Compare and Contrast: Claudio and Benedick Essay

Shakespeare’s comedy, Much Ado About Nothing, is a play that follows a small group of friends from a high-class society in Massina. Two of this group are friends are Claudio and Benedick. In the beginning of the play they are seemingly similar, in that they both are of an upper-class upbringing and do their best to maintain their social reputation. The characters are made as to enhance their differences by the end of the play; they are foils to one another. Both Benedick and Claudio find themselves fooled by other characters in the play and have to decide what they are willing to believe is true and what is false, furthermore both characters find love by the end of the play, but which means they use to get there differ. In the beginning of the play Claudio is introduced as an accomplished young military man who has just come back from a successful battle. He claims to be â€Å"in love† with a woman named Hero. Before confronting her about the feelings he has for her, Cl audio asks his friend Benedick to tell him what he personally thinks about Hero. In the hopes that he will confirm that she is in fact as fair and lovely as Claudio thinks she is. â€Å"I pray thee tell me truly how thou lik’st her.† (Much Ado About Nothing 1.1.171-172) The â€Å"love† Claudio feels for Hero is based on the approval of his friends. Claudio goes on to ask, yet another associate, Prince Don Pedro, how he to feels about Hero. Claudio is clearly a shallow minded individual with a limited capacity to think of only a few thoughts occupy his mind at one time. Claudio even makes not of it himself when talking to Benedick about when he first came to love Hero. I look’d upon her with a soldier’s eye, That liked, but had a rougher task in hand Than to drive liking to the name of love: But now I am return’d and that war-thoughts Have left their places vacant, in their rooms Come thronging soft and delicate desires, All prompting me how fair young Hero is, Saying, I liked her ere I went to wars. (Much Ado About Nothing 1.1.289-295) Foil to Claudio is Benedick, an arrogant young man who, also like Claudio, took part in the war and was brought up in a high class society. Benedick is also concerned is his public image. He considers himself a ladies’ man of sorts and does not want to be tied down by any woman and would rather die than be wed because he does not trust women. That a woman conceived me, I thank her; that she brought me up, I likewise give her most humble thanks. But that I will have a recheat winded in my forehead, or hang my bugle in an invisible baldrick, all women shall pardon me. Because I will not do them the wrong to mistrust any, I will do myself the right to trust none; and the fine is, for the which I may go the finer, I will live a bachelor. (Much Ado About Nothing 1.1.229-237) As if that did not make his point, Benedick goes on to say that he would prefer then to be bound by holy matrimony. He tells his friends that if he ever does anything so ridiculous as to fall in love that as his friends they should shoot him for his follies. â€Å"If I do, hang me in a bottle like a cat and shoot at me; and he that hits me, let him be clapped on the shoulder, and called Adam.† (Much Ado About Nothing 1.1.248-250) Because at this time Benedick truly believes that love is the worst fait for any man. Read Also:  Compare and Contrast Essay Definition In his attempts to find public acceptance, Claudio proves to be easily fooled into believing anything he is told despite obvious lack of proof of what he is being deceived into thinking is true. When approached by Don John the bastard, the brother to Don Pedro and the least trusted person in Messina. Claudio falls for the lie that his friend, Don Pedro, who offered to help Claudio woo Hero has actually planed to woo her for himself, Claudio as gullible as he is believes Don John’s lies. â€Å"Claudio permits the masked Don Pedro, prince of Arragon, to woo Hero in his place but then is misled into believing that the prince has betrayed him and courted Hero for himself.† (Shakespeare’s Comedies 104) Once the treason is proven false Claudio goes right back to being his pleasant self and accepts Hero with no questions asked. â€Å"Lady, as you are mine, I am yours: I give away myself for you and dote upon the exchange.