RE: Much Ado About Nothing - Forgiveness

Ernst writes:

Quick Response.

As I suggested in my list of comparisons, it may be that "class" has a role to play here. Claudio is, of course, an aristocrat and could, perhaps, be seen as a bit of an "entitled," lazy-brained snob by Leonato and Antonio (who may be predisposed to feel that way about him). He has to be brought low. His regeneration is somewhat ritualistic, which gives it less force than, let us say, than the "bringing low" of Isabella in Measure for Measure or of Lear. Isabella is forced to beg forgiveness for the man who attempted to wrong her and appears to have killed her brother; Lear is reduced to a big hollow O--nothing (the "nothing" from which SOMEthing comes).

Ernst