birth, the antagonist changes their ways or is punished and leaves the audience with a reminder that life is good. In a tragedy the ending is more tragic, usually with death and the opposite of a comedy.
Much Ado About Nothing is a comedy by Shakespeare and is a comedy because it is a fairly lighthearted play. There are jokes inserted throughout all the lines and the ending especially proves it. The antagonist is assumed to be dealt with at the end ( pg98 line 121-128 Messenger: My lord, your brother John is ta'en in flight, And brought with armed men back to Messina. Benedick: Think not on him till to-morrow: I'll devise thee brave punishments for him. Strike up, pipers.) Much ado About Nothing also ends with a wedding and not one but two (pg 97 line 98 Don Pedro: How dost thou, Benedick, the married man)
If this play was a tragedy, the ending would have to be sadder. Don John the Bastard would probably have succeeded with his plan and it would have gone a little like this.
instead of Hero swooning and the people thinking that she died, Hero would have actually died. Claudio then, out of guilt or love, would kill himself. This would bring about the tragic events needed to make a tragedy.
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