† (Much Ado About Nothing 2.1.304-306) Ben edick is so back and forth with his feelings for Hero it makes his love appear to be very uncertain. After being bombarded by all the recent talk of love from all of his friends, including Claudio, a military man he would have thought would never have let himself be attached to any lady. Benedick begins to wonder if he too might fall for someone, because if a solder like Claudio can be swayed to fall in love, surely Benedick himself could also. He then decides what sort of woman would be able to win his heart. Benedick’s standers are high and very specific. One woman is fair, yet I am well; another is wise, yet I am well; another virtuous, yet I am well; but till all graces be in one woman, one woman shall not come in my grace. Rich she shall be, that’s certain; wise, or I’ll none; virtuous, or I’ll never cheapen her; fair, or I’ll never look on her; mild, or come not near me; noble, or not I for an angel; of good discourse, an excellent musician, and her hair shall be of what colour it please God. (Much Ado About Nothing 2.3.26-35) With the prospect of love already in his mind Benedick becomes a victim of his cohorts plan to fool him into that believing that Beatrice, an equally idealistic character with a witty personality, who Benedick’s friends think would be perfect for him, is in love with him. After hearing how much she loves him, Benedick changes his views entirely. â€Å"a bachelor in words more than sentiment, so that, during his monologue in 2.3, we watched with sympathy and knowing as he persuaded himself, easily, into love.† (Much Ado about Nothing (review) Shakespeare Bulletin 25.3 (2007) 119-122) Skeptical at first, Benedick has a moment of realization as he looks in himself. Through this introspection Benedick leads himself to the conclusions that Beatrice is indeed the perfect match for him and fits his criteria for the only woman that could make him fall in love. â€Å"-’tis so, I cannot reprove it; and wise, but for loving me; by my troth, it is no addition to her wit, nor no great argument of her folly, for I will be horribly in love with her. I may chance have some odd quirks and remnants of wit broken on me, because I have railed so long against marriage† ( Much Ado About Nothing 2.3.228-234) Though his own insight, Benedick changes his whole view about love all together. In conclusion both Claudio and Benedick are deceived at one point or another in believing something that they are told with no real proof, and both find love by the end of the play, but the means by which they find their way to love differs. Benedick’s path is much more liner and though introspection on how he feels about Beatrice. Were Claudio’s path is sways back and forth due to his insecurities and follies. Work Cited Shakespeare, William. Much Ado About Nothing. New York: Signet Classic, 1998. Print. Vaughn, Jack A. Shakespeare’s Comedies. New York: Fredrick Ungar, 1980. Print. Finlayson, Caitlin. Much Ado about Nothing (review). Shakespeare Bulletin 25.3 (2007). Web. Oct 18, 2011.

A Semiotic Analysis of a Newspaper Story Essay

A logical place to start may be to ask ‘what is news?’ Professor Jonathan Bignell suggests that ‘news is not just facts, but representations produced in language and other signs like photographs.’ The newspaper is just one medium of news communication; other media include television, radio, magazines, and the Internet. We will concentrate on a particular news item as covered in three different British daily newspapers, namely The Sun, The Telegraph, and The Times. The story which is being covered is that of the death of a female police officer who was stabbed by a man whilst she was on duty. The medium of the newspaper is particularly interesting as signifiers are presented simultaneously thus offering a concrete display of signs which the reader can consume at their own pace and can also be re-read, as opposed to television or radio news which can only be watched or listened to at particular times. The process of selection is central to the production of all newspapers. This involves selecting events which are considered to be worthy of being printed as news, and excluding news which is considered to be irrelevant, insignificant or unworthy of news coverage. Thus news is a social construct dependent on what is deemed to be important by those who work in the ‘news industry’ based on certain codes of behaviour which have been learned by news workers in order to do their job. The codes of behaviour which have been learnt by news workers undoubtedly depend on the particular newspaper for which they are working. It could be suggested that in British society most adults would be aware of the conventions of different newspapers. We will attempt to examine the types of sign systems within which a particular news story is encoded in a selection of newspapers, and how these different sign systems may affect meaning. It is clear when looking at The Sun, The Telegraph, and The Times articles, which were all published on Saturday, April 18th, 1998 that each newspaper attaches significance to different news items. This is made clear by looking at the front pages of each newspaper, with The Sun’s main front page story concentrating on the relationship of Patsy Kensit and Liam Gallagher, compared to The Telegraph’s main story which concentrates on a ‘shake-up’ of scientific committees that advise government ministers on food safety; and The Times main front page story which covers the story of the new National Lottery Big Ticket