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    A Study Guide for William Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing"
    A Study Guide for William Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing"
    A Study Guide for William Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing"
    Ebook61 pages48 minutes

    A Study Guide for William Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing"

    By Gale and Cengage

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    About this ebook

    A Study Guide for William Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Shakespeare for Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Shakespeare for Students for all of your research needs.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCengage Learning - Gale
    Release dateSep 20, 2016
    ISBN9781535829021
    A Study Guide for William Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing"

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      Book preview

      A Study Guide for William Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing" - Gale

      1

      Much Ado about Nothing

      William Shakespeare

      1598

      Introduction

      Shakespeare's play Much Ado about Nothing has been described as a comedy which, despite its surface gaiety and occasional slapstick comedy, is also serious and even profound in its implications. It has also been considered an enjoyable but problematic play. Assessments of it have varied, but most commentators agree that Much Ado about Nothing is a comedy of manners—a play that gently pokes fun at the manners and conventions of an aristocratic, highly sophisticated society. True to this form, Much Ado about Nothing features the war of the sexes, instances of eavesdropping, mistaken identities, misunderstood communications, and a tangle of subplots all ending in the pairing off of marriageable couples, the downfall of a scheming villain, and the happiness of a wedding dance. Many readers of Shakespeare's works today would probably agree that Much Ado about Nothing is one of the foremost comedies of manners in Western literature, one that speaks with wisdom about humanity.

      Scholars agree that Much Ado about Nothing was written and first performed sometime between late 1598 and 1599. An entry in the Stationer's Register, dated August 4, 1600, includes a reference to the play, ordering that it not be published. Critics have offered several explanations for this entry in the Register, with some maintaining that it reflects official censorship or Puritan pressure, and others stating that it was merely an attempt on the part of the Lord Chamberlain's Men (an acting company with which Shakespeare was associated) to prevent a pirated edition of Much Ado about Nothing from being published.

      In any case, evidence indicates that Much Ado about Nothing enjoyed considerable popularity during Shakespeare's day and throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. But it was not until late in the seventeenth century and early into the next century that true critical assessments first appeared. In the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, critics identified Ludovico Ariosto's Italian Renaissance epic poem Orlando Furioso (1516) as one of Much Ado about Nothing's principal sources. These early critics also introduced several thematic and technical issues—questions regarding how true to life the characters' words and actions are, as well as examinations of Shakespeare's use of language—that were to become very important in later studies of the comedy. As for other sources for Much Ado about Nothing, the dramatist borrowed from a story in Matteo Bandello's collection of tales, La prima parte de le novella (1554), which Shakespeare knew both in Italian and in French. In Much Ado about Nothing, Shakespeare tightened the action for dramatic effect, drawing in elements from Ariosto's version of the tale, along with some hints from Edmund Spenser's Faerie Queene (1590), a major influence on Elizabethan writers.

      The language of Much Ado about Nothing is accessible even for modern audiences, except for that of Dogberry, the comical Constable. But then, Dogberry probably was hard to understand even in his times. Dogberry lives in a world of his own, while the topic of conversation among the other characters focuses on various aspects of love and relationships, which translates well into any culture of any century. Shakespeare's genius is the understanding of human psychology which, despite all the advances in other fields, remains fairly constant throughout the years, making Much Ado about Nothing as relevant today as it will be tomorrow.

      Plot Summary

      Act 1, Scene 1

      Much Ado about Nothing opens in Messina, Italy. Leonato, the governor of the town, is with his daughter Hero, and Beatrice, his niece. A messenger arrives, telling Leonato that Don Pedro, Prince of Aragon, an old friend of the governor's, is coming back from an unnamed war. With Don Pedro is Count Claudio, a young lord from Florence. Signior Benedick of Padua is also in the group of returning soldiers.

      When Beatrice hears the name of Benedick, she mocks him and everything the messenger says about Benedick. Leonato explains that there is a war of wits between his niece and Benedick.

      The prince enters with his men and greets Leonato. Benedick and Beatrice exchange witty barbs, not wasting any

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