“For I love thee against my will”. From Comicality to Humorousness in “Much Ado About Nothing”

  • Rosanna Camerlingo University of Perugia
DOI: https://doi.org/10.6093/sigma.v0i3.6587
Keywords: Shakespeare, Much Ado about Nothing, fool, anti-courtesy comedy

Abstract

In Much Ado About Nothing, one of his most brilliant comedies, Shakespeare mocks and attacks the amorous language used by the aristocracy during the painful process of civilization (N. Elias) that the emergence of European courts demanded. The “war of love” engaged by two among the most popular and witty Shakespearean characters stages the resistance of a warlike aristocracy to give up part of its own power and to surrender to the authority of the sovereign. Given to two character-fools, however, the critique of political obedience is articulated in the form of a comical as well as sparkling spat that allows Shakespeare to elevate the comedy to humoristic and painful acknowledgement of court discipline.     

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Author Biography

Rosanna Camerlingo, University of Perugia

Rosanna Camerlingo is a professor of English at the Department of Lettere at the University of Perugia. She obtained a PhD in Comparative Literature at the New York University and was twice fellow of the Italian Academy at Columbia University. She teaches and studies European Renaissance with an emphasis on the relationship between literature, religion, political thinking, and philosophy. She has written extensively on the relationship between Shakespeare, Marlowe, Bruno and Machiavelli. (Teatro e Teologia. Marlowe, Bruno e i Puritani,1999; Crimini e Peccati: la confessione al tempo di Amleto, 2015).

Published
2019-12-27
How to Cite
CamerlingoR. (2019). “For I love thee against my will”. From Comicality to Humorousness in “Much Ado About Nothing”. SigMa - Rivista Di Letterature Comparate, Teatro E Arti Dello Spettacolo, (3), 515-535. https://doi.org/10.6093/sigma.v0i3.6587
Issue
No 3 (2019): The forms and the days. Representations of everyday life in literature, audiovisual, visual and performing arts
Section
Monographic section II

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