show which is facing the BBC ‘axe’ . Although we will not be concentrating on the comparison of the front pages of the newspapers in this term paper, these examples demonstrate how drastically the different newspapers differ in what constitutes front-page news. The examples also demonstrate the interpretation of newspaper conventions, as we analyse the stories which are considered to be the intended main news of the front-page. As can be seen with the front page of The Sun the main story is clear as it dominates most of the available space on the front-page. However, with the other newspapers the distinction is not quite as clear. The main criteria when deciding on which was the main story of the front-pages of The Telegraph and The Times was the size of the typeface of the headline. This emphasises that the reader comes to the newspaper with a set of codes with which to decode the text, and these codes may differ from individual to individual. This leads to the point that the text is open to a variety of interpretations depending on the ideological standpoint of the reader, and whether the reader is familiar with the newspaper and the codes which. it employs to communicate the ‘news’ which it has selected. Connotations of the linguistic and visual signs which are presented by newspapers are central to the meaning of the news item to the reader. The connotations of the news item are perceived within a coded framework and there are recognisable codes within different newspapers. It is clear that different newspapers use particular narrative codes when representing the same item of news. This can be seen in the three headlines which refer to the particular news item which I have chosen to examine. The Sun headline states ‘SCANDAL OF PSYCHO FREED TO KILL HERO COP NINN’, The Telegraph – ‘WPc was knifed to death after removing armour’, and The Times – ‘WPc paid with her life for dedication to duty.’ Each of these narrative codes used in the headlines instantly provide a framework on which to build the meaning of the news item. The headlines are linguistic syntagms which aim to attract the attention of the reader to the topic of the news st ory, and the linguistic signs which are employed in the headline suggest to the reader the appropriate codes which are needed to understand or decode the news item. It is clear that the newspapers use different linguistic codes as a means of representing the news item. The Times and The Telegraph are similar in their use of language. However, both differ dramatically with The Sun. It is clear that The Sun uses orally based vocabulary, and dramatic and sensational language. This can be seen in the first sentence of the news item, which reads ‘A. violent cop-hating nut killed brave WPC Nina Mackay after a catastrophic catalogue of blunders by Crown prosecutors and police allowed him to roam free.’ The article also employs alliteration for emphasis , as in ‘catastrophic catalogue’ and ‘scandal of psycho’. The linguistic codes of the news item certainly connote speech which in turn connotes familiarity, informality, and camaraderie. The article also implies familiarity with the victim (We Nina Mackay) who is referred to throughout as ‘Nina’ where as a distance is created between the reader and the offender who is referred to throughout by his surname, Elgizouli. This code of familiarity is significantly different to that which is employed by The Telegraph and The Times who refer to the victim either in her professional capacity (WPc Nina Mackay) or by her full name. However, it is perhaps significant that the offender is referred to by his surname in all of the different representations of the news items. This strategy of distancing the reader from the criminal is blatantly employed by all three of the newspapers, clearly suggesting that the preferred reading of the texts should involve no sympathy with the offender. Another drastic difference between the newspaper representations of the news item are the typographic devices used to break up the text. Again, The Sun differs dramatically to The Telegraph and The Times using bold text to start the article, serving to extend the role of the headline in attracting the attention of the reader to the topic of the news story. The use of bold and one word sub-headings which are employed throughout the text serve to direct the reader in making meaning of the text and make blatantly obvious the points which the newspaper deem to be of particular significance to the understanding of the news item. The Telegraph and The Times do not employ the same typographic codes as The Sun, apart from bold type which is used for the headline, and the bold type used to name the journalist/s of the article. The narrative of the news story uses the same type and size of font throughout the item. Arguably, this connotes authority and formality to the reader which is also demonstrated by the fairly long sentences, the correct spellings and the lack of colloquial language such as ‘cop’ which is used in The Sun. This perhaps implies that the ‘quality’ press such as The Times and The Telegraph provide better news than tabloids such as The Sun. However, this kind of value judgement is inappropriate as both types of newspaper are constructions of the news with the ‘quality’ newspapers aiming to connote authority and formality and the ‘popular’ tabloids aiming to connote an attitude of ‘telling it how it is.’ Thus both types of representation of the news items present mythic meanings. Linguistic and typographic codes are not the only codes employed in news discourse. Graphic codes must also be considered. The photographs used in the press have also undergone a process of selection. One image will be chosen over another as it connotes a message that the selectors of the photograph want to communicate. Barthes (cited in Bagnell, 1977:98) suggests that the newspaper photograph is ‘an object that has been worked on, chosen, composed, constructed, treated according to professional, aesthetic or ideological norms which are so many factors of connotation.’ The ‘treatment’ of photographs which is referred to by Barthes can be seen in the different newspapers which I have chosen. Interestingly, each version of the news item has used the same photographs, but treated them differently according to the required connotation. Each representation uses the same picture of the victim in her police uniform looking directly at the camera, and the same pictu re of the offender looking vacant and away from the camera. Again, The Times and The Telegraph use similar codes, and The Sun employs a drastically different strategy despite using the same original photographs. The most drastic difference is that The Sun presents the photographs in colour, connoting realism and the dangerousness of the offender. This is also connoted by the size of the photographs, with the graphic representation dominating a large proportion of the overall available space on the page, which is another drastic difference between The Sun’s representation of the news item and the other two newspapers. Despite these major differences it is significant that the newspapers have all used the same photographs, and it is interesting to look at why these particular photographs might have been chosen. Paradigmatically, photographs involve connotations, and thus the significance of the particular photographs which have been chosen can be seen more clearly when considering what other paradigmatic connotations might have appeared in their place. For example the connotations of the picture of the police officer would change considerably if she was not in uniform. Likewise, the connotations of the picture would change if the offender was looking directly at the camera and smiling, instead he is pictured looking away from the camera with a blank expression, connoting lack of emotion. The contrasted pairs which seem to be involved in the paradigms are innocence and guilt, justice and injustice. These contrasted pairs are made more clear by the way in which the meanings of the photographs are anchored in a small amount of text beneath the photographs. The Times offers its own contrasted pair in the text beneath the pictures, namely ‘killer’ and ‘killed’. As Bignell (1997:99) suggests, the caption underneath the picture enables the reader to ‘load down the image with particular cultural meanings and the photograph functions as the proof that the text’s message is true.’ The pictures are also shown in different contexts in the three newspapers with The Sun using a different strategy to The Telegraph and The Times. The Telegraph and The Times use similar sized pictures of the individuals involved. In The Sun the size of the photographs of the individuals differ considerably with the ‘killer’ being represented as significantly bigger than the ‘killed’. Also, the photograph of the police officer is presented in a photograph-like frame connoting sentimentality, and elevating her position in comparison to the ‘killer’. This emotionalism is carried over into the other picture which The Sun represents which shows the coffin of the police officer being carried by her colleagues. This is a cultural sign which most readers will be able to relate to, and connotes sympathy, tragedy and injustice. This discussion of several newspapers’ representations of the same news item show how semiotic analysis can determine the meanings of such news items, as a result of the linguistic and visual signs used within the texts. However, semiotic analysis cannot determine how an individual reader might interpret the representations of the news items in a real social context. Semiotic analysis does offer an insight into the factors at work in the production of a news item and distinguishes the various codes which are employed by different types of newspaper when representing a particular news item.

