much ado about nothing essay questions pdf

Much Ado About Nothing

By william shakespeare, much ado about nothing essay questions.

Who is the protagonist of the play?

Much Ado About Nothing is a unique play in that there is no real discernible protagonist. That the younger characters are so naive about their approach to love makes them difficult to root for, while the older and wiser characters are not without their own faults. The most likely candidate for the play's protagonist is Hero, as she is innocent in her behavior and wrongly accused of infidelity, an accusation that eventually destroys her reputation. Hero's image is restored at the end of the play when it is revealed that she was innocent all along. In many ways, Hero is a protagonist because she is a casualty of other characters' (especially Claudio) overvaluation of reputation as truth.

What elements of the play make Much Ado About Nothing a comedy?

Much Ado About Nothing was originally published and continues to be included among Shakespeare's comedies, and with good reason. In many ways it is a textbook comic play, featuring comic conventions like irony, wordplay, and playful deception. While Don John's plot to destroy Hero's reputation borders on the darker side of traditional comic plots, the end of the play – in which Hero's reputation is restored and she and Claudio are once again betrothed – subscribes to the typical comic ending of at least one marriage. In this case, another marriage – that between Beatrice and Benedick – contributes even more evidence to the classification of the play as a comedy.

How does the courtship between Hero and Claudio compare to that between Beatrice and Benedick?

The play establishes the romances between Hero and Claudio and Beatrice and Benedick as foils for one another, as they both feature young lovers who wind up married by the play's end. However, the two courtships are vastly different: Claudio's pursuit of Hero is rather by-the-book, rife with formalities and ceremony (a fact that has led some to question the true depth of Claudio's purported love for Hero). By contrast, the love between Benedick and Beatrice begins as detestation and conflict as they quarrel with one another until their friends step in to help them realize their true feelings. The latter relationship is therefore portrayed as more organic and true, especially considering Claudio's willingness to abandon Hero based on rumor and reputation alone.

How do lies and deceit factor into the development of the plot?

One of the central themes of the play is deception, which many characters attempt to use to their advantage. The earliest form of deception appears between Beatrice and Benedick, who hide their affection for one another through insults and quarrels. Then, Don John stages a malicious plot of deception when he stages the sexual encounter between Borachio and Margaret and blames it on Hero. Finally, Leonato and Beatrice deceive Claudio when they clear Hero's reputation but allow Claudio to believe she is dead. Deception is a common convention of early modern comedy which often leads to hijinks and misunderstanding. However, in Much Ado , characters' deceptive propensities are exactly what usher in the play's more tragic elements.

Is Claudio a hero or a villain in the play?

On the surface, Claudio can be interpreted as a protagonist of the play: he is a skilled soldier who falls in love with Hero, pursues her according to custom, renounces his affection when she is (allegedly) caught cheating, and restores his love when she is proven innocent of the accusations. However, a deeper reading of the play suggests that Claudio himself possesses some unsavory attributes. His affection for Hero changes according to her reputation, showcasing how easily Claudio is swayed by popular opinion and public image. His pursuit of Hero is also suspect, as it is often performative, based on formalities rather than natural affection. While readers may not perceive Claudio as the villain of the play per se (that title goes to Don John), his approach to love is markedly pompous and amateurish.

Much Ado About Nothing Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Much Ado About Nothing is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

When Don Pedro talks with Hero, are we certain he woos her for Claudio, and not himself

The audience is meant to consider this but when Don Pedro comes in along with Hero and Leonato, Benedick learns that Don Pedro has been true to his word: he has courted and won Hero for Claudio, not for himself, just as he promised.

What is Don John's current plan? (Act i, scene iii)

Borachio, another friend of Don John, arrives and informs Don John that he has overheard his brother and Claudio plotting a marriage with Hero. He hid behind a wall hanging and listened to them discuss how Don Pedro would woo Hero and then give...

What important contrast is made at the beginning of this scene?

Beatrice is one of the most pleasant characters because of her wit and sharp tongue. However, the audience soon realizes that she is so witty because she is on track to be a true spinster. While her wit should be a sought after trait, men find her...

Study Guide for Much Ado About Nothing

Much Ado About Nothing study guide contains a biography of William Shakespeare, literature essays, a complete e-text, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

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Essays for Much Ado About Nothing

Much Ado About Nothing literature essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Much Ado About Nothing.

