Essay Question

1. Many different characters in this play are persuaded to do things they would not do of their own accord. What are some of these instances, and how does persuasion affect the course of the plot?
         
     Persuasion is referred to as  prevailing on (a person) to do something, as by advising or urging. In the play much ado about nothing were several aspects or examples thats were shown that characters were persuaded to do things that were not wanted to be done or, to partake in activities that weren't chosen to be apart of. I will be showing logical reasons and examples in the paragraphs below.
     For instance, Beatrice and Benedick were persuaded into loving each other because after overhearing what the other characters which include Leanato, Claudio, Don Pedro,Hero and Ursla were saying about the love both Beatrice and Benedick had for each other, changed the feelings they had before for one another. In the beginning of the play, both Beatrice and Benedick were always arguing, and in fact, they said that they would never love each other. As a result of that, the other characters ignore the true feelings of both the characters and persuaded them by using trick words, that would influence both Beatrice and Benedick that they really were in love with each other. Which in turn allow them both to become in love with one another.
     In addition, another example of persuasion would be when Don John persuaded Claudio to believe that Don Pedro was trying to woo Hero for himself instead of him at the mask party. As a result of this persuasion, Claudio became very upset with Don Pedro and believed that he was a disloyal friend but luckily, Don Pedro saved the friendship by explaining exactly what he did, wooed Hero for Claudio.
     Moreover, Don John also persuaded Claudio into believing that hero was cheating on him which was a plan Don John was portraying. this persuasion allowed Claudio to embarrass hero on her wedding day and cause chaos. one can also say that this persuasion also created the climax of the play because a number of themes and conflicts came out of this persuasion.
     Another example of persuasion in the play, is when don john persuaded Barachio into joining in the plan by paying him. Barachio being apart of this plan made him paid for the consequences when he was arrested and questioned about the plan and how hero was wrongly accused.
     In conclusion,  persuasion made a lot of aspects arise in the play like Beatrice and Benedick falling in love and Claudio embarrassing Hero at the wedding but it also made revenge occur in the play. For instance, when Don John plan played back on him and the play ended off with every one being happy.

Betrayal in Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare

      Betrayal is a theme introduce at the beginning of the novel. Betrayal is known to others as deceiving or being dishonest about a situation or a person. This particular theme caused chaos and conflict in certain aspects of the play. Besides, this one theme brought out different situations and caused a number of other theme to arise. In addition, the aspect of betrayal played out for the wrong reasons and as a result of that it got back its revenge and also played a part in creating the climax in the novel.
      Moreover, betrayal began when Don John, the bastard brother of Don Pedro, a prince of Arragon, deceived his own brother by telling Claudio the young lord of Florrence, that Don Pedro is trying to woo hero's, daughter of Leanato, the prince of Messina, heart while they were at the mask party, instead of wooing her heart for him (Claudio). This aspect of betrayal cause a number of other betrayals to follow. Also, after hearing the conniving news from Benedick, a young lord of Padua, Don Pedro was able to overcome Claudio's mind and clear the situation before any conflict arose.
     Don John didn't stop betrayal there, after he received the news from Barachio one of his followers, the news he overheard Don Pedro,Claudio and Leanato planning the wedding,Don Pedro then set a plan to deceive Hero and draw an impression to Claudio that Hero is cheating on him. Additionally, he ask Barachio if he was wIlling to take part and he would pay him 1,000 ducats and eventually Barachio agreed. After setting the plan, the main plot arose where Claudio saw Margaret a gentle woman attending on Hero, thinking it was Hero at the window with another man causing him to become upset and therefore embarrass Hero at the wedding. However, Leanoto and others at the wedding found it hard to believe but Claudio and Don Pedro were able to defend their thesis about the scene in which they saw, leaving the others in misery.
    As a result of the betrayal, characters were affected and the characters that were mostly affected in my opinion are Barachio and Claudio because, Barachio was the one, along with Conrade that was arrested but Barachio played a part in the plan causing him to suffer and left feeling miserable inside. He was the only one that got punished for taking part in the play because nothing was done too Don John in the novel. I also say that Claudio was mostly affected by this because, after confidently embarrassing Hero at the wedding and after finding out that she was innocent, bite his heart out, and made him feel as if someone has stab him in the heart. This made it hard for him to talk to Leanato which he did, to ask him for a second chance. He also felt bad because it was set to believe that Hero was dead and Claudio took responsibilty of her death after hearing she was pure.
    Betrayal was not only done by Don John, other characters in the novel played a part of betrayal. For instance, when Claudio, Don Pedro and Leanato tried to set up Benedick to make him believe that Beatrice, niece to Leanato said she was deeply in love with him which was in truth not true, this cause Benedick to believe and then he started to think about Beatrice in another way. However, Hero and Ursula, a gentlewoman attending on Hero deceived Beatrice by talking about Benedick being in love with her although they knew she was listening they even arranged a meeting for both Benedick and Beatrice at the dinner without the two knowing, this is also another sign of betrayal.
   In closing, I must say that aspects of betrayal came out in majority of the novel and it causes the book to become interesting, it even build up the thesis to every aspect of betrayal and cause the different situations to create the main plot and betrayal even cause some sub plots to come out bringing out different themes in the novel done by William Shakespeare.