William Shakespeare has written many different categories of plays: comedies,tragedies, romances, and histories. Comparisons are abundant between many ofShakespeares works.
Numerous comparisons can be made in characters, plot, andspeech between Romeo and Juliet, which is a tragedy, and Much Ado About Nothing,which is a comedy. First, corresponding characters in both plays includevillains, lovers, and friends in addition to characters who provide comicrelief. These works have a similar villain. Tybalt of Romeo and Juliet issimilar to Don John in Much Ado About Nothing in that both characters do notapprove of the lovers relationships and wish to break them up. Furthermore,Romeo and Juliet are similar to Claudio and Hero, who are the leading couples ineach play. The comic relief in each play is the watch in Much Ado About Nothingand the servants in Romeo and Juliet.
Also, Mercutio and Bene*censored* are bothscornful of love. However, Bene*censored* does finally fall in love withBeatrice. Additionally, each male young lover has his group of friends in eachplay. However, in Much Ado About Nothing, Hero also has her group ofacquaintances; Juliet does not. Also, several similarities in plot exist betweenRomeo and Juliet and Much Ado About Nothing.
In each of these plays, a romancebetween young lovers includes a false death of the female character, which themale character believes to be real. In Romeo and Juliet, there is a fatalending; in which both of the lovers kill themselves because they would ratherdie than go on living without each other. However, in Much Ado About Nothing,the false death is discovered before there are any real deaths. Both couples doend up together, although one is in life and the other in death. In addition,similarities in speech occur in these works.
Of course, the same Shakespeareanlanguage is in each work. Both of these plays have apparent oxymorons aboutlove. In Romeo and Juliet, Romeo says of his crush at the time, O brawlinglove, O loving hate (Shakespeare, 1. 1. 181). And in Much Ado About Nothing,Beatrice asks Bene*censored*, But for which of my good parts did you firstsuffer love for me? (Shakespeare 5.
2. 63-64). Suffer love is an apparentoxymoron because it consists of two dissimilar terms. Also, the much overusedrhetorical poetry is present in both of the plays. Additionally, the rules ofShakespearean addressing are used in both. In conclusion, WilliamShakespeares Romeo and Juliet and Much Ado About Nothing can be compared incharacters, plot, and speech.
These comparisons are made between two differentcategories of plays; comedy and tragedy. BibliographyEpstein, Norrie. The Friendly Shakespeare. Penguin Books, New York. 1993Harrison, G. B.
Shakespeares Tragedies. Oxford University Press, New York,1969 Shakespeare, William. Much Ado About Nothing. Penguin Books, New York, 1987Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet. Penguin Books, New York, 1993Shakespeare
