MovieChat Forums > Much Ado About Nothing (1993) Discussion > questions

questions

posted 12 years ago by KAnnD86
5 replies | jump to latest

I never read the play, but I did watch this movie last night and I've got a few questions. It was Margaret who was having sex with that guy in an open window, was that ever revealed? And why was it okay for her? Who was the guy? It's weird that there were no repercussions for that while Hero was to be murdered for the same "crime."

Also, the way that she was totally forgiving of Claudio for making that accusation during their wedding ceremony, basically sentencing her to death, was pretty weird. I'm curious how much of the story comes directly from the original play and what was creative license. I was curious last night and looked up the play and it seemed really bare-bones, barely any description of location, only dialogue. So different scenes on end took place at some guy's house, there was no context. I get that this was originally performed on a stage, so there is more freedom in a movie, but I wonder what was made up/embellished and what was directly from the original material.

Overall, it was pretty cute. A lot of recognizable actors.

Tomorrow's just your future yesterday!

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] KAnnD86 12 years ago

Oh so they only cared about sex if it was adultery? Or if the woman was of low social standing?

Tomorrow's just your future yesterday!

[–] geekamicus 12 years ago

Margaret was a servant, not a noblewoman like Hero. As with many historical societies, the upper classes had different rules of good behavior than the lower classes. It was not necessarily expected of Margaret to stay away from men until her wedding night. So, the fact that a servant was "talking out the window" with Borachio, a slave, was not really the problem of Leonato and at the end, he forgives her because what happened to Hero was not her fault.

Upper class women were often a commodity to be bartered for lands or power or military alliance. They were expected to marry within their class or above and were also usually expected to produce an heir for their husbands even if he was considerably older. This meant that it was very important to make sure that the child was really the child of the husband and not someone she had been with before the wedding. If Hero was no longer a virgin, she had lost her value to her father as a barter tool or to her potential husband as mother to his heir. Historically, a woman had little control over her potential marriage and meeting the groom before the ceremony was optional. "Spoiled" women might become social outcasts if a marriage with a forgiving man was not arranged to cover any scandal.

Watch Lydia's subplot in Pride & Prejudice to see what a family might have gone through to make sure a daughter was not ostracized for being with a man before her wedding.

[–] KAnnD86 12 years ago

Thank you for the explanation.

Tomorrow's just your future yesterday!

[–] johandav 11 years ago

Yes, it was revealed that it was Margaret having sex with the guy in the window, in the movie. In the play, of course, nothing is seen or heard by us - only (offstage) by Claudio, Don Pedro and Don John.

You reference a couple of times that Hero was to be murdered or sentenced to death . . . sorry, that's not in the film AT ALL. Claudio didn't want to marry her since she was thought to no longer be a virgin, and in fact was thought to be wanton. They had thought that she had died of shame that her sins were revealed, it's not like there was any thought that she should be killed for it.

As another poster said, the fact that Margaret was of another class might explain why it might be more acceptable for her to be engaging in pre-marital sex. Probably still scandalous, but she had much less status to be lost by the act.

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