MovieChat Forums > Much Ado About Nothing (2013) Discussion > I didn't get the motivation Don John had...

I didn't get the motivation Don John had to instill distrust

posted 11 years ago by fluffy-1
7 replies | jump to latest

I had a huge amount of trouble understanding what the actors said, missing whole lines sometimes; Shakespeare always is like that for me. I won't make that mistake again, but I'm going to be a pill and ask for some explanations.

I wonder why Don John wanted to get the bride in trouble. Did he have an issue with Hero?

And what was going on with the blonde (Conrade) and that young guy when they sat on the bed? I couldn't get one bit of that.

Thank you.

[–] Thomasina 11 years ago

I wonder why Don John wanted to get the bride in trouble. Did he have an issue with Hero?

Don John had just been a soldier on the losing side of a Civil War, and he is the illegitimate brother of Don Pedro, who was on the winning side (this "brother against brother" sort of thing really did happen in the American Civil War). At the start of the play, you see Don Pedro publicly announce that he has forgiven Don John for what happened during the war; however, Don John has not forgiven Don Pedro and still holds a grudge. First, Don John tries to get back at Don Pedro by making Claudio (one of Don Pedro's most-favored officers) think that Don Pedro is trying to "steal" Hero for himself. When that scheme falls through rather quickly, John goes for the more elaborate scheme to ruin Claudio's (and by extension, Don Pedro's) life and reputation by making him believe that Hero is the village bicycle.

And what was going on with the blonde (Conrade) and that young guy when they sat on the bed?

I'm not sure what scene you are talking about? They were probably just planning the scheme that they carry out later.

[–] Thomasina 11 years ago

Furthermore, Don John is a bastard, and therefore subject to all of the Elizabethan Era's attitudes about bastardy. This comes up in Shakespeare's plays relatively often--the idea that bastards are resentful, untrustworthy, and up to no good just because they are bastards. The biggest example I can think of is Edmund, the main character in King Lear:

Thou, Nature, art my goddess; to thy law
My services are bound. Wherefore should I
Stand in the plague of custom, and permit
The curiosity of nations to deprive me,
For that I am some twelve or fourteen moonshines
Lag of a brother? Why bastard? wherefore base?
When my dimensions are as well compact,
My mind as generous, and my shape as true,
As honest madam's issue? Why brand they us
With base? with baseness? bastardy? base, base?
Who, in the lusty stealth of nature, take
More composition and fierce quality
Than doth, within a dull, stale, tired bed,
Go to th' creating a whole tribe of fops
Got 'tween asleep and wake? Well then,
Legitimate Edgar, I must have your land.
Our father's love is to the bastard Edmund
As to th' legitimate. Fine word- 'legitimate'!
Well, my legitimate, if this letter speed,
And my invention thrive, Edmund the base
Shall top th' legitimate. I grow; I prosper.
Now, gods, stand up for bastards!

Another thing to keep in mind about Shakespeare's villains, though, is that sometimes their motivation is solely their villainy, and vice versa.

[–] yankeegirl9 11 years ago

Also, Don John is jealous of Claudio because of his quick rise to military glory and his place as Don Pedro's right hand.

"That young start up hath all the glory of my overthrow;
If I can cross him in any way, I bless myself every way."

And he blames Claudio (at least in part) for his side losing the war. He hates him because he came out on top and has Don Pedro's favor and Don John has nothing so if he gets a chance to screw with him, he's going to take it.

[–] PreachCaleb 11 years ago

Don John specifically mentioned he's a villain and so shall play the part.

He's doing it for the evulz.

Straightedge means I'm better than you.

[–] slmc17 11 years ago

My interpretation of what happened on the bed with conrade and the blonde guy was that while Don John and blondie we're plotting, Don John was pleasuring Conrade with his hand, you could hear her breathing harder and moaning every now and then. He then stopped short as it were and went to carry out the plot. That's when she let blondie out of the room then shut the door and carried on kissing Don John passionately, presumably so they could finish what he started.

I don't know why that bit was in the movie, seemed a little irrelevant, apart from maybe that it showed that Don John uses people as he wishes and moves on when he's ready not when they are!?

[–] ehaslett 11 years ago

Conrade was a male character in the original (all actors were male back in Shakespeare's day, but the character was male too).

However, I think they added the sexual attraction between the female Conrade and Don John to indicate why she was loyal to him.
--Sandi

[–] trinitymplayers 10 years ago

Before the movie came out, I was directing a production of MUCH ADO, and I had at least toyed with the idea of reworking Conrade as a female, only because I was a little short on guys. At it turned out, I did get an extra guy, so I stuck to the original script, but I had toyed with the idea of Conrade (whom I would have redubbed as Conradea, as that would have been the feminine equivalent) as Don John's mistress, and have him deliberately flaunt that to the company as soon as they arrived; which would have added some extra tension to the scene.