Much Ado About Emma
~Blog
post #1~
Topic
H
April
17, 2015
By
Alie Reily
Emma
by Jane Austen is in many ways similar to Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare. The first parallel can be made between Beatrice,
from Much Ado About Nothing, and
Emma. Both are beautiful, confident, and somewhat close-minded women. The two seem to play a matchmaking role in
their respective novels; however, neither has an immediate love interest. At one point, Emma remarks that “[she] made
the match [herself],” in regards to the marriage of Miss Taylor and Mr. Weston
(Austen 9). In addition to the similarities between Emma and Beatrice, there is
also a comparable structure to the layout of the characters in the two
novels. Both books have a central family
and several other main characters that surround them. Even though most of the main characters are
not part of the main family, they are important to the novel. In the two novels, the main female roles do
not have a mother present. Beatrice and
Hero from Much Ado About Nothing and
Emma do not have their mothers in the books.
The last major connection is in the style of writing. The two novels are both difficult to read and
required re-reading. They are not books
that one can simply read through without pausing for comprehension and
analysis. Since both were written a long
time ago, some of the expressions used are confusing, along with the structure
of events and character development. In
multiple cases, it has been necessary to look up what certain parts of the books
mean.
Alie, I agree with all of your comparisons between Much Ado About Nothing and Emma. The two books are alike in style of writing and character personalities. Although Emma Woodhouse reminds me of Beatrice with her wit and humor, I also feel that some of her personality traits are similar to Hero. Hero was someone in Much Ado who played a major role of matchmaking Beatrice and Benedick together. In both of these novels, the main characters live in very prosperous towns. In Emma the Woodhouses live in a "large and populous village almost amounting to a town"(5). In Much Ado About Nothing, the characters live in Messina a wealthily port on the island of Sicily. Overall, there are numerous similarities between Jane Austen and Shakespeare writing style and story lines.
ReplyDeleteAlie on this post you did very well. You backed up all of your arguments with evidence and your content demonstrated understating of the material. You analyzed the content and throughly answered the question. Your comparisons were spot on and you provided multiple examples. Your writing was easy to understand and you response was submitted on time. Overall you relieved an A on this blog post
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