Much Ado about Nothing focuses on the emotional development of two relationships that endure various levels of deception. Although both couples marry at the end of the play, the deception that occurs during the play exploits the emotional instability of Benedick and Claudio: “One deception...
William Shakespeare’s Much Ado about Nothing, brimming with metaphors and figurative clowning walks the line of comedy and tragedy. As Shakespeare flexes his exemplary wit which brands his work as so signature and formulaic; he brings probably the most memorable characters in the play; Beatrice...
“Though those that are betrayed Do feel the treason sharply, yet the traitor Stands in worse case of woe” (Cymbeline, III.iv). Shakespeare’s carefully crafted world of deception and trickery within Much Ado About Nothing thrives on deceitful characters-both malicious and virtuous-whose manipulation of information affords...
A central theme in “Much Ado about Nothing” is that of the literary tradition of a heroine within the social conventions surrounding women. The literary tradition of the time (and indeed, in many cases, up to the present day) bestows the conventional heroine with beauty,...
Much Ado About Nothing is a play filled with deception, love and most importantly lies. Throughout the play, Shakespeare creates scenes where misunderstandings and lies help develop and destroy relationships and characters. The couples are influenced by the efforts of others to find their love...
In a play that so clearly focuses on the conflict between reason and emotion, it is a relief to find that the parallels so often drawn between these traits and men and women have been discarded. In Much Ado About Nothing Shakespeare has turned the...
At first glance, the reader is not likely to notice the immediate clue which presents itself in the title of William Shakespeare’s comedy, Much Ado About Nothing. If one, however, would follow the example of a Shakespearean player in Elizabethan times and pronounce the word...
Although set in Messina, Italy, the conventions in Much Ado About Nothing are those of Elizabethan England, where marriage was seen as a business transaction and family stability was vital. This idea is explored through the fate of Hero, who has little say in who...
Many characters in Shakespeare’s plays disguise themselves in one way or another. An important component of many of the his plays is the masked revels. A character adopting a new outward persona is not at all unusual. This use of contrasting the apparent versus the...
Dogberry is a secondary character found in William Shakespeare’s comedic yet dark play Much Ado About Nothing. His character may be easy to overlook along with his comedic blubbering as simply another method of Shakespeare’s to provide relief in a play that rolls downhill as...
Subtext is the underlying idea or meaning, conveyed by a playwright without being explicitly state in order to a more thorough understanding of the themes of the play and the characters’ motivations. In Arthur Miller’s dramatic play The Crucible and William Shakespeare’s comedy Much Ado...
Don Pedro is a very important character within Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare, both within his own right and in terms of how he draws Shakespeare’s other characters together. Often referred to as “the Prince” from Aragon (“No Fear”), Don Pedro seems intelligent,...
Although considered light and delightful entertainment, Shakespeare’s plays of comedy often address serious issues confronting Elizabethan values of propriety and social decorum. Anti-Semitism, death and homosexuality are frequent themes woven in his plays and the latter is addressed in Much Ado About Nothing and The...
In Much Ado About Nothing, love is fickle and volatile. Several pairs of characters fall in and out of love at nearly a moment’s notice and a few accept their emotions without question. Many complex events cause these sudden emotional changes to come about. Each...
Much Ado about Nothing is written by the most influential literature writer, William Shakespeare, and considered as one of Shakespeare’s best comedies. Even though this play is considered as a comedic play, but some readers consider this play as a tragic play too. That means...
Elizabethan men are not entirely different from some modern men, especially when it comes to their views on marriage, love, and sex. Many men still continue the double standard of expecting their partners to be virginal while they themselves are free to be sexually experienced....
Shakespeare’s light-hearted ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ explores both the triumph and tragedy which presents itself in the love of Hero and Claudio, using the latter as an easily deceived character whose errors almost culminate in a tragic ending to the play. Claudio’s character is presented...
Throughout the span of the comedies, Shakespeare allows his female characters to establish a greater amount of independence and freedom than they would have actually been allowed for the time period. This freedom is not necessarily a feminist action on Shakespeare’s part, but mainly serves...
In four of Shakespeare’s plays, he introduces a character who is illegitimate. Philip Faulconbridge, Don John, Thersites, and Edmund are all children who were born out of wedlock. Also, all four characters were antagonists, if not the main antagonists, of the plays. In Much Ado...
The world presented in Much Ado About Nothing is populated mostly by noble characters: The Prince of Aragon, Lord Claudio, Lord Benedick, The Governor of Messina and his daughter and niece. These characters embody the courtly ideas of social grace and wit, qualities that drive...
A recurring theme, especially in Shakespeare’s comedies, is love and marriage. Shakespeare often revealed the culture and society of his day and how it was changing within his plays. In Shakespeare’s day, love was still an insignificant factor when it came to marriage. For the...
Benedick, Beatrice, Don Pedro, Don John, Claudio, Leonato, Antonio, Balthasar, Borachio, Conrade, Innogen, Hero, Margaret, Ursula, Dogberry, Verges, Friar Francis
Date and Author
1598-1599, by William Shakespeare
Genre
Comedy
Plot
The play revolves around two romantic pairings that emerge when a group of soldiers arrive in the town. The first, between Claudio and Hero, is nearly altered by the accusations of the villain, Don John. The second romance, between Claudio's friend Benedick and Hero's cousin Beatrice, takes centre stage as the play goes on, with both characters' wit and banter providing much of the humour. Through "noting" (sounding like "nothing", and meaning gossip, rumour, overhearing), Benedick and Beatrice are tricked into confessing their love for each other, and Claudio is tricked into believing that Hero is not a maiden (virgin).
Theme
The play takes an ancient theme — that of a woman falsely accused of unfaithfulness — to brilliant comedic heights. Other important themes include gender roles, infidelity, deception, masks and mistaken identity, "nothing",
Characters
Benedick, Beatrice, Don Pedro, Don John, Claudio, Leonato, Antonio, Balthasar, Borachio, Conrade, Innogen, Hero, Margaret, Ursula, Dogberry, Verges, Friar Francis
Based on
Shakespeare used as his main source for the Claudio-Hero plot a story from Matteo Bandello’s Novelle (1554–73); he also may have consulted Ludovico Ariosto’s Orlando furioso and Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene. The Beatrice-Benedick plot is essentially Shakespeare’s own, though he must have had in mind his own story of wife taming in The Taming of the Shrew.
Quotes
“I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow, than a man swear he loves me.”
“Let me be that I am and seek not to alter me.”
“Some Cupid kills with arrows, some with traps.”
“For which of my bad parts didst thou first fall in love with me?”