Humor

                     Humor is vital in any Comedy. Though Dogberry and his constables play a minor role in Much Ado Nothing their presence is vital. To what extent do you agree with this statement.
Humor, according to the Webster Encyclopedia dictionary, can be defined as ‘the tendency to provoke laughter and provide amusement’.
                        Comedy is seen as any humorous discourse generally intended to amuse. For a comedy to reach its maximum potential, humor has to be a part of it. In the Shakespearian novel “Much Ado About Nothing”, humor is displayed by the characters Dogberry and his constable Verges.
                         Dogberry and Verges are seen as two comics in “Much Ado About Nothing”. They bring laughter and enjoyment to both readers and viewers.
                         Dogberry brings laughter to the viewers by saying the utmost ridiculous things that doesn’t make sense. His misuse of words and grammatical errors in the play as well as his actions, brings joy and excitement to the drama.
                          For example, Dogberry amuses the viewers when he pretends to ride on his imaginary horse as the head and Verges as the tail. Also, there are simple things like his over exaggerated facial expressions and gesticulations. Additionally, his enthusiasm and the way in which he pushes around Verges.
                           The character Verges, is Dogberry’s constable and also plays a vital role in Much Ado About Nothing where humor is concerned. Verges is seen as a defenseless character that Dogberry is always man handling. He brings humor to the play by being with Dogberry and playing the tail of the donkey as well as making this ridiculous horn sound while they pretend to ride the donkey.
                           Their actions also impacts the people around them so that they too can appear as being hilarious. For example, in the play when the watchmen were to do their jobs and keep watch over the building. As Dogberry arrives on the scene, you could see the intimidation and the abruptness in the watchmen as if they were afraid of Dogberry. This brings humor because of the way they interact with Dogberry as if they were fools.
                            In closing, although Dogberry and Verges are seen as minor characters in Much Ado About Nothing, their characters display humor, which is a vital role in any comedy.

Answering of the Acts

Act 1, Scene 1

10. The military situation at the beginning means that the war has ended and those unamed men were not important
11. Three ways in which Beatrice insults Benedick before he even appears was firstly she made mock of his name calling him ‘Signior Mountanto’ instead of Signior Benedick. Secondly, she made fun of his fighting skills saying that he cant even win Cupid to a battle and thirdly she made fun of his independence by commenting that he would depend on Claudio for everything (hang upon him like a disease).
The aspect of Benedick’s character that these insults affect was the aspect of Benedick’s right to be called a man.
12. Two specific ways in the opening scene that Don Pedro shows closeness or royal favor for Leonato was the fact that he hugged Leonato upon arrival and when Leonato invited them to supper he requested Leonato’s hand so that they could walk together.
13. Benedick’s first remark in the play would be considered inappropriate because it was rude for him to ask Leonato if he asked Hero’s mother if Hero belong to him when Hero was in fact standing right there. Leonato’s response to this remark was a comic put-down of Benedick because Leonato was trying to tell Benedick to mind his business in a smart way.
14. Benedick insulted Beatrice by saying that Hero has a male appeal of looked like a man and he didn’t say Hero belonged to Leonato he said ‘if’ she was his.
15. The only thing Beatrice and Benedick agreed upon in the first scene was that Beatrice was a parrot teacher. This put them at odds with society because they were the only couple who constantly argue with each other.
　
16. The ‘jade’s trick’ in line 140, was when Benedick dissed Beatrice and didn’t allow her to speak or make a come back so in the end it would have looked like he won the argument.
17. From my perspective I think Claudio was in his late teens or early twenties because he had to ask older men such as Benedick and Don Pedro for advice about a young lady (Hero) relationship wise.
18. Benedick’s single most important reason not to marry was that because he loved no woman and would not put his trust in any.
19. In a Shakespearean play, the significance of a character’s declaration when he says “never” is to prepare the reader for that “never” situation to come to past. We were prepared for Benedick to get married because in Shakespearean plays when someone says never they end up doing the self same thing.
20. The form of the language changed after Benedick leaves the stage in the first scene because before, Benedick and Beatrice were arguing so the atmosphere was full of hate and fury so after he left Claudio and Don Pedro were speaking about Hero, so that signified love.
21. The first question Claudio asked Don Pedro about Leonato and Hero was that if Leonato had any son. This tells us that the male child must be married first in the Elizabethan period.
22. Don Pedro offered to win Hero’s love for Claudio because Claudio have no knowledge of how to go about doing this. This suggested that Don Pedro wanted to see the best for his men and it also suggested that he was a father figure to Claudio and also a man of passion. This also portrays Claudio as being afraid or lacking the knowledge of love and how to love someone.

