Theme of Much Ado About Nothing
Manipulation is Powerful
Famous Quote
"Love comes when manipulation stops; when you think more about the the other person than about his or her reactions to you, when you dare to reveal yourself fully, and when you dare to be vulnerable."
~Dr. Joyce Brothers
This quote shows manipulation because it states that love begins when manipulation stops, so there was previously manipulation involved.
Book Quote
"Benedick: By this hand, I love thee.
Beatrice: Use it for my love some other way than swearing it"
This quote shows manipulation because she is using his love for her own personal gain.
Comparing to Other Works
We can compare the theme of Much Ado About Nothing to The Lion King. Although they are quite different in style, they have a very similar work with manipulation. In The Lion King, the character, Scar, manipulates Simba, into leaving the kingdom, once his father dies, so he may rule. In Much Ado About Nothing Borachio manipulates Margaret into helping them so Don John can wreak havoc. The difference would be the overall intentions of the two manipulators. Don John only wished to mess around with everyone, while Scar actually wanted to hurt people and take over a large portion of land.
Application
The theme, manipulation is power, can teach us many things. One being to extra careful not to be taken advantage of or manipulated. Another is to be there for other people and watch out for them to make sure they aren't manipulated themselves. Something else we can learn from this theme is that manipulation being powerful can be good and helpful and at the same time quite dangerous.