• Shakespeare and Homosociality: Defying Elizabethan Comformity
• Note Notes, Forsooth, And Nothing: Themes in Much Ado About Nothing
• Man Is a Giddy Thing
• Don John as a Threat to Comedy in Much Ado About Nothing
• To Be and Not To Seem in Much Ado About Nothing

Lesson Plan for Much Ado About Nothing

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E-Text of Much Ado About Nothing

Much Ado About Nothing E-Text contains the full text of Much Ado About Nothing

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Much Ado About Nothing

William shakespeare, ask litcharts ai: the answer to your questions.

Welcome to the LitCharts study guide on William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing . Created by the original team behind SparkNotes, LitCharts are the world's best literature guides.

Much Ado About Nothing: Introduction

Much ado about nothing: plot summary, much ado about nothing: detailed summary & analysis, much ado about nothing: themes, much ado about nothing: quotes, much ado about nothing: characters, much ado about nothing: symbols, much ado about nothing: literary devices, much ado about nothing: quizzes, much ado about nothing: theme wheel, brief biography of william shakespeare.

Historical Context of Much Ado About Nothing

Other books related to much ado about nothing.

• Full Title: Much Ado About Nothing
• When Written: 1598-1599
• Where Written: England
• When Published: 1623
• Literary Period: Elizabethan
• Genre: Comedy
• Setting: Messina, Italy in the 16th Century
• Climax: At the altar, Claudio publicly accuses Hero of unfaithfulness, sending her into a swoon.
• Antagonist: Don John

Extra Credit for Much Ado About Nothing

Masks and Recognition. Masked balls and disguises are common in Shakespeare. During such balls, characters sometimes have trouble recognizing even their closest friends and relatives. Critics who believe in verisimilitude —the idea that a fictional story should be believable—have sometimes criticized Shakespeare because of this. The famous Russian writer Leo Tolstoy, for instance, found it completely ridiculous that characters in Shakespeare fail to recognize even each other’s voices when in disguise.

Bastards. In the Renaissance, children born out of wedlock were often considered to be naturally evil. Sir John Fortescue wrote that “If a bastard be good, that commeth to him by chance… but if hee bee evill, that commethe to hym by nature.” The evil bastard is a common character in Shakespeare and Renaissance Drama in general, and Don John is only one example—Edmund, in Shakespeare’s King Lear , is another.

Much Ado About Nothing

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Discussion Questions

Write a scene from Beatrice and Benedick’s backstory. What do you think happened between them the first time they fell in love? Draw evidence from their dialogue in Acts I and II to reconstruct their original love affair.

Don Pedro is an enigmatic figure. He is involved in the action of the plot, but also ends the play “sad” and alone. Imagine that you are playing the part of Don Pedro in a production of Much Ado About Nothing , and write an analysis of his character that explains his behavior. Why, for instance, does he offer to woo Hero for Claudio? How sincere is his proposal to Beatrice?

Why might Shakespeare have written Don John as such a broad, cartoonish villain? What purpose does his scheming serve, and how would the play work differently if he were a more rounded character? How does he compare to Borachio, who helps with his schemes but also feels guilt and regret?

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A Summary and Analysis of William Shakespeare’s Much Ado about Nothing

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

Much Ado about Nothing is one of Shakespeare’s finest and best-loved comedies. With the battle of wits between Beatrice and Benedick and the plot involving young lovers Claudio and Hero, the play touches upon sexual jealousy, trust, and the importance of separating illusion from reality, among other prominent themes. Before we offer some words of analysis of Much Ado about Nothing , it might be worth briefly recapping the plot of the play.

Much Ado about Nothing : plot summary

At the centre of Much Ado about Nothing are two couples: Beatrice and Benedick and their friends, Hero and Claudio. The play takes place in Messina on the Italian island of Sicily.

Don Pedro has defeated his evil brother Don John in battle, but has allowed him to live and has pardoned him. However, Don John is jealous of his brother and his brother’s friends and followers, and seeks to cause trouble. The play opens with Don Pedro being welcomed to Messina by Leonato, the governor of Sicily.

Claudio, a young friend of Don Pedro, takes a shine to a beautiful young woman, Hero. Don Pedro woos Hero for Claudio, and Claudio and Hero arrange to be married. Don John sets about trying to drive division between the happy couple.

While Claudio and Hero are finding love, Claudio’s friend Benedick and Hero’s friend Beatrice are engaged in a battle of wits, insulting each other in public and trying to give the impression that they cannot stand each other. However, their friends see through this and realise – even if Beatrice and Benedick aren’t fully aware of it themselves – that they are only pretending to hate each other because, deep down, they fancy each other.

