1. Select the love story that you feel is the play’s main plot. Explain why you have chosen it. Describe the main plot completely. Explain the role of the other love story. 2. List all the “pairs” you can identify in the play — for example, pairs of lovers, pairs […]

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Introduction Watching a good performance of a play brings much to its audience that cannot be experienced by reading the play. For example, the playgoer sees real people with their individual expressions and mannerisms, and in costumes and settings intended to highlight their actions. If the viewer doesn’t understand every […]

Read more Critical Essays Introduction to the 1993 Film Much Ado About Nothing

The word “nothing” in the play’s title has always been the subject of speculation. No one knows if Shakespeare chose the word “nothing” with the intention of being ambiguous. In Elizabethan common dialect, “nothing” was pronounced much like “noting,” thus allowing the word to be a homonym (a sound-alike word) […]

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Introduction It’s remarkable to realize that Much Ado About Nothing was written four centuries ago in the England of Queen Elizabeth I. Across the Atlantic, the first English colony at Roanoke Island had disappeared several years earlier, and the first permanent English colony at Jamestown was still several years ahead. […]

Read more Critical Essays Language and Literary Style of Much Ado About Nothing

Many books have assembled facts, reasonable suppositions, traditions, and speculations concerning the life and career of William Shakespeare. Taken as a whole, these materials give a rather comprehensive picture of England’s foremost dramatic poet. Tradition and sober supposition are not necessarily false because they lack proved bases for their existence. […]

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Dogberry begins by being an object of ridicule and ends up the same way (“You are an ass!”). His men discover the deception by Don John — through their noting — but the deception is finally brought to full exposure in spite of Dogberry’s efforts rather than because of them. […]

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Leonato is at the center of events from beginning to end. After the formal welcome of Don Pedro, we tend to forget that Leonato is the governor of Messina, at least until he is asked to consider the fate of Dogberry’s prisoners. Leonato lets himself be guided rather easily by […]

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By his very position in Don Pedro’s household, Don John recognizes that he is a “second-class citizen.” When he is unsuccessful at gaining recognition through military battle with his brother, he turns his discontent toward conspiracies to hurt those he envies — his brother and Claudio, for example. When Claudio’s […]

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At the beginning of the play, one could imagine that Don Pedro might dominate the play’s action. He seems to enjoy being in charge, probably as a carryover from his role as prince and military leader. He not only supports Claudio’s bid for Hero’s hand, but he offers to help […]

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Claudio is less of a foil for Benedick than Hero is for Beatrice, but Claudio’s conventionality, his immaturity, and his compliant behavior contrast sharply with Benedick’s independent spirit, his jaded opinions about women, and his sense of humor. The reader/playgoer who loses patience with Claudio is glad to find a […]

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