Much Ado About Nothing - Act Five

In the final act of Much Ado, Claudio spends a large amount of time mourning, not only for the death of Hero and the woman he thought she was, but for the shame and humiliation that he feels toward the situation.

Scene Two brings the story back to Benedick and Beatrice, and shows how they feel about what happened at the wedding. Beatrice is clearly very upset about the whole situation, claiming that both she and Hero are 'Very ill'. In Scene 3, Claudio goes to Hero's grave and sings to her, accompanied by Balthasar, after Hero's father asked him to. In return, her father will set him up with Hero's 'sister', who is actually Hero, but masked. 

They marry, and after the marriage we once again see Benedick and Beatrice's relationship develop. They confess their love for each other, and their story ends happily as well. However at the very end of the play, a slight loose end is given. A messenger brings word that Don John is bringing an army back to Messina, meaning that the drama is not yet over.

Much Ado About Nothing - Act Four

Act Four, Scene One is probably the most important scene in the play with regards to the plot, and it seems as though the entire play has lead up to this moment.  It shows the true nature of Claudio's character, through the fact that he decides to publicly humiliate Hero, rather than talk to her privately.  This also shows how he treats her like a possession.

This scene is also an indicator of Hero's personality, and it shows how she will not defend herself.  Throughout the scene when all the accusations are being thrown at her, she remains very quiet, as if she is hoping it will sort itself out if she does. When she finally does speak up for herself, saying:

'I talked with no man at that hour m'lord'

It is said so gently that the men probably wouldn't believe her anyway.  Maybe because she knows that if she sticks up for herself it will make no difference, that the damage has already been done to her reputation. 

KEY WORDS:

• Shames
• Humiliation
• Confrontation
• Dramatic
• Misconstrued
• Slander
• Deceit
• Power
• Jilted
• Tension
• Betrayal
• Love
• Guilt

All the above words also have a sense of dualism, and mean different things depending on who they are referring to. For example 'Humiliation', to Hero, this means that Claudio has publicly humiliated and upset her, however to Claudio it refers to his reputation being damaged, which to him would be very humiliating. 

Much Ado About Nothing - Act Three

The first part of Act Three sees Hero conspiring to trick Beatrice, in the same way that the men tricked Benedick in Act Two.  As this is a comical part of the play, a large amount of the dialogue is written in verse, for example:

'Good Margaret, run thee to the parlour.There shalt thou find my cousin Beatrice'

In Scene Two, once again Don John enters and the mood changes. He and Don Pedro begin causing trouble in Claudio and Hero's relationship. This serious tone is a large contrast to Scene Three, which is full of comical aspects. Scene Three contains the watch (e.g. Dogberry, Verges etc.) who create a lot of confusion, and generally get things wrong.

Scene 4 brings the story back to Benedick and Beatrice, typical of a romantic comedy in both Shakespeare's day, and the modern day. In most rom coms, a main plot and a sub plot take place at the same time, and if the story drifts to the sub plot, it is quickly returned to the main plot.  

Finally, Scene 5 again reverts back to the humorous aspects of the plot.  Dogberry, who is easily confused, is meant to tell Leonato of the plot to break up Hero and Claudio's marriage, but gets confused and doesn't.  Once again, the story has not taken the road the audience expect it too, and a more comical route has been taken instead.

Much Ado About Nothing - Act Two

Act Two gives us more information, and a better insight into how the characters feel about the idea of love, for example Beatrice says:

'Just, if he send me no husband; for the which blessing I am at him upon my knees every morning and evening. Lord, I could not endure a husband'

Showing how she clearly despises the idea of being married.  Act Two also contains a lot of confusion between the characters, mostly caused by Don John during the masquerade ball, for example he sends Don Pedro over to Hero, so that he'll pretend to be Claudio and trick her. Once again as soon as Don John is on the stage, the mood shifts to a more serious, less humorous tone, showing how he is clearly the stereotypical 'baddie' of the play.

