”Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more,
Men were deceivers ever,
One foot in sea and one on shore,
To
one thing constant never.”
(II.iii.4)
The art of deception plays a
significant role in stories and works of literature throughout history.
Deception is especially evident in William Shakespeare’s plays Othello and Much Ado About Nothing. The former play is a tragedy while the
latter is considered a comedy. Do not be deceived by the title of comedy
though, both of these plays are extravagantly filled with trickery, slander,
and lies. The idea that people, events,
and things in our world are often not what they seem is at the very heart of
many of Shakespeare’s plays, “[t]hus the hyperbole of tragedy stands at the
opposite end of a tonal scale from the hyperbole of comedy” (Mack, 156)
Every good story has a protagonist
and an antagonist- a hero and a villain. These oppositional characters are
often referred to as foil characters because they reflect the extremes of the
other. In Othello, the hero is the
man for which the play is named… Othello. While his “foil” character is Iago.
Iago manipulates the mind of Othello by taking advantage of his insecurities.
Othello is a great leader, though he is not as educated or well-bred as the
beautiful Desdemona, his wife. Because Iago understands people and the
psychology of the mind, he uses this knowledge to his advantage. Throughout the
play, Iago plants seeds in Othello’s mind, convincing him slowly that the
desirable Desdemona has been unfaithful to him, with his lieutenant Cassio.
Similarly, in Much Ado About Nothing,
the antagonist Don John manages to convince Claudio that the lovely and
beautiful Hero is not as innocent or virtuous as he believes her to be. These
lies of infidelity are slanderous at best. It seems as though Iago and Don John
are motivated by their envy to bring destruction to Othello and Claudio.
This heavy theme of deception takes a
tragic turn in Othello, which begins
in the city of Venice, where there is control and order. It is taken shortly thereafter to Cyprus,
where there is a war being fought, less people to surround Othello, and less
stability in the structure of his council which eventually leads to Othello’s
downfall and the death of four people within two marriages. In contrast, the
play Much Ado About Nothing is set in
Messina, Sicily, after the success of a war. This story takes place in a home
with the stable council of family and patriarchal dominance where the conflict
is resolved with non-violence in a happy outcome of four people coming together
into two marriages.
In literature, a comedy is not
necessarily a humorous tale, but rather a tale with a happy ending. Much Ado About Nothing has both a happy
ending and humor. The characters of Beatrice and Benedick are considered
secondary characters, however the “merry war” that has been an ongoing conflict
between them is light hearted and witty. They too, fall victim to deception in this
tale, however, when their companions intentionally hold conversations knowing
that they each could overhear, stating that one was in love with the other.
These lies are not entirely untrue, for it seems that the continued witty
banter between Beatrice and Benedick has proven itself facilitative in creating
a mutual loving affection. There is also humor in the night watchmen, Dogberry
and his companions, who capture Don John’s men (Boracio and Conrad) and shed
light to the deception of Claudio and slander of Hero by telling her father
Leonato of the ruse. Leonato, Hero, and
the family decide to carry out the deception that they fashioned at the
disastrous first wedding… that Hero is dead, having died at the shock of
offence to her character. Leonato and
his brother do tell Claudio what the night watchmen discovered and then
instruct Claudio to mourn Hero’s death, and that if he is a good and noble man,
he will marry her cousin in her stead. Claudio agrees. At the gathering of the
second wedding, all of the deceit is brought to light, Don John caught, and two
marriages take place: Claudio to Hero and Benedick to Beatrice.
“Comic overstatement aims at being
preposterous … tragic overstatement, on the other hand, aspires to be
believed.” (Mack, 156) Othello ends tragically with the death
and destruction of the great leader who believed in and fell victim to the
embroidered web of lies. In Contrast, Much
Ado About Nothing ends laughably and over-joyously with the enlightenment
of truth, the birth of new relationships, and the resolution and apprehension
of the deceiver Don John. These stark and drastic differences make it hard to
imagine that both tales are centered on the idea that people, events, and
things in our world are often not what they seem… that at the very heart of
these two contrary love stories we find deception.
“Deceiving others. That is what the world calls a
romance.” ― Oscar Wilde
Citation Page
Shakespeare, William. Much
Ado About Nothing. Act 2. Scene 3. Page 4
Mack, Maynard. “The Jacobean
Shakespeare.” The Tragedy of Othello The
Moor of Venice with New and Updated Critical Essays and a Revised Biography.
Ed. Alvin Kernan. New York: Signet Classics, 1998. 156. Print.
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