The Character Of Don John In William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing

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In his “Much Ado About Nothing,” Shakespeare writes using elements of robust hilarity, passion and social mediations that deal with honor, shame, and court politics to drive the comedy. Since there can be many interpretations of Shakespeare’s original work, elements like plot and characters in the story can be changed when other points of view try to recreate the story in their own way. Comparing Shakespeare’s original with the “Shakespeare Retold” version, one of the most significant plot element changes was how Don John planned to cause trouble between Claudio and Hero’s relationship. In the original, Don John and his associate Borachio spend all of act 2, scene 2, planning their scheme. When Borachio states “Go, then; find me a meet hour to draw Don Pedro and… Hero's …show more content…
In the original, a possible reason for Don John’s desire to sabotage Hero’s wedding is not caused by emotional desires but by the urge to get back at Claudio for preventing him from overthrowing his brother. An example of this includes when Don John states “That young start-up hath all the glory of my overthrow. If I can cross him anyway, I bless myself every way.” (1.3) By hurting Claudio, Don John is also hurting Don Pedro as they are in the military together. In the original, Don John can be portrayed to be sneaking around, hiding in the shadows as he plots against everyone. In the film adaptation, Don John comes off as a very emotional driven shy man who wants to sabotage the relationship that Hero is forming with Claude. In the party scene, he dresses up like a clown and as the party continues, his eye lines grow in size. This symbolizes that he is even more emotional and shows off his feministic qualities. I appreciate the original portrayal of Don John’s character as it involves politics and I can relate to trying to ruin my brother’s relationships through miscommunication with our
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