Much Ado About Nothing
Written: 1598 Texts: Quarto 1600, First Folio 1623 (Comedy)
Source: Ludovico Ariosto (1474-1533). Orlando Furioso (1516)(The English translation by John Harington in 1591); Bandello, Matteo (1485-1561) Novelle (1554-73) 22th story; Edmund Spenser (c.1552-99). The Faerie Queene (1590); Francois de Belleforest (1530-83). Histories Tragiques (1568) Book 3; Whetstone, George The Roke of Regard (1576) – Clauido's rejuction of Hero at her own wedding; Castiglione, Baldassare (1478-1529) The Book of the Courtier (1528)
Characters: Leonato, Claudio, Don Pedro, Benedick, Hero, Beatrice, Friar Francis, Dogberry, Don John, Borachio, Antonio, Ursala
Setting: Messina
Time: Undetermined
Xxx xxx
Notes on Much Ado About Nothing
Beatrice’s Sonnet
Read the NoteBeatrice closes Act 3 scene 1 of Much Ado About Nothing, speaking a sonnet.* Shakespeare occasionally used sonnets in his plays, for example, in Romeo and Juliet and Richard III, which were examined in previous essays. He didn’t insert these sonnets arbitrarily. He intended to achieve effects,
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Appearance and Deception
Read the NoteA recurring theme in many of Shakespeare’s plays, and central to Much Ado About Nothing, explores how easily people are deceived not just by the false testimony of others but even by their own senses. Claudio, believing he was deceived by Don John, learned to place no trust in the words of others. With “Let every eye negotiate for itself,”
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Friars, Friends and Deceivers
Read the NoteFriar Francis in Much Ado About Nothing (4.1.221), like Friar Lawrence in Romeo and Juliet, is a sympathetic character who aids the romantic interests of the young lovers. Both friars fashion a conspiracy whose central conceit is the fake death of the lady. Friars fare better than the Catholic hierarchy in Shakespeare’s plays, even though the friars are as devious in their means as cardinals and archbishops.
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Quotes from Much Ado About Nothing
I learn in this letter that Don Pedro of Aragon comes this night to Messina
Read the QuoteLeonato, with a letter
I learn in this letter that Don
Pedro of Aragon comes this night to Messina.
Messenger
He is very near by this. He was not three
leagues off when I left him.
He hath borne himself beyond the promise of his age,
doing in the figure of a lamb the feats of a lion.
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Faith, niece, you tax Signior Benedick too much
Read the QuoteLeonato
Faith, niece, you tax Signior Benedick too
much, but he’ll be meet with you, I doubt it not.
Messenger
He hath done good service, lady, in these wars.
Beatrice
You had musty victual, and he hath holp to
eat it. He is a very valiant trencherman; he hath an
excellent stomach.
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Good Signior Leonato, are you come to meet your trouble?
Read the QuotePrince
Good Signior Leonato, are you come to meet
your trouble? The fashion of the world is to avoid
cost, and you encounter it.
Leonato
Never came trouble to my house in the
likeness of your Grace, for trouble being gone,
comfort should remain, but when you depart from
me, sorrow abides and happiness takes his leave.
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Benedick, didst thou note the daughter of Signior Leonato?
Read the QuoteClaudio
Benedick, didst thou note the daughter of
Signior Leonato?
Benedick
I noted her not, but I looked on her.
Claudio
Is she not a modest young lady?
Why, i’ faith, methinks she’s too low for a
high praise, too brown for a fair praise, and too
little for a great praise
Benedick
Do you question me as an honest man
should do,
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What secret hath held you here that you followed not to Leonato’s?
Read the QuotePrince
What secret hath held you here that you followed
not to Leonato’s?
Benedick
I would your Grace would constrain me to tell.
Prince
I charge thee on thy allegiance.
I shall see thee, ere I die, look pale with love.
Benedick
You hear, Count Claudio,
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What the goodyear, my lord, why are you thus out of measure sad?
Read the QuoteConrade
What the goodyear, my lord, why are you
thus out of measure sad?
Don John
There is no measure in the occasion that
breeds. Therefore the sadness is without limit.
In this, though I cannot be said to be
a flattering honest man, it must not be
denied but I am a plain-dealing villain.
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By my troth, niece, thou wilt never get thee a husband
Read the QuoteLeonato
By my troth, niece, thou wilt never get thee a
husband if thou be so shrewd of thy tongue.
Leonato’s Brother
In faith, she’s too curst.
Beatrice
Too curst is more than curst. I shall lessen God’s sending
that way, for it is said “God sends a curst cow short horns,”
but to a cow too curst,
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The revelers are entering, brother
Read the QuoteLeonato
The revelers are entering, brother. Make good room.
Leonato and his brother step aside.
Enter, with a Drum, Prince Pedro, Claudio and Benedick, Signior Antonio,
and Balthasar, all in masks, with Borachio and Don John.
Prince, to Hero
Lady, will you walk a bout with your friend?
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Thus answer I in name of Benedick
Read the QuoteClaudio, unmasking
Thus answer I in name of Benedick,
But hear these ill news with the ears of Claudio.
’Tis certain so. The Prince woos for himself.
Friendship is constant in all other things
Save in the office and affairs of love.
Friendship is constant in all other things
Save in the office and affairs of love.
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Come, will you go with me?
Read the QuoteBenedick
Come, will you go with me?
Claudio
Whither?
Benedick
Even to the next willow, about your own business,
county. What fashion will you wear the garland of?
About your neck like a usurer’s chain? Or under your
arm like a lieutenant’s scarf? You must wear it one way,
for the Prince hath got your Hero.
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