Much Ado About Nothing by William ShakespeareMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Yes, this is the first time I've ever read this play. I've never watched the movie all the way through, either.
But I did it now, and I enjoyed it. This Shakespeare guy's got a future.
Even though I studied Shakespeare in college and taught his plays in high school, it was never really my thing. I worked hard to make it comprehensible and fun for young people who were unlikely to ever attempt these plays again after high school, and I hope I succeeded some. (Othello never gets super fun, though, does it?) But I've never been a big fan myself. Not really.
The older I get, though, and the more I read Elizabethan drama, the better I get--naturally--and the easier it is to enter into the story. I'm finally kinda getting there. Better late than never.
There are many ways to judge an old piece of literature like this, but I'll focus on two that matter to me: how I felt reading it, and how an audience of the time might have felt.
Speaking for myself, I enjoyed it. Job done. Accepting the conventions of the time, allowing for suspension of disbelief, the story was plenty of fun. The constant bickering is harsh but amusing, and I got into the spirit of it. (Imagine Beatrice as Elizabeth and Benedick as Darcy, and imagine that, instead of a polite barely tolerable this and too proud that, they insult each other with all they've got. It's a bit rough, but knowing all along that they are destined to work it out and get their HEA, it's just a different flavor of romance, isn't it?) If you'll forgive the spoilers, it's great to see the good guys sort out the mistakes and misunderstandings and end up married, in love, while the bad guys get caught.
And as for the audiences of the time, the people it was written for, I can only imagine their delight at the sharp-tongued Beatrice tearing into Benedick all the time. And the goofy City Watch, especially Dogberry--Michael Keaton in the 1993 movie--is hilarious, with his malapropisms and officious manner. Insisting that every slander that the captured men make against him be written down, he reminds the men, "remember that I am an ass. Though it be not written down, yet forget not that I am an ass." Lots to laugh at (and a bit of PG sex from the window) before we get to the happy ending. Everybody's having fun.
So Shakespeare gets my approval.
I still don't understand tragedies. Maybe someday. But I can happily embrace his comedies. And even that much took me awhile.
(Sorry, Professor Doebler!)
Recommended. Of course.
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