Much Ado About Nothing. Dallas. Home.
Shakespeare has also built his 'comedy' on an already long tradition of romantic stories in which the lovers have to endure a lot of misfortune for (maybe) finding true happiness. Hero and Claudio play by the rules. They have a lot of 'hearsay'. Even Leonato, father of the brave Hero, lets himself be fooled by the rumor that his daughter might have been with another man. But is the scheming Don Juan the true essence of evil, or is he merely the instigator?
Shakespeare coined the characters of Beatrice and Benedicto, which rely much more on their own judgment. Their humour and irony are a weapon to really test each other's feelings and to react against the romantic love stories of Hollywood and against the expectations of family and friends.But does their joust lead to real love? When godfather Don Pedro receives the good advice to himself find a wife instead of notoriously regulate the affairs of others, we are surprised by a sobering melancholy. Is our love more than twittering and chatter? Or is it much ado about nothing?