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Like Love's Labour's Lost, Much Ado about Nothing shows Shakespeare moving into a more complex and darker terrain through his exploration of an apparently harmless comical romance. The play revolves around the adventures of the two gallants Claudio and Benedick at the court of Sicily. Claudio falls in love with the governor's daughter Hero, and is eager for his more misanthropic friend Benedick to also find love. Benedick is introduced to the fiery, independent Beatrice, and sparks soon fly as they banter with each other in a more wittier version of Kate and Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew. Beatrice has some wonderful ripostes to marriage asking why should a woman marry "a clod of wayward marl", whilst Benedick grumbles that "She speaks poniards and every word stabs". Meanwhile, the jealous Don John convinces Claudio that Hero has in fact been unfaithful to him. When Claudio rejects Hero on their wedding day, she faints and is taken for dead. In the hectic final scenes the play moves towards reconciliation between Claudio and Hero, and the tentative admission of the love between Benedick and Beatrice. Famously filmed by Kenneth Branagh in the Tuscan countryside with a cast that included Keanu Reeves, Much Ado about Nothing remains one of Shakespeare's most successful comedies. --Jerry Brotton.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
"...a much-needed and welcome addition to Shakespeare resources." Choice
"...an indispensable resource for theatre historians, dramaturgs, directors, or performers." Studies in English Literature 1500-1900
"This book could also be very useful to a student of gender, history, and language, especially its detailed infromation on lines added and cut, on treatments of the play's cuckoldry humor, and on the critics' anxious iteration of such key binaries as sharp/soft, wit/feeling, salt/sweet, and mannishness/womanliness. I do recommend this book for anyone trying to piece together information about the performance history of the play, especially those interested in Victorian and Edwardian productions. Those who are attempting to chart shifts in myths of gender as they shift over the longue durée of culture, or who are researching particulat productions or players, will find this edition rich, intriguing, sometimes frustrating, but always infomative." Shakespeare Quarterly --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
"...an indispensable resource for theatre historians, dramaturgs, directors, or performers." Studies in English Literature 1500-1900
"This book could also be very useful to a student of gender, history, and language, especially its detailed infromation on lines added and cut, on treatments of the play's cuckoldry humor, and on the critics' anxious iteration of such key binaries as sharp/soft, wit/feeling, salt/sweet, and mannishness/womanliness. I do recommend this book for anyone trying to piece together information about the performance history of the play, especially those interested in Victorian and Edwardian productions. Those who are attempting to chart shifts in myths of gender as they shift over the longue durée of culture, or who are researching particulat productions or players, will find this edition rich, intriguing, sometimes frustrating, but always infomative." Shakespeare Quarterly --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
A skirmish of wit,
By E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews (HALL OF FAME) (TOP 10 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Much Ado About Nothing (Paperback)
A man and a woman meet. They outwardly seem to despise each other (or at least find each other annoying), but we know that deep down they're in love and just need a jolt to realize it.That's one of the more popular romance tropes -- everybody from Jane Austen to anime has used it. But the original feisty Will They Or Won't They couple was Beatrice and Benedick in William Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing" -- and while the plot supposedly revolves around an evil plot to discredit Beatrice's cousin, it's more fun to watch the two B's slinging insults and falling in love. Spanish prince Don Pedro has defeated his evil illegitimate brother Don John, and is coming to the estate of Leonato for a visit -- along with his entourage, his disgraced brother, and his officers Benedick and Claudio. Claudio soon falls in love with Leonato's daughter Hero, but Hero's cousin Beatrice has the opposite reaction -- "there is a kind of merry war betwixt Signior Benedick and her." Soon Hero and Claudio are happily engaged, and Don Pedro decides to matchmake Beatrice and Benedick -- and after a tidy bit of manipulation, the acid-tongued pair fall madly in love. But Don John spins up a malicious deception that tears apart the love between Claudio and Hero, creates a rift between Leonato and Don Pedro, and leaves it doubtful that anyone will live happily ever after... "Much Ado About Nothing" is one of Shakespeare's finest comedies, mainly because it often hangs off his clever wordplay and zinger-filled dialogue ("I see, lady, the gentleman is not in your books." "No; and he were, I would burn my study"). There's even some hilarious scenes where Benedick bemoans the difficulty of writing rhyming poetry. Technically the plot revolves around the impending wedding of Hero and Claudio, as well as Don John's attempts to derail the whole affair -- resulting on some painfully raw scenes (such as Beatrice freaking out after Hero's public disgrace), as well as some goofy ones... like any scene involving the absurd Dogberry. But Beatrice and Benedick are undeniably the centerpiece of the story, as well as the most likable characters. Because they're so witty and prickly, Beatrice and Benedick are loads of fun -