Much Ado About Nothing Essay

I think I speak for everyone when I say that fifth graders are overly dramatic and ignorant. This was especially true for me as a child. Relationships for me were hard to maintain as a child, and since then, I have learned to not let petty misunderstandings cause ruin to an important friendship of mine. Just as the characters Hero, Claudio, Beatrice, and Benedick have showcased in the movie Much Ado About Nothing, trying to uphold a good reputation in society can sometimes lead us to turn insignificant disagreements into bigger issues that can negatively harm a relationship. Just like the characters in the movie, I made a similar mistake with a good friend of mine, Raquel. By listening to shady rumors and further acting upon them, I foolishly caused bumps in our friendship so that I could gain attention from my peers as well as hide my true feelings towards Raquel.

In the movie, Hero and Claudio suffer a mishap in their relationship when Claudio is falsely led to believe that Hero violated chastity. He then makes a rash decision to leave her at the altar, and accuses Hero of being infidel to the public to protect his name and save face. Similarly, when I heard a nasty rumor about Raquel bad mouthing me, I was enraged and hurt. Instead of first consulting my friend for the truth, I decided to seek revenge and publicly humiliate her by making fun of her in front of the class. In turn, Raquel was also deeply hurt and lashed out as well. In the film, Beatrice and Benedick act like they are always at each other’s throats to hide their underlying romantic attraction towards one another. In the same way, Raquel and I also pretended not to like one another, but deep down, really cared for one another. After a period of time when we actually sat down to have an honest conversation, we realized that those rumors were fake. We would then make up and be all buddy buddy in front of all of our peers to make sure everyone knew we were once again on good terms – just like how Claudio had to publicly restore Hero’s name.

To sum up, don’t allow your emotions to cloud your judgement. Not acting upon your audacious emotions can save you heartache and a lot of time. Don’t be irrational like the characters in Much Ado About Nothing as well as Raquel and I, just so you can impress and maintain a socially acceptable reputation. After learning from our careless mistakes, Raquel and I are now incredibly close friends who value honesty and trust more than social standards or anything else.

Writing Process and Rough Draft

Reflection: I honestly don’t really like watching or reading Shakespeare, not because I don’t think he can write, but because the language is so hard to understand. I thought that though this story was brilliantly crafted, it was a bit extensive and the ending doesn’t make much sense to me. I saw many parallels between the events of the movie and the events of my own life. I realized that I too, had made many stupid mistakes, but thankfully, I was able to learn important lessons from them.