Act 1, Scene 2:

　

23. Leonato got the wrong impression of Don Pedro’s intentions toward Hero because when the man overheard Claudio and Don Pedro talking he heard Don Pedro telling Claudio about Hero so he thought Don Pedro was the one who liked Hero so he then related the wrong message to Antonio who then related the same wrong message to Leonato.

Act 1, Scene 3

24. A “melancholic” is a person who has a mental disorder characterized by extreme depression of spirits, brooding, and gloominess. Don John was described as being “melancholic” because he was always sad, and full of hatred for his brother so he always wanted to see or waited patiently for the day his brother would fall.
25. Two places where Don John expressed hostility to Pedro and his friends firstly was when they were at Leonato’s house and Leonato invited them for supper Don John was upset and didn’t wanted to go with them so Leonato had to openly invite him again. Secondly when Don John devised the plan to ruin the relationship between his brother and Claudio. Don John acted in such manner because he hated his brother maybe because his brother was a leader and held a higher position than him.
26. The name Borachio is a nick name used to call someone a ‘drunkard’. He misheard Pedro’s intention in regards to Hero because he overheard Don Pedro’s plan to woo Hero so he thought that Don Pedro was the one who wanted Hero.

　

Act 2, Scene 1

27. Beatrice was probably living with her uncle because she hated the fact that she had brothers. This made her attitude to love more unusual because she is around ladies all the time so she never got to experience how men operated. She proved that she would never love a man because she cant stand a man with beard however she still cant see herself with a man without beard so either way she would end up with no man at all. Beatrice reason for opposing marriage was that she acknowledge men as her brethren because they are Adam’s sons so she wont marry them whereas Benedick just didn’t trust women.
28. The folklore behind Beatrice’s remark about leading apes into hell was that it was believed that men evolved from apes so when she said she will leads apes to hell she was referring to men themselves.
29. The personal opinion in Shakespeare’s work was
30. Both Leonato and Antonio wants Hero to accept the Prince (Don Pedro) if he proposes. On the other hand, her cousin Beatrice wants her to wait and check the fault in the music and if the timing is right then she should say yes but if not she should hold her answer.
31. Gentlemen wore mask at a dance so that the ladies wont be able to identify them.
32. Pedro tried to impress Hero when they danced by asking her to dance with him and proposing on behalf of Claudio, to which her reply was yes for both of them.
33. Ursula recognized her partner Antonio by the waggling of his head. She tried to make him feel better by commenting on his ‘excellent width’.
34. The interchange between Benedick and Beatrice differ from that of other couples because other couples were dancing and having a good time and they both just stood there speaking. Two ways in which she insulted him was by calling him a fool and said that nobody laughed at his jokes. The insult that hurt him the most was that she called him a fool because he went on bickering about the whole situation.
35. Claudio pretended to be Benedick when approached by Don John because Don John thought he was Benedick so he didn’t want to correct him plus I thought he wanted to hear what Don John was saying. After listening to Don John Claudio believed that Don Pedro was wooing Hero for himself. Benedick thought that Claudio was upset because he believed Don Pedro betrayed him. The signifance of the willow
36. A hyperbole is an extravagant exaggeration…
37. Benedick’s reference to Hercules having to “turn spit” and chop up his club…
38. Benedick three journeys were to go to the Antipodes the worlds end, fetch a tooth-picker from the furthest inch of Asia, bring a length of Prester John’s foot and fetch a hair off the Great Cham’s beard he did this all to get out of the presence of Beatrice.
39. With reference to being put down Beatrice is trying to say that she is not interested in Benedick.
40. Don Pedro appear to propose marriage to Beatrice because he asked her to marry him. It might be serious or a jest to see what Beatrice reply would have been. The connection might be to see if Beatrice actually loved Benedick or she really hated him.
　

