Comedy in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and "Much Ado About Nothing"

          In both plays, it is clear that love is unpredictable. There is a nature of lovers like Claudio, Hero and Lysander, Hermia. There is a power of persuasion. Benedick and Beatrice's friends use trick on them and they fall in love with each other, in A Midsummer Night's Dream, that persuasion is related to the magic. Demetrius loves Helena by magic. It is clear that, in both plays, love can make people irrational and foolish. Love turned them into mad, people can't choose who they love. 


          Marriage is a classic in comedies. Both of the plays end with a wedding. Also, the wedding rituals are the same. The other issue is, without any problem, there won't be a marriage. Both of the characters have difficulties, Hero is accused by Claudio, and because of the love potion, Lysander starts to love Helena, but those things will finish with a marriage. If they weren't solved, that wouldn't be a comedy.


          Using the language, in A Midsummer Night's Dream, the artisans try to use the language in a perfect way, but they messed it up. They want to look intelligent, but they destroy the grammar. For example, in the play they say, "I see a voice, I can hear my Thisbe's face." It's same to the Much Ado About Nothing. Dogberry messes up with the language. He knows his status, but he wants to prove that he is a gentleman by showing he has two gowns. 


          Coming up to the gender issues, we see strong women in the plays like Beatrice and Helena. They are very courageous in men's world. I am sure Beatrice is even stronger than lots of men, she has a sharp tongue and also I am sure that she will not accept Claudio after those shameful words like Hero accepted him. Helena is courageous, she doesn't leave Demetrius, even he loves Hermia. Her situation is awful, because the man who she loves, loves her best friend. The other problem is, the lovers are young, that's why they have such problems. Their love started easily and also taken back easily. They can't be sure if they love or not. 


          In these comedies, Shakespeare mentions little about the tragedy. If Benedick killed Claudio, if Hero died like Juliet, or if Egeus gave a punishment to Hermia, that would be a good tragedy. 


          But I have an issue that confused my mind. Are those plays ending happily? I don't think so. For me, they are pretending to be 'happy'. Beatrice and Benedick can be happy, because they are the real lovers, but I don't think Claudio and Hero are happy or Demetrius and Helena. 




Burcu