A view from a bridge work book Essay Example for Free

A view from a bridge work book Essay ? Dear Miss Fisher, I have finished reading a view from a bridge & put notes on the power point sheets however I then looked back on it & realised it was illegible! So I wrote it up here, is that ok I’m sorry for the inconvenience, & it won’t happen again. Sorry again, Daisy 🙂 A view from the bridge. 15th September. Research tasks: Who was Arthur Miller? Find autobiographical information about the playwright. Arthur Miller, playwright from New York, became a journalist, worked with Italian immigrants during WWII. Which gave him an outlook Into the Sicilian dreams & inspiration for â€Å"A View From The Bridge. † Miller’s first play flopped, but his second; â€Å"All My Sons† was a massive success. He divorced his first wife in 1961 & married Marilyn Munroe, the reason for this is unknown as apparently they were never really in love & divorced in 1963, it is thought Monroe married him for intelligence & milled married Monroe for beauty, Miller then wrote a play â€Å"After The Fall† that is thought to be based on their relationship. Miller died in 2005. Which other plays has Arthur miller written? Do they have any common themes? â€Å"After The Fall†, â€Å"The Prince†, â€Å"The Archbishop’s Ceiling†, â€Å"The Clock†, â€Å"Broken Glass†, â€Å"All My Sons†, â€Å"Death Of A Salesman†, â€Å"Crucible†. A common theme of Arthur Miller’s play was the examining of an individual in relation to their authority; this means the plays are often considered political. Where is Brooklyn? What was it like in the 1940’s? Who lived & worked there? What sort of environment was it? What’s it like now? Brooklyn is a borough of New York; in the 1940s it had a large Italian population due to the ports near the bridge. Brooklyn was split in two it had the middle class areas such as Flatbush & working class areas like Red Hook, the setting for â€Å"A View The Bridge. † In the mid to late 1940s Brooklyn was enjoying a good period the gang violence was, all though easily noticed, small. As Brooklyn reached the end of the 1940s the borough began a period of decline & by the early 1950s gangsters were ripe & until the 1980s it was classed as a bad place to live. People from all over Europe lived & worked in Brooklyn it also had a large African-American community. Brooklyn now has a safer & cleaner track record with very little gang violence & a large business district the 3rd largest in New York State. Which groups of people immigrated to the United States in the 1940’s? What was life like for them when they arrived? The main groups of people immigrating to the United States in the 1940s were European, particularly Italians & Russians. When they first arrived life would be tough they would usually leave their homelands with nothing & have to find jobs & work quickly so they could live out their own â€Å"American Dream†. Find out as much as you can about Italian-American communities†¦ Which television programmes & films include Italian-American characters? How do they talk? Is this community stereotyped? What values can you identify in this community? The most famous film on Italian-Americans would probably be â€Å"Scarface† a movie based on Italian-American gangster Al Capone, the Italian-American community is stereotyped as a very tight family, which it represents in gangs or mobs, the Italian-American dialect is varied through out Brooklyn, Bugs Bunny has an accent based on the Flatbush dialect. Wikipedia – â€Å"Italian Americans are higher in the rate & degree of the tensing & rising of (oh) & (aeh) than that of Jewish American New Yorkers. † The values of the communities of Italian Americans seem as though they all run everything as a family business, & a tight knit friendship group. What is a ‘tragedy’? Find out the main features or conventions of this type of play. Make sure you go right back to Greek tragedy. A Greek tragedy is a form of art portraying human suffering causing audience pleasure this form has been modernised to usually end a play in a death where all characters end in despair, or worse off than they were at the beginning. Alfieri’s first speech. What have we learnt about the people who live in Red Hook? We have learnt from the opening speech from Alfieri that Red Hook was the slum of Brooklyn & the gullet of New York, Red Hook is portrayed as very violent with no care for the law, but it is now ore civilised & getting better, people are no longer as scared as they were, as Alfieri says: â€Å"I no longer feel the need to keep a gun† It shows Red Hook at one time was extremely intimidating & bad but now much better. Alfieri goes onto mention how his relatives often tell him not to get involved with cases, this shows the Italian-American-tight knit-family-like-ness & how his business seems to be everyone’s business. What does Alfieri mean when he says â€Å"justice is very important† here? When Alfieri says â€Å"justice is very important here† he is using a bit of sarcasm he is commenting on how people do feel justice is important but their own personal justice not the government’s justice. & How people can commit murder believing it is all right because of there own justice. However you feel a sense of irony as he is a lawyer speaking & he is discussing justice that he may well deal with in court. The fact he is a lawyer also shows there is work for lawyers in Red Hook so some sort of governed justice is important. Now the people â€Å"settle for half† instead of using a gun for justice, what does that mean? Alfieri’s comment â€Å"now the people settle for half† is commenting on now that Red Hook has been cleaned up a bit his services a called on more & although it means the person against the allegations may not be killed he will be brought to governed justice & possible face prison. Eddie’s story is not like the ‘petty troubles of the poor. ‘ Why might he come to see Alfieri? Eddie’s story is not like the petty troubles of the poor because we realise through out the book that aside from the immigrants in his house being illegal, they have actually done nothing wrong & although his allegations against Rodolfo being gay are also wrong, it is not illegal to be gay. Alfieri also deals mainly in family squabbles, evictions & compensation cases, but Eddie’s is different because it’s more about jealousy & revenge. A view from a bridge work book. (2017, Oct 08).