Don John Character Analysis

Words: 1695
Pages: 7

In Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, multiple characters had altering thoughts on the merits of marriage and the worthiness or lack of worthiness of their romantic partners. Even so, many of the characters' actions were fueled by love or even the simple idea of happiness gained by love. Although, contrary to this, the villain of the play, Don John, committed actions in an effort to disrupt other characters' happiness. In doing so, Don John employed a pathetic appeal of pathos to serve his evil plan of leading Claudio and Don Pedro to muster negative thoughts towards Hero, hence potentially destroying many of the character's happiness. In order for Don John to make a rhetorical appeal of pathos to engage his sinister plan against Claudio, …show more content…
As the villain of this play, it was Don John's duty to not look as though he shared everyone's view. In doing so, he had to direct his attitude towards the characters that would have the largest ripple effect. He chose both Claudio and Don Pedro for varying reasons other than their original attitudes. He selected Claudio, because Claudio was the character that was receiving the most attention by professing his love for Hero to his peers. This enabled many of the characters of this play to loose a sense of happiness later on. On the other hand, Don Pedro was chosen for reasons other than Don John's bitter resentment of his power and social status, but because of his role as a catalyst in making happiness occur. Don Pedro was willing to go above and beyond to bring two different couples together even though he still ended up remaining unmarried at the play's end. By choosing Claudio and Don Pedro to target a negative attitude regarding Hero, Don John was able to deploy his plan to destroy their happiness. Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare contained an antagonist, Don John, who employed the rhetorical appeal to pathos in an effort to disrupt other characters' happiness. In order to do so, he constructed evil plans for Claudio and Don Pedro to encounter. Although, despite Don John's great efforts, in the end, the character's happiness overcame Don John's sinister plans, and “...John is ta’en in flight,/ And brought with armed men back to Messina.”