Molly Fish
Mr. Perry
English Honors 5th Period
May 13, 2015
Elements of a Shakespearean Comedy Essay All Shakespearean plays have somethings in common. For example, in tragedies poison is a common death and there is usually an innocent that dies. The same is true for his comedies. A few of the common elements are: comedy through language, love, complex plots, and mistaken identities. These fundamentals are the foundation of Shakespeare’s class Much Ado About Nothing. Humor is communicated through language by using clever word play, metaphors, sarcasm, and of course, insults. The feisty, sarcastic humor kept the audience intrigued and laughing all the way through. Because a play is literally dependent on its dialogue, the fact that it kept the watcher in a fit of giggles the whole time boosted the plays popularity even more. In Much Ado About Nothing most of Benedict and Beatrice’s conversations back and forth are full of snarky remarks about one another. In Act I, Scene I, Line 137-139, Beatrice makes the sassy remark to Benedict, “I would my horse had the speed of your tongue, and so good a continuer.” Often, in Shakespeare’s works we are presented with love. A pair of lovers throughout the course of the play must overcome some feat that will bring them together in the end. There are two couples in this story that must go through challenges. First, we have Claudio and Hero. When Claudio is fooled by Don John into believing that his lovely Hero has been unfaithful to him it almost breaks them up for good. The second example was Beatrice and Benedict who oddly enough, had to get over hating each other to love each other. Strange, I know. They wouldn’t have gotten hitched by the end of the story though if it hadn’t been through quite a bit of deceit on their friends parts. The characters in one of Shakespeare’s comedies go through more twists and turns than a rollercoaster because of how complex the plots are. Although all of the storylines are different they do have a pattern. The climax of the play will always