Act 2, Scene 2

41. Don John and Borachio are aware of the possible consequences of their planned deception because they did what they did in secrecy.
　

Act 2 Scene 3

42. In the first 15 lines of his opening soliloquy three ways Benedick believes love has changed Claudio’s behavior were the facts that before time he liked to hear jumpy music now he prefers sorrowful ones, before he would be up and going but now he would just lie there meditating and before time he would be quiet but now he speaks and writes a lot.
43. Eight “graces” which Benedick believes a hypothetical woman must have before he would consider marrying her are
　 She must be fair
She must be wise
She must be virtuous
She must be rich
She must be noble
An excellent musician
She must be mild and
She must be of good discourseThe one quality that he is flexible on is the fact that she could do whatever she wants with her hair.
44. Benedick hid when Claudio and company came because he didn’t want them to be aware of his presence.
45. One element of the “gulling scene” seemed to convince Benedick that it is no trick was the fact that Leonato was in it too. The effect that Beatrice’s attempts of suicide made Benedick think that she really loved him and made him change his mind of Beatrice and take into consideration her said love for him.
46. Three different ways that Benedick’s friends questioned his personal character between lines 180 -19547. The sexual meaning of “die” in Shakespeare’s plays was to have a sexual desire for someone.
48. Two ways in which Benedick justifies his sudden change of heart in his soliloquy at lines 217 – 242 is by firstly changing his mind towards Beatrice’s appearance, before he described her as having a scratched face but now he thinks that she is fair and saying that she is wise and virtuous and things of that sought.
49. Beatrice’s meaning in the message she delivers to Benedick between lines 243 – 252 is that she didn’t wanted to call him for supper she was forced, she didn’t do it of her own free will. Benedick thought she did it out of love but she was just hiding her feelings.

Summary Of The Acts

Act One

Act one begins with the arrival of Don Pedro, the Prince of Arragon. Don Pedro was to arrive in Messina to dwell with Leonato, the Governor of Messina. With him was his brother Don John, Benedick, Claudio and other unnamed men. Beatrice was the niece of Leonato who hated Benedick with a passion. It was displayed in act one where they always cursed each other with fury but deep down it was described as being a secret love affair or a ‘merry war’.

It is also seen in act one that Claudio fell in love with Hero, Leonato’s daughter and desired her hand in marriage. He sought advice from Benedick but with Benedick’s hatred for relationships he tried to discourage Claudio. Claudio then asked Don Pedro what were his views on the matter. Don Pedro practically encouraged him but Claudio did not know how to go about romancing Hero so Don Pedro devised a plan for him. The plan was for him, Don Pedro, to act as Claudio at the great supper and woo Hero (it was a mask ball so nobody would notice) and when that was over let the real Claudio join her.

Reports went back to Don John (the bastard) about this plan and because he had hatred in his heart for his brother he devised a plan to cause chaos between his brother and Claudio.

Act Two

The setting of act two was at the great supper. Here is where Don Pedro disguised himself as Claudio to win Hero’s heart. It was also where Don John carried out his plan to cause chaos between Claudio and Don Pedro.

Don Pedro was successful in capturing Hero’s heart as Claudio whereas Don John was also successful in causing a bit of a tension between Don Pedro and Claudio. This was seen when Benedick was asking Claudio about Don Pedro and Claudio told him to leave him alone.

In act two, Leonato gave his daughter the Claudio; he gave permission to Claudio to marry Hero. Deceit was also seen in this act. It was portrayed where Don John wanted so badly to break up Claudio and Hero, that he and his companion Borachio devised yet another plan. Their plan was for Borachio to romance Margaret (an attendant of Hero) in Hero’s chamber. While romancing her, he will call Hero’s name and she would call Borachio’s name so that it looked like it was Hero and Borachio was making love instead of he and Margaret. Don John’s role was to get Claudio and Don Pedro to the go to Hero’s window to see what was happening in the chamber. When that was done, Don John was to pay Borachio a thousand ducats for his work.

