Romeo And Juliet Compared To Much Ado About Nothing Essay, Research Paper

William Shakespeare has written many different categories of plays: comedies, tragedies, romances, and histories. Comparisons are abundant between many of Shakespeare?s works. Numerous comparisons can be made in characters, plot, and speech between Romeo and Juliet, which is a tragedy, and Much Ado About Nothing, which is a comedy.

First, corresponding characters in both plays include villains, lovers, and friends in addition to characters who provide comic relief. These works have a similar villain. Tybalt of Romeo and Juliet is similar to Don John in Much Ado About Nothing in that both characters do not approve of the lover?s relationships and wish to break them up. Furthermore, Romeo and Juliet are similar to Claudio and Hero, who are the leading couples in each play. The comic relief in each play is the watch in Much Ado About Nothing and the servants in Romeo and Juliet. Also, Mercutio and Bene*censored* are both scornful of love. However, Bene*censored* does finally fall in love with Beatrice. Additionally, each male young lover has his group of friends in each play. However, in Much Ado About Nothing, Hero also has her group of acquaintances; Juliet does not.

Also, several similarities in plot exist between Romeo and Juliet and Much Ado About Nothing. In each of these plays, a romance between young lovers includes a false death of the female character, which the male character believes to be real. In Romeo and Juliet, there is a fatal ending; in which both of the lovers kill themselves because they would rather die than go on living without each other. However, in Much Ado About Nothing, the false death is discovered before there are any real deaths. Both couples do end up together, although one is in life and the other in death.

In addition, similarities in speech occur in these works. Of course, the same Shakespearean language is in each work. Both of these plays have apparent oxymorons about love. In Romeo and Juliet, Romeo says of his crush at the time, ?O brawling love, O loving hate? (Shakespeare, 1.1.181). And in Much Ado About Nothing, Beatrice asks Bene*censored*, ?But for which of my good parts did you first suffer love for me?? (Shakespeare 5.2. 63-64). Suffer love is an apparent oxymoron because it consists of two dissimilar terms. Also, the much overused rhetorical poetry is present in both of the plays. Additionally, the rules of Shakespearean addressing are used in both.

In conclusion, William Shakespeare?s Romeo and Juliet and Much Ado About Nothing can be compared in characters, plot, and speech. These comparisons are made between two different categories of plays; comedy and tragedy.

Bibliography

Epstein, Norrie. The Friendly Shakespeare. Penguin Books, New York. 1993

Harrison, G.B. Shakespeare?s Tragedies. Oxford University Press, New York, 1969

Shakespeare, William. Much Ado About Nothing. Penguin Books, New York, 1987

Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet. Penguin Books, New York, 1993