Shakespeare - Much Ado About Nothing

"Much Ado About Nothing is just another well written 19th century play by William Shakespeare."


"I did not like this book very much. There was a lot of conflict between characters."


"I really didn't get what they were saying (I doubt people actually said stuff like that)"


"Shakespeare wrote some amazing tragedies, but his comedies are basically twee, glorified rom-coms, written for the 'You've Got Mail' and 'Must Love Dogs' demographic as it existed in the 17th century. Absoultely nauseating."


"Let's face it, there aren't too many of Shakespeare's females who kick ass. Yes, we all can name the four or five that don't quite suck (Kat, Portia, Viola, Emilia, etc) but good strong feminine characters were not, it seems, the bard's strong suit. So as you wade through the whiny, conniving, helpless throngs of man worshipping wenches that appear in nearly all Shakespeare plays, it can be tempting to just give up looking for redemption."


"This is the first Shakespearean play I've read outside of an English class and its the first time I've realized why we read Shakespearean plays in English class - they're so damn obvious once you get past the frilly olde English.

Shakespeare's characters explicitly tell the reader the themes of the play in the first act or so. There's little complexity to be unraveled.

Sure there are story twists and surprise encounters, but nothing that challenges your expectations or introduces new ideas. The twists and turns are shallow at best and more akin to those of a soap opera than a great novel.
...
American schools should not rely on Shakespeare as much as they do. Sure its nice to introduce students to his creative use of language but how much will they really learn from the stories?

American students would be much better prepared for college and life were they exposed to books on great ideas. I'm talking about Plato, Ayn Rand, Asimov, Frank Herbert, and all the other great authors who base their books in ideas."