While Don John and Borachio were devising their plan to cause mischief, Claudio, Leonato and Don Pedro was devising a plan to make Benedick fall in love with Beatrice. Their plan was to talk about how Beatrice loves Benedick with all her heart, knowing that Benedick was there but pretending that they didn’t see him. They also got Hero to join with them so that Hero would be the one to fool Beatrice into loving Benedick.

After all was said and done it was now time to put the plan into play. Borachio romanced Margret as Hero and Don John got Don Pedro and Claudio to see it all. Claudio and Don Pedro were outraged. Claudio was so outraged that instead of confronting Hero, he planned to embarrass her at the wedding in front of everyone.

Act Three

It was now time for Hero to fool Beatrice into loving Benedick. In act three, Hero along with her gentlewoman Ursula had a conversation of how Benedick loved Beatrice (knowing that she was listening) so that she would fall in love with him. They were very successful because at the end of the conversation, Beatrice started to develop feelings for Benedick.

Borachio and Don John were also found out in this act. Watchmen were placed at the door to take watch over the chamber. Borachio, being drunk, was talking to his friend about the plan Don John and he devised. Unaware of the presence of the watchmen, Borachio told his friend everything he did to cause chaos between Hero and Claudio and that Don John paid him to do it.

The watchmen overheard them and arrested them. They then in turn told Verges and Dogberry what they overheard. Both Verges and Dogberry went to tell Leonato but he was in a rush to get to the church for Hero’s wedding that he didn’t stop to listen to them.

In this act also, Hero was selecting her dress that she would wear to the wedding. Her gentlewomen were also there to assist her as well as her cousin.

Much Adu About Nothing

What is Don John about to do?

Don John was devising a plan to cause chaos between Claudio and Don Pedro. Remember Don Pedro was to be disguished as Claudio to win Hero's heart. So now, Don John went about doing this by pretending to be his brother Don Pedro, so that he could talk to Hero as ii Don Pedro was the one who liked her so that he could turn Don Pedro and Claudio against each other.

Who is Claudio in love with?

Claudio is in love with Hero, Leonato's daughter.

What is the perspective about love between Beatrice and Benedict?

The perspective about love between Beatrice and Benedict is that although they always argue with each other, the irony is that they are silently passionate about each other.

What is the plan executed by Don Pedro?

The plan executed by Don Pedro was to disguish himself as Claudio at the great supper. In doing that he would talk to Hero, making her think he was Claudio so that Hero would fall in love with Claudio and after that is over Don Pedro would depart after his monthly stay so that the real Claudio would be with Hero.

Compare and contrast the book and the movie.

The movie did way more justice than just reading the book for yourself. When you read the book you don't get the full emotion and even though you read with as much emotion as possible it wouldn't matter because you yourself don't know how the characters are suppose to sound like. Whereas, in the movie the characters come to life. You get the whole feeling and emotion out of the movie. The characters put emphasis in what they are doing.
      The music also does justice to the movie because it actually builds you up for what is going to come next. The tempo and speed of it is just right.

Article

Elizabethan Theater

  English drama came into existence during the reign of Elizabeth 1, developing into a sophisticated and very popular art form. Before the reign of Elizabeth 1, theater companies traveled about the country performing plays whenever and wherever they could find an audience, or they would perform in courtyards of inns. Spectator would watch plays either from the ground or from balconies or galleries above.
                 James Burbage was the name of an actor who constructed England’s first playhouse. When Shakespeare was twelve years old, an actor named James Burbage built London’s first theater just beyond the city walls in Shoreditch, which he simply named “The Theater”.                
          In 1597, the city fathers closed down the theater. In late 1598, Richard Burbage, the son of James Burbage and his men, dismantled it and hauled it in pieces across the Thames to Southwark. It took them six months to rebuild it, and when they eventually did they renamed it the ‘Globe‘.                    
                Scholars disagree about what the Globe actually looked like, since there were no surviving drawings or descriptions of it. William Shakespeare refers to it as ‘the wooden O,’ so we have a sense that it was round or octagonal.
                It was of importance that the theater had a lot of space for plays as well as sporting activities. The building had to be small enough that the actors could be heard. It is said that performances usually draw an audience as large as 2,500 to 3,000 people. The houses were uncomfortable at times because people didn’t bathe or change their clothes very often in those days.
                People who paid the entrance fee of a penny would usually stand. Some would sit behind performances and this was classed as the second most seat in the house although they only saw the backs of the actors and probably couldn’t hear well either.
             In those days actors had no technological assistance like modern actors. There were no sets or lighting at the Globe. Plays were performed in the bright afternoon sunlight, and a playwright’s words alone had to create the mood.
                The first Globe met its demise in 1613. This occurred when a cannon was fired as part of a performance of Henry VIII and ignited the theatre’s thatched. Everyone escaped unharmed, but the Globe burned to the ground. Although it was rebuilt, the Puritans had it permanently closed in 1642.
                Almost four centuries later after the original Globe was demolished it was later rebuilt. After long years of fund-raising and construction, the theater open to its full season on June 8, 1997, with a performance of Henry V.