In Scene Three, when Don Pedro, Balthasar, Leonato and Claudio trick Benedick into thinking Beatrice is in love with him, we once again get a sense of comedy.  This is mainly caused by the confusion created, and the fact that Benedick has fallen for it completely. Moreover, this creates foreshadowing for what is to come in their relationship.

Much Ado About Nothing - Act One

Within the first few lines of the play, we are given an idea of the story leading up to this point as if it is written 'In Media Res'.  We are told about how the men are returning from war, giving a happy, uplifted mood. At this point we are also given a strong indication of Benedick and Beatrice's ever growing conflicts through the things that Beatrice is saying behind his back.  For example, she implies that he isn't at all brave by saying 'But how many hath he killed? For I promised to eat all of his killing', she has promised to eat anyone he has killed, assuming that he won't kill anyone.

The first part of Act One also contains some other humorous elements, for example half way through scene one, when Benedick and Beatrice argue, some of the insults they they use are quite comical.  'You are a rare parrot teacher' (Benedick is accusing Beatrice of copying everything he is saying) is a good example of this.

However in Scene 3, the mood begins to turn sour due to the entrance of Don John. He and his companion (Conrad) begin to talk about the fact that Don John is a bastard child, and phrases like 'Therefore I have decreed not to sing in my cage' give the impression that Don John is resigning to this fact.  Once Borachio has entered with news of Hero and Claudio's marriage, we see that Don John is planning to cause trouble before their wedding, and that he has enlisted Conrad and Borachio to help him.  This is a large difference to the cheerful, comical mood of earlier in the act.

The Pied Piper of Hamelin

'The Pied Piper of Hamelin' by Robert Browning tells the classic story of The Pied Piper, but through verse.  With a clear rhyme scheme, the poem has a definite feel of a cautionary tale meant for the eyes of young children.  Another feature that gives this feel is the introduction, straight away the scene is set, almost in a 'Once upon a time...' kind of style:

'Hamelin Town's in Brunswick, 
By famous Hanover city;
The river Weser, deep and wide,
Washes its wall on the southern side' 

Straight away a location and theme is given to the poem, with a clear feel of a children's story being given from rhymes such as 'trap!' and 'hap', 'sat' and 'fat'. 

Browning also uses lots of imagery throughout, mainly linked with music such as 'in fifty different sharps and flats.'. This not only links to the pied piper's pipe, but also plants the idea of a children's nursery rhyme, in keeping with the style of the poem.

Although this may not be recognized by younger readers of the poem, Browning uses a lot of metaphors, the main one being that the rats signify the government.  Throughout the poem, the government are shown to be greedy and lazy, so when this is said about the rats:

'And ate the cheeses out of the vats,
And licked the soup from the cooks' own ladles,'

you begin to question whether the it was the rats at all, and not the government stealing things from the people.  This is reaffirmed later in the poem when the government refuse to give the Pied Piper his money, it just goes to show how greedy the government characters in this poem are.

One of the main things that struck me about this poem in particular though, is how different it is to the rest of Browning's poems.  A large majority of his poems are dramatic monologues (for example Porphyria's Lover, My Last Duchess) however this one is written as if talking to someone named 'Willy'.  Moreover, it is very child friendly and is written as a cautionary tale, which none of his other poems are due to the slightly morbid story-lines of them.  It definitely sticks out from his other works as a very original poem.

The Curtain Call.

Hazy walls box me in, I'm stuck,
trapped in this endless cycle.
Hurt, regret, loneliness swirl around my head
I'm sinking, drowning in them.
Sorrow is my only friend now,
I can trust her, she'll never change
how she is, how she feels.
She remains constant, unfaltering. 

The corridors are full of people
but I don't acknowledge them
I want to remain invisible, 
wandering in my own mind.
My destination is unknown to them
They don't care where I'm going
I'm glad. The feeling is mutual.
I don't need them anyway.

I climb the stairs, edging closer
to the conclusion I have yet to reach.
I walk through uncertainty, 
eventually I'll reach clarity.
I've arrived now, at my final curtain call.
This, right here is my stage, 
my feet hang over the edge,
and I fall to greet my audience...