“REVENGE IN SHAKESPEARE’S PLAYS”
“MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING” – LECTURE/CLASS
WRITTEN: In the second half of 1598 or 99 -- no later because the role of Dogberry was sometimes replaced by the name of “Will Kemp”, the actor who always played the role; Kemp left the Lord Chamberlain’s Men in 1599.
AGE: 34-35 Years Old (B.1564-D.1616)
CHRONO: Seventh in the line of Comedies after “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, “The Comedy of Errors”, “Taming of the Shrew”, “Love’s Labours Lost”, “A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream”, “The Merchant of Venice”.
QUARTO: A Quarto edition of the play appeared in 1600.
GENRE: “Tragicomic”
SOURCE: “Completely and entirely unhistorical”
VERSION: The play is “Shakespeare’s earliest version of the more serious story of the man who mistakenly believes his partner has been unfaithful to him”. (“Othello” for one.)
SUCCESS: There are no records of early performances but there are “allusions to its success.”
HIGHLIGHT: The comedy was revived in 1613 for a Court performance at Whitehall before King James, his daughter Princess Elizabeth and her new husband in May 1613.
AFTER: Oddly, the play was “performed only sporadically until David Garrick’s acclaimed revival in 1748”.
CRITICS: 1891 – A.B. Walkley: “a composite picture of the multifarious, seething, fermenting life, the polychromatic phantasmagoria of the Renaissance.”
1905 – George Bernard Shaw: “a hopeless story, pleasing only to lovers of the illustrated police papers
BENEDICTS: Anthony Quayle, John Gielgud, Michael Redgrave, Donald Sinden
BEATRICES: Peggy Ashcroft, Margaret Leighton, Judi Dench, Maggie Smith
RECENT: There was “a boost in recent fortunes with the well-received 1993 film version directed by Kenneth Branagh and starring Branagh and Emma Thompson.”
SETTING: Messina in northeastern Sicily at the narrow strait separating Sicily from Italy.
YEAR: The year is indicated but history reports that in 1285 the King of Aragon, eastern Spain, married the only child of the former German ruler of Sicily and “established himself firmly as the first ruler of a dynasty lasting 500 years”; it is believed that the play is set well into the years of that dynasty, perhaps in the late 1500’s.
ACTION: Don Pedro, Prince of Aragon and his followers return to visit his old friend Leonato, Governor of Messina, after “suppressing a small rebellion”; joy and enthusiasm over the reunion spring forth and love is in the air except for the discontented Don John who led the opposing army, lost and has had to reconcile with his step-brother Don Pedro……yet, bent on mischief and revenge.
STRUCTURE: “The triangle of Don John (deceiving villain), Claudio (credulous lover or husband) and Hero (slandered fiancé or wife) reappears in the trio of Iago, Othello and Desdemona and again in the story of Iachimo, Posthumus and Imogen in “Cymbeline”.”
NOTE: Note the many mentions in the script of key words: “vengeful”, “vengeance”, “mischief”, “defiled” in addition to mention of ATE, Greek goddess of vengeance and mischief as well as the FURIES, vengeful spirits of Greek legend “who pursued those guilty of great crimes and were probably personifications of the mad”; oddly, none of these mentions refer to Don John directly.
------
F O R C L A S S E X P L O R A T I O N : D O N J O H N
FACT: Despite the play being entirely “unhistorical”, there was indeed a “Don John of Austria” who had no step-brother, never rebelled against his real brother and is best known for his victory over the Turks in the Battle of Lepanto and his death in 1578 at the age of 31.
FACT: As noted, Shakespeare’s Don John is the step-brother of Don Pedro, the Prince of Aragon; Shakespeare gives us no other information about their parental history nor their earlier years together or apart.
FACT: As noted, Don Pedro and his soldiers arrive in Messina from suppressing a bloodless rebellion (more what was considered in the times as a “formalistic skirmish”) against the “Turks expanding their Ottoman Empire”; no further details are shared by Shakespeare nor in the text about the cause of the rebellion nor why Don John would be the opposing leader against his step- brother.
NEW: As the loser of the skirmish Don John has had to reconcile himself with his step- brother and arrives with the winning brigade of Don Pedro’s soldiers including the “intelligent and gallant” Claudio, much-praised for his success in battle and thus much-hated by Don John.
NEW: At least Don Pedro, Don John and playboy-soldier Benedict have visited the home of Leonato in the past; they are well-known and warmly-welcomed Leonato and everyone in the household….except it “seems” by Leonato’s niece, Beatrice, who immediately launches into a clever, witty and barbed verbal battle with confirmed bachelor, Benedict.
NEW: Of few words but of sour visage, Don John says of himself: “It must not be denied but I am a plain-dealing villain”.
NEW: Don John’s companion, Conrade, adds more to our knowledge by saying of Don John: “I wonder that thou being, as thou say’st thou art, born under Saturn, thou goest about to apply a moral medicine”; Those born under Saturn are often characterized as “saturnine” -- grave, gloomy and slow.
NEW: Don John’s focus is on Claudio and if some mischief can be worked up at Claudio’s expense, so much the better; that opportunity arises early on with Claudio’s sudden fall for Leonato’s beautiful daughter, Hero.
NEW: Other new information from the play pointing to Don John?
Class members are welcome to introduce discussion topics to augment any or all of these:
DISCUSS: Considering the facts and the new information, are there more reasons why Don John is seen “the bastard malcontent of almost motiveless malice”?
DISCUSS Don John’s first plot – Informing Claudio that the masked Don Pedro has indeed spoken for himself in wooing Hero and not on Claudio’s behalf; the plot miscarries when Don Pedro easily convinces Claudio that such is surely not so.
DISCUSS Don John’s second and successful plot involving his two companions, Conrade and Borachio, is particularly vile to all and causes a sudden, dramatic turn to the tone of the play initially leading to tragedy.
DISCUSS Explore the dramatic effects of the plot on Hero and all of the leading characters at the aborted wedding ceremony.
DISCUSS The clever plan devised by the Friar eventually resolves the dark turn of the play; has Shakespeare effectively averted the tragic path of the play to a happy ending?
DISCUSS Benedict’s news to Don Pedro and eventually to the entire group that Don John has fled Messina combined with the confessions of Borachio and Conrade rapidly lead to the demise of Don John. DISCUSS And, how shall we postulate about the final fate of Don John?
(TRIVIA): “Beatrice” means “she who makes happy” and “Benedick” means “blessed”; Shakespeare could not have chosen those names accidentally!
------
F O R O P T I O N A L V I E W I N G…..
FREE ON YOUTUBE:
“MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING” (Filmed at a live stage performance) Wyndhams Theater, London 2001 With David Tennant & Catherine Tate Contemporary Setting https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cwy2a6ScZ-c
OR https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cwy2a6ScZ-c&t=4s
***FREE SNIPPETS – OR – FULL FILM RENTAL..BOTH ON YOUTUBE
“MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING” Film Released 1993 Kenneth Branagh & Emma Thompson YouTube Film Rental $3.99 + Tax