Elizabethan Drama

　             During the late sixteen century, Elizabethan drama came into full bloom. Playwrights turned away from religious subjects and began writing more sophisticated plays. Drawing on models from ancient Greece and Rome, writers reintroduce tragedies. Dramatists also began writing their plays in carefully crafted unrhymed verse, using rich language and vivid imagery.     
           

William Shakespeare

                 William Shakespeare was born on April 23, 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon, northwest of London. Shakespeare’s father, John, was a successful glove maker and businessman who held a number of positions in the town government. His mother, whose name was Mary Arden, was the daughter of his father’s landlord.
                No written evidence of Shakespeare’s boyhood exists. However, given his father’s status, it is highly probable that he attended the Stratford Grammar School. His attendance at the grammar school from ages seven to sixteen would have provided him with a good education because discipline at school was strict and school hours lasted from 6a.m to 5p.m.
                At the age of eighteen, Shakespeare married twenty six year old Anne Hathaway, and six months after the marriage Anne gave birth to a daughter, Susanna, baptised 26 May 1583. Twins, son Hamnet and daughter Judith, followed almost two years later and were baptised 2 February 1585.Hamnet died of unknown causes at the age of 11 and was buried 11 August 1596.
                By 1594, Shakespeare became part owner and the principal playwright of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, one of the most successful theater companies in London. In 1599, the company built the famous Globe theater in Southwark. This is where most of Shakespeare’s plays took place. When James 1 became king in 1603, following the death of Elizabeth 1, he took control of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men and renamed the company “The King’s Men.”       
                 In about 1610, Shakespeare retired to Stratford, though he continued to write plays. On April 23, 1616, he died and was buried in Holy Trinity Church in Stratford.
                 The first published edition of his work, called the First Folio, was issued in 1623 by John Heminges and Henry Condell. Shakespeare’s varied output includes romantic comedies like A Midsummer Night’s Dream and As You Like It; history plays such as Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2; tragedies like Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth; and later romances like The Tempest. In addition to his plays, he wrote 154 sonnets and three longer poems.

Group 4A…

Biography On William Shakespeare

Biography On William Shakespeare

　
          William Shakespeare was the son of John Shakespeare, a successful glover and alderman originally from Snitterfield, and Mary Arden, the daughter of an affluent landowning farmer.
             William Shakespeare who was baptised 26 April 1564 and died on the 23^rd of April 1616, was a respected poet and playwrite widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet. His surviving works, including some collaborations, consist of about 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and several other poems. Some of Shakespear's famous plays includes Hamlet, King Lear, and Macbeth.
        Shakespeare was born and raise in Stratford-upon- Avon. At the age of eighteen, Shakespeare married twenty six year old Anne Hathaway, and six months after the marriage Anne gave birth to a daughter, Susanna, baptised 26 May 1583. Twins, son Hamnet and daughter Judith, followed almost two years later and were baptised 2 February 1585.Hamnet died of unknown causes at the age of 11 and was buried 11 August 1596.
            Shakespeare divided his time between London and Stratford during his career. In 1596, the year before he bought New Place as his family home in Stratford, Shakespeare was living in the parish of St. Helen's, Bishopsgate, north of the River Thames. He moved across the river to Southwark by 1599, the year his company constructed the Globe Theatre there. By 1604, he had moved north of the river again, to an area north of St Paul's Cathedral with many fine houses.
          Shakespeare was buried in the chancel of the Holy Trinity Church two days after his death. The epitaph carved into the stone slab covering his grave includes a curse against moving his bones, which was carefully avoided during restoration of the church in 2008.    These were some words written on Shakespear's grave:


 

Good frend for Iesvs sake forbeare,
To digg the dvst encloased heare.
Bleste be ye man yt spares thes stones,
And cvrst be he yt moves my bones.

