1st Post For Shakespeare Unit

Much ado about nothing is a Play involving bitter siblings, pride between lovers, infidelity from both males and females, and trickery amongst families and friends.  Focus is put on two couples falling in love at different speeds, do to both pure passion as well as friendly encouragement from meddling friends.  As outside characters become more involved with the couples, to use them for their own revenge, a wedding is called off, a death is faked, and true emotion is revealed.  All ends well with both couples being set straight, declaring their love for one another and a beautiful wedding.  

MAIN CHARACTER:

1. Beatrice -  Leonato’s niece and Hero’s cousin.
2. Benedick -  An aristocratic soldier 
3. Claudio -  A young soldier 
4. Hero -  The beautiful young daughter of Leonato and the cousin of Beatrice.
5. Don Pedro -  An important nobleman from Aragon
6. Leonato -  A respected, well-to-do, elderly noble
7. Don John -  The illegitimate brother of Don Pedro;
8. Margaret -  Hero’s serving woman
9. Borachio -  An associate of Don John
10. Antonio -  Leonato’s elderly brother and Hero's uncle.

Disregarding the watching of the video version of Much ado about nothing Directed by A.J. Antoon with Nick Havinga, which will give me a good understanding of the play, the rest of my research for this play will be from, the following:

• Wikipedia’s small insight to the characters, themes and motifs used through out the play.  
• EBSCOhost:

1. "Sigh no more ladies"-- the Song in Much Ado About Nothing: Shakespeare and Branagh Deliver Aural Pleasure.
2. Shakespeare's MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING.
3. Shakespeare and the government of comedy: Much Ado About Nothing
4. Children of the mind: Miscarried natives in Much Ado about Nothing.
5. Shakespeare's MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING 3.5.17-26.
6. Intention and Editing.
7. Shakespeare's MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING.By: Ross, Gordon N.
8. Shakespeare's MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING.By: Richards, David.
9. The Semantics of Passion in Shakespeare's Comedies: An Interdisciplinary Study.
10. Deforming Sources: Literary Antecedents and Their Traces in Much Ado About Nothing.

• MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING - BACKGROUND AND ANALYSIS: http://www.srvc.net/engl154/html_files/Ado_Lecture.htm
• sparknotes.com: For basic Character analysis and theme analysis. http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/muchado/characters.html

The four main elements to the play that I am going to focus on are, The time in which Shakespeare was writing the play, The main Themes of both male and female infidelity that continue throughout the play, and the dynamics to each main character.