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Bachelor Thesis 2009:022 BACHELOR THESIS William Shakespeare A Midsummer Night´s Dream & Much Ado About Nothing What has love got to do with it? Shakespeare´s characters; good, bad, over the top or just delightfully human Ylva Degerlund Luleå University of Technology Bachelor thesis English Department of Language and Culture 2009:022 - ISSN: 1402-1773 - ISRN: LTU-CUPP--09/022--SE William Shakespeare A Midsummer Night’s Dream & Much Ado About Nothing What has love got to do with it? Shakespeare’s characters; good, bad, over the top or just delightfully human. Ylva Degerlund Ylva Degerlund Abstract This essay endeavours to look at two of Shakespeare’s most popular plays; A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Much Ado About Nothing. These two comedies deals with the core of human emotions and therefore this essay will attempt to bring certain elements to the surface, such as; love, hate or darkness and what these two opposite emotions make humans capable of. Moreover it will aim to unmask the lead characters in the plays, these pretend people who sprung from Shakespeare’s mind. In addition, the human traits such as loyalty, strength and jealousy that Shakespeare have bestowed upon them will be looked at to establish whether they are of a similar form or if they divers from one another. Lastly there will be an attempt to see if these characters are the extremes that Shakespeare so often used to show humans as they are, flawed but likable, capable of great love as well as fierce hatred. - 1 - Ylva Degerlund Table of Contents Table of Contents _________________________________________________________- 2 - In my mind’s eye _________________________________________________________- 3 - Introduction_________________________________________________________________ - 3 - Background _________________________________________________________________ - 5 - 1. But love is blind, and lovers cannot see _____________________________________- 6 - Love in Much Ado About Nothing _______________________________________________ - 7 - Love in A Midsummer Night’s Dream ____________________________________________ - 9 - Summary __________________________________________________________________ - 11 - 2. There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so __________________- 12 - Darkness and malice in Much Ado About Nothing_________________________________ - 13 - Darkness and malice in A Midsummer Night’s Dream______________________________ - 15 - Summary __________________________________________________________________ - 17 - 3. All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players ______________- 18 - Character analysis: Much Ado About Nothing ____________________________________ - 18 - Beatrice – strength and ability ________________________________________________________ - 18 - Benedick – honor and steadfastness ___________________________________________________ - 19 - Hero – innocence and sweetness ______________________________________________________ - 20 - Claudio - insecurity and naïveté ______________________________________________________ - 20 - Don John – spite and jealousy (envy) __________________________________________________ - 21 - Character analysis: A Midsummer Night’s Dream _________________________________ - 22 - Helena – purpose and will ___________________________________________________________ - 22 - Hermia – strength and vulnerability ___________________________________________________ - 23 - Lysander – passion and cunning ______________________________________________________ - 23 - Demetrius – pride and single-mindedness _______________________________________________ - 24 - Puck – deviousness and mischief & Oberon – jealousy and power____________________________ - 24 - Character comparison between the two plays ____________________________________ - 26 - Similarities between Much Ado About Nothing and A Midsummer Night’s Dream_______ - 27 - Love____________________________________________________________________________ - 27 - Deception________________________________________________________________________ - 28 - Female courage ___________________________________________________________________ - 29 - Differences between Much Ado About Nothing and A Midsummer Night’s Dream_______ - 30 - Love sought is good, but given unsought, is better _____________________________- 31 - Cupid _____________________________________________________________________ - 31 - All’s well that ends well __________________________________________________- 33 - Conclusion _________________________________________________________________ - 33 - Bibliography ____________________________________________________________- 35 - Primary ___________________________________________________________________ - 35 - Secondary__________________________________________________________________ - 35 - Web sources________________________________________________________________ - 35 - - 2 - Ylva Degerlund In my mind’s eye1 Introduction On the 26th of April 1564 the world was enriched by the birth of a man who would become one of the most influential writers in history.2 Due to his magnificent way with words he was noted even in his own time and as Ratiri Ray writes; “This was definitely the best time from a literary point of view.”3 and the reason for this was, among other things his captivating tales and his descriptive powers. Since Shakespeare’s plays were not hundreds of pages long, Kent Hägglund concludes that; “Shakespeare’s creativity did not lie in the number of words he used but rather in his ability to use those words.”4 Shakespeare is, even today, without rival as both a playwright and as a poet; “He wrote more great plays of different kinds than anyone else in the world.”5 and generations of people have turned to his words in order to be able to describe their own feelings and experiences. Will Fowler states that; “Each of Shakespeare’s plays is a unique organism, as unique as an individual human being […]”6 and G.K. Hunter writes that Shakespeare; “[…] produced works of unparalleled excellence […]”7 He wrote the most beautiful and vivid plays filled with heart wrenching emotions such as love and hate, and when reading the plays one can not help but marvel over what love does to mortals. This essay’s choice of comedies as opposed to tragedies was based on the fact that; “Shakespeare’s career began with comedies, and ended also with them […]”8 and therefore it felt obvious that comedies was what this essay would explore. The choice of the plays; Much Ado About Nothing and A Midsummer Night’s Dream was due to the fact that in these two plays the whole range of emotions and human traits are displayed. Shakespeare used his comedies in such a way that he was able to show that; ”Comedy is an imitation of the common 1 William Shakespeare. Hamlet. Act I, Scene II. (1599-1601) 2 Ratiri Ray. William Shakespeare's A "Midsummer Night's Dream". (New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers & Distributors, 2008) 3 Ratiri Ray. 10 4 Kent Hägglund. En man för alla tider. (Stockholm: Ordfront, 2006). (own translation) 129 5 Will Fowler. Shakespeare, His Life and Plays. (United Kingdom: Pearson Education Limited, 2001) V 6 G.K. Hunter. Shakespeare: The Late Comedies. (Writers and their work: No. 143) (United Kingdom: Longmans Green & Co, 1962) 7 7 Ratiri Ray. 7 8 --- 3 - 3 - Ylva Degerlund errors of our life […]”9 and therefore the characters presented are so vivid, thus making them such a challenge and a joy to attempt to interpret. In addition, Leo Salingar notes that both these comedies rely on Shakespeare’s capacity to describe his characters in a way that brings life to the plays without the benefit of long monologues describing their strengths and flaws; “And this involves a continuous interaction between character and situation and a constant awareness of each of the characters as a separate and consistent personage […]”10 The emotions explored in this essay are chosen due to their infallible way of showing true colors within humans. No other emotions could single handedly warrant such outbursts of public displays and such obvious signs of character flaws. They further show the lengths those experiencing either of those emotions are willing to travel in order to obtain what they desire. G. Weinberg writes about the aspect of love; “Shakespeare wrote extensively about love […] He gave us words to make its uncertainty endurable, to lighten the pain of rejection and even betrayal.”11 This essay will further attempt to establish the facts presented above, and as love is one of Shakespeare’s most reoccurring themes, chapter one will deal with love. In other words, what that emotion can, and will do to people as well as what people in love are experiencing. Chapter two on the other hand will analyze the opposite of love, not hate per say, but human darkness and its signs and effects. Chapter three will explore the humans portrayed in these plays as well as their strengths and weaknesses. Finally, a few words will be said about Cupid since he is immensely intertwined in both plays as well as mentioned innumerable times by the characters. 9 William Shakespeare. Shakespeare Great Comedies and Tragedies. (London: Worldsworth Editions, 2005) 10 10 Leo Salingar. Shakespeare and the traditions of comedy. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1976) 76 11G. Weinberg. Shakespeare on Love: Quotations from the Plays and Poems. (New York: Macmillan. 2007). vii - 4 - Ylva Degerlund Background Much Ado About Nothing was first published in 1600 and it may have been performed sometime between
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