Much Ado About Nothing

March 26th, 2020

As complex creatures, it is inevitable for us to avoid misunderstandings. Miscommunications between different languages, misinterpretations in gestures, or misalignment in thoughts are all challenges we have to face as a human race. William Shakespare’s play Much Ado About Nothing, has shown me the various events that can result from accidental or intentional mix-ups. The consequences have drastic differences, from a couple falling in love, to another falling out of love. 

At the beginning of the movie, Beatrice and Benedict hated each other’s guts. Only until they each heard a seperate, fabricated rumour of one liking the other did they start to change their minds. It was especially ironic when both parties specifically stated that they did not want to get married, but ended up with each other. This is an example of a positive outcome of this misunderstanding. On the contrary, when misunderstand sparked between the engaged couple Hero and Claudio, it was disastrous. Claudio’s burning love for Hero vanished when he saw a woman who he thought was Hero having sex on a balcony with another man. He didn’t go through any personal confrontation, but decided to humiliate her in public, which tainted her name in a color impossible to wash off. 

I believe the only antidote to every misunderstanding is confrontation. Which in the play, neither parties decided to face the conflict with confrontation. But here comes the paradoxical aspect this story brings: is confrontation really needed in every misunderstanding? On one side, if only Claudio had confronted Hero in private, maybe the whole scene could have been avoided. But on another, if Beatrice and Benedict had talked to each other about the rumours they heard, they might have not fallen in love. Like two sides to a coin, there never is a correct answer for every situation. All we can do is to act on whatever we think is right and what we believe in.

Process: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Lm3tlv-xBPYs0Yn2DQsap40eH_0fE85LN4hP440uQM8/edit?usp=sharing

Brainstorm: The movie was really not what I expected. It was much funnier and entertaining than I imagined and there were a few times I actually laughed out loud (lol!). Before writing this paper, I had to go online and kinda understand the themes of this movie, since most of it was in old english and I didn’t really catch everything. But I think after writing this paper, it solidified my views on misunderstanding and confrontation. I know for sure now I enjoy conforntation much more because I hate having problems steming from misudnerstandings.