It is not a revolutionary statement to say that William Shakespeare wrote some of the greatest plays of all time. This is accepted by everyone, from high school students to experts, as fact. But everyone always asks: what makes them great? Well, at the heart of every great Shakespeare play is a well-written plot. But how can one man produce all these plays he has written, while retaining new content in each of them? Aren’t they all the same story, to some extent? As Lindsay Smith writes: “Many of Shakespeare's plays, like most typical Renaissance plays, are divided into scenes and acts. There are five acts and three to five scenes per act. So his pieces can't be that different, right? This statement will be examined after a closer look at the plots of King Lear and Much Ado About Nothing. There are both similarities and differences in the plots of King Lear and Much Ado About Nothing in the rising action, climax, and resolution. Initially, there are both similarities and differences in the plots of King Lear and Much Ado About Nothing in the rising action. In either case, you don't have much time at first until things start to escalate. Now, before I say anything about the plot of King Lear, I would like to point out that this is a difficult play to follow. Joseph Carroll would agree with this statement. “King Lear is widely considered one of the greatest works of world literature, but also one of the most thought-provoking. The challenge is not just the complexity of the language and the need for notes explaining obsolete terms and expressions – these problems are common to all of William Shakespeare's plays. Instead, King Lear is exceptionally emotionally and imaginatively demanding. That said, the rising stock is...... middle of paper......the biggest name. Its plots are each unique, in their development, climax and resolutions. King Lear and Much Ado About Nothing are excellent examples. They have their similarities, but are very different. Works Cited Carroll, Joseph. “An Evolving Approach to Shakespeare’s King Lear.” Umsl.edu. Np, and Web. January 20, 2014. Lofgren, Urban. “The complexity of the major characters in Shakespeare’s King Lear.” Gupea.ub.gu.se. Np, and Web. January 20, 2014.Schute, Marchette. "Shakespeare's Plots: Summaries of Shakespeare's Stories." Shakespeare's Plots: Summaries of Shakespeare's Stories. Np, and Web. January 20, 2014. Smith, Lindsay. “Much ado about nothing, concept analysis”. Novelinks.org. Np, and Web. January 20, 2014. Zomparelli, Kristen. “Much Ado About Nothing’s Critique of Renaissance Patriarchy.” Digital commons. Np, and Web. January 20. 2014.