Comedy lesson 5 and 6

Much Ado About NothingWilliam Shakespeare

AQA English Literature – Unit 2 Dramatic GenresWeek 3 Lessons 5 and 6

Starter:Many Shakespeare’s comedy plays, such as A

Midsummer Night’s Dream for instance, have multiple plots within them that intertwine.

Could you argue this is true for Much Ado Nothing?If so what plots might they be?

5 mins

The basic structure of the play is three different plot lines which are intertwined:

1. Claudio and Hero: the conventional young lovers who have a crisis in their relationship and then are reunited at the end of the play.

2. Dogberry: a bumbling amateur policeman, who with his associates, the volunteer watchmen, figure in the action when they catch the bad guys.

3. Beatrice and Benedick: two battling, witty lovers who begin the play hating each other and end up in a different kind of loving relationship.

Much Ado About Nothing plots:

• Affectation• Anachronistic • Bawd• Beaus• Black Comedy• Clown• Complicit

• Farce• Fops• Inversion

theory • Moral Double • Pastoral• Patriarchal• Presentism

• Rakes• Soliloquy • Subversive• Transgression• Travesty • Trickster• Urban

Language terms

15 mins

Act 1 Scene 1

Task 1: Discuss how does the theme of deception link to Beatrice and

Benedick?

5 mins

Act 1 Scene 1

Task 1: Discuss how does the theme of deception link to Beatrice and

Benedick?•Beatrice and Benedick’s deception is used to create humour in the play. •Deception is what brings them together.•…At the beginning of the play, the audience are able to see their feelings towards one another even if they are deceiving themselves and each other.

5 mins

Act 1 Scene 1Beatrice and Benedick’s opening exchanges create humour and establishes the

‘merry war of words’ between Beatrice and Benedick

•Read Act 1 Scene 1 of MAAN paying attention to the witty exchange and repartee between Beatrice and Benedick.

Task 3: Plan an answer for at least one of the following questions (Write the question down you will need it later!):

1. To what extent does the first Act conform to the Comedy genre?2. How is Language used in the first Act?

3. How is Act One used to introduce the major themes of the play?4. How is Act One used to set the tone and atmosphere of the play?

In each question you must include: Select Evidence from the textThemes Context Characterisation

Use Key terms Use conventions of Comedy

15 mins

Much Ado About NothingWilliam Shakespeare

AQA English Literature – Unit 2 Dramatic GenresWeek 3 Lessons 5 and 6

Aristotle’s Poetics gives us a detailed and decisive text upon which to base our understanding of the tragic genre.

However, Aristotle did not write about the comic genre in detail. Instead, much of understanding of how comedy is constructed in a structural sense comes from the work of Donatus and Euanthius.

The Comic Genre

In his text, On Comedy, Donatus points to four distinct elements that combine to create the comic genre. Euanthius then develops the structural foundations of ‘comedy’ as for drama.

1. The Prologue – ‘the first speech’, ‘a kind of preface to the drama’

2. The Protasis – ‘the first action of the story, where the plot of the story is explained, although some is held back from the audience to arouse suspense among the audience.

3. The Epitasis – ‘the complication of the story, by excellence of which its elements are intertwined

4. The Catastrophe – ‘the unravelling’ and then ‘the resolution of the course of events so that there is a happy ending which is made evident to all by the recognition of past events’.

Donatus & Euanthius

...gave us a template against which we can identify the central structural elements of the ‘comedy’ in terms of genre. In addition, as with all generic conventions, the structure is open to subversion at the playwrights will.

Starter: Try to identify the four

elements of ‘comedy’ in Much

Ado About Nothing.

Donatus & Euanthius

5 mins

Subversion

Drama (and comedy in particular) will always question, challenge and subvert the status-quo. Comedy can often be described a risqué – we may question whether a joke is acceptable or whether It has ‘crossed the line’.

This debate is a the very heart of comedy – the role of comedy is to mock, challenge, and transgress.

20 mins

Subversion

Drama (and comedy in particular) will always question, challenge and subvert the status-quo. Comedy can often be described a risqué – we may question whether a joke is acceptable or whether It has ‘crossed the line’.

This debate is a the very heart of comedy – the role of comedy is to mock, challenge, and transgress.

1) Read the essay Comedy: Morality & Conflict

2) Which aspects of society are being mocked or challenged and in what way?

3) Decide how far you think Shakespeare conforms or subverts the comic conventions in Much Ado

20 mins

Characterisation in MAAN

Looking at Act Two of the play. Considering..1. How the characters work as opposites to one another.2. How characters conform to /defy gender expectations?3. At the conflicts and allegiances made between characters.4. Hierarchy.

OPPOSITION is key to characterisation in MAAN.

TASK: Discuss the following questions in pairs:

1. Which characters in MAAN can be seen as opposites?2. How do these characters work as opposites to one another?

10 mins

Characterisation and gender roles in MAAN

Opposition defines the four principal characters of the play and develops throughout the five acts.

These oppositions can be split along the lines of GENDER ... so we see the two men and two women representing opposites of one

another.

There is a duality of characterisation at work in the play: Claudio’s highlights Benedick’s cynicism.

Hero’s subservience emphasises Beatrice’s assertive nature.


Opposition defines the four principal characters of the play and develops throughout the five acts.

These oppositions can be split along the lines of GENDER ... so we see the two men and two women representing opposites of one

another.

There is a duality of characterisation at work in the play: Claudio’s highlights Benedick’s cynicism.

Hero’s subservience emphasises Beatrice’s assertive nature.

TASK: Complete the table below for Benedick and Claudio, and Beatrice and Hero to identify their immediate oppositions – give textual evidence to support your idea.

20 mins


Gender Expectation

BENEDICK CLAUDIOCharacteristic seen

Evidence Characteristic Evidence

Gender Expectation

BEATRICE HEROCharacteristic seen


Extension QuestionWhat is the dramatic purpose of these oppositions?

TASK: Complete the table below for Benedick and Claudio, and Beatrice and Hero to identify their immediate oppositions – give textual evidence to support your idea.

20 mins


Gender Expectation

BENEDICK CLAUDIOCharacteristic seen


Gender Expectation

BEATRICE HEROCharacteristic seen


Extension QuestionWhat is the dramatic purpose of these oppositions?

Shakespeare establishes these oppositions to

enhance the play’s drama.

Equally, these oppositions tell us something of the

society in which the characters exist.

Answer the question you planned for earlier and one of the following:

1) How far are the relationships within MAAN typical of the comic genre?

2) To what extent do the characters of MAAN subvert the expected gender roles?

3) How far do you agree with the following statement: Opposition defines the four principal characters of the play.

4) In what ways does MAAN conform or subvert the expected norms of society?

Rules:• Answers cannot exceed 500 words per question• Quotations must not exceed 14 words maximum• In each question you must include:

Select Evidence from the textThemes Context CharacterisationUse Key terms Use conventions of Comedy

Homework

Education

Comedy lesson 5 and 6