          Some scholars claim that members of Shakespeare's family were Catholics, at a time when Catholic practice was against the law. Shakespeare's mother, Mary Arden, certainly came from a pious Catholic family. The strongest evidence might be a Catholic statement of faith signed by John Shakespeare, found in 1757 in the rafters of his former house in Henley Street. The document is now lost, however, and scholars differ on its authenticity. In 1591, the authorities reported that John had missed church "for fear of process for debt", a common Catholic excuse. In 1606, William's daughter Susanna was listed among those who failed to attend Easter communion in Stratford. Scholars find evidence both for and against Shakespeare's Catholicism in his plays, but the truth may be impossible to prove either way.

               The Elizabethan era was a time associated with Queen Elizabeth 1's reign between 1558 and 1603 and is considered to be the golden age in English history. It was the height of the English Renaissance and saw the flowering of English poetry, music and literature. This was also the time during which Elizabethan theatre flourished, and William Shakespeare and many others composed plays that broke free of England's past style of plays and theatre.

Answer to the questions on Brother Man

Define internal and external conflict.

Internal conflict is a mental or emotional struggle within a character.

External conflict is a struggle that occurs between a character and outside forces, which could be another character or the environment.

Name some conflicts in Brother Man and identify whether they were external or internal conflicts. (Brother Man, Girlie, Papacita, Nathaniel, Cordelia, Jesmina,Minette).

• Brother Man- Internal Conflict can be seen in this character when he tries to fight with his emotions for Minette, trying not to give into her sexual offers or appeals. External conflict can be seen when the people attacked him and he did not fight back with them.
• Papacita- External conflict is evident when Papacita and Girlie fought when they become angry with each other.
• Girlie- Internal conflict can be seen when Girlie tries to face the fact that Papacita is having affairs and she tries to live with the pain of being alone having the only person she ever loved to walk out on her. External conflict is evident when she and her lover (Papacita) argued and fought over trivial matters.
• Jesmina- Internal conflict is portrayed when Jesmina lost her lover Shine and she tried to lived without him, trying not to be emotional over the matter so that she could be strong to deal with Cordelia. Also it is seen when she was concerned about Cordelia's wellfare wondering what to do with Cordelia and how to deal with the matter.
• Minette- Internal conflict is also seen in Minette's life. It is seen where she tried to get Brother Man to notice her and she fought with the idea that Brother Man is always pushing her aside, wondering why he never wanted to be with her even though she presented herself to him countless times.
• Cordelia- Internal conflict is present when Cordelia dealt with the struggle of having a son that is sick and it looks like there's no way out of the situation or like all hope is gone.
• Nathaniel- Internal conflict was seen when he tries to face the reality of raising a child that does not belong to him.

There are three types of irony, list them.

Three types of irony are:

1. Dramatic irony-  the contrast between what the character knows and what his audience knows.
2. Verbal irony- the contrast between what is said and what is meant.
3. Situational irony- the contrast between what was expected to happen and what actually ended up happening.

Look at the book Brother Man and discuss how irony is played out.

In Brother Man, irony is seen where:

• Cordelia killed Tod and after herself- In the narrative Cordelia was presented as a caring mother who loved her son. It was not expected that she would have killed her son or even murdered herself.
• Brother Man and the people- Brother Man was a 'saviour' to the people of Orange Lane. He gave them what they were in need of if he had it. In the book the people turned on Brother Man almost beating him to death. It was not expected that the people he put out himself out for, were the same people who almost took his life.
• Girle and Papacita- Girlie loved Papacita with all her heart. Since they always argued and fought he left her. In the end it was seen that Girlie killed him. It was unexpected that she would have done that since he was the only one she loved.