At a masked ball, Don Pedro, Claudio, and Hero therefore decide to trick Beatrice and Benedick into falling for each other. Meanwhile, Don John hatches a plan to drive a wedge between Claudio and Hero. He gets his henchman Borachio to woo Hero’s gentlewoman, Margaret, on hero’s balcony, with Margaret made up to look like Hero. Don John then makes sure that Claudio witnesses this, so the young lover is convinced his wife-to-be is unfaithful.

At Claudio and Hero’s wedding, Claudio denounces his bride as unfaithful, and she faints in shock at being (falsely) accused. Leonato tells everyone to pretend that Hero is dead. Benedick, having been gulled by his friends into thinking Beatrice secretly loves him, declares his love for her, and she reciprocates. But she tells him to prove his love by killing Claudio, for what he has done to her friend, Hero.

Meanwhile, Borachio’s big mouth gets him into trouble: the local constable of the night watch, Dogberry (whose speech is marked by comical malapropisms), overhears him boasting about Don John’s scheme and arrests him. Dogberry and his sidekick, Verges, reveal Borachio’s – and, by association, Don John’s – guilt, just after Benedick has challenged Claudio to a duel.

Claudio, realising he unjustly denounced the innocent Hero, agrees, as penance, to marry Leonato’s niece (whom conveniently no one has seen before). When she is brought out for the wedding, she is revealed to be Hero, alive and well. They marry, everyone celebrates, Don John is punished, and Beatrice and Benedick appear to be finally overcoming their verbal chafing and will get together.

Much Ado about Nothing : analysis

Let’s begin with the title of Shakespeare’s comedy: Much Ado about Nothing . It’s well-known that ‘nothing’ was Elizabethan slang for the female genitals, so Shakespeare’s title is, on one level, a bawdy pun: the whole play is a load of fuss over sex.

This is certainly true of many Shakespeare comedies, where lust and love uneasily coexist: Claudio’s attraction to Hero is a result of her beauty, rather than anything deeper, and as soon as he suspects her virginity is non-existent (or has been reduced to ‘nothing’) – a suspicion he is suspiciously quick to adopt – he denounces her vehemently in public at what should have been their wedding.

By contrast, Benedick (his own name can perhaps be translated into another dirty pun, i.e. ‘well-dicked’ or well-endowed?) actively seeks to de- sex or unsex Beatrice as a woman, showing how plot and subplot work together, as Shakespeare uses the second, and secondary, romantic couple to offset but also complement the qualities found in the primary couple of Claudio and Hero.

There’s a paradox at work here, though, for in doing his best to undermine Beatrice’s eligibility as wife material, he is actually, unbeknownst to himself (or perhaps only partly beknownst), highlighting or even elevating her suitability as a mate for himself. Her ability to keep up with his witty putdowns confirms that she is easily a match for him, not only as a verbal sparring partner but as a partner in the broader romantic sense.

People don’t go and see revivals of Much Ado about Nothing for Claudio and Hero, but for Beatrice and Benedick and their flyting-as-flirting.

Indeed, the title Much Ado about Nothing is also thought to hide another pun, on the word ‘noting’, which referred to the sort of banter or repartee which Beatrice and Benedick engage in.

Whilst we’re delving into the wordplay and verbal significance of titles and names, it’s worth mentioning that ‘Benedick’ also summons benediction or blessing, while ‘Beatrice’ means ‘blessed’, showing that the two are etymologically as well as literally made for each other. Although since ‘Beatrice’ is sometimes taken to mean ‘one who makes [somebody] blessed’, we might ask, of the two of them, who is the benefactor and who is the beneficiary?

One final twist on that multifaceted, multi-punning title, Much Ado about Nothing . ‘Noting’ also referred to overhearing and ‘noting’ something down, and obviously this is of significance to Shakespeare’s play in several ways.

First, Don John’s malevolent plot hinges on Claudio being made to overhear or witness ‘Hero’ (really Margaret) flirting with another man; second, Don Pedro, Claudio, and Hero’s (much more benevolent) plot to convince Beatrice and Benedick together turns on the two of them being made to overhear the three friends talking about how the other one secretly loves them: so Benedick overhears his friends talking about how much Beatrice admires him, and vice versa.

Third, Borachio is ‘noted’ or overheard bragging about his part in bringing to fruition Don John’s plot, and Dogberry’s subsequent ‘noting’ of the events and clearing up of the mystery.

Much Ado about Nothing is one of Shakespeare’s more straightforward comedies, in which the plot is simple but the fun is to be had in the skirmishes of wit between the secondary couple, who are far more interesting than the play’s nominal hero (no pun intended) and heroine. It’s hardly surprising that, for many readers and theatregoers, its unofficial alternative title is ‘the Beatrice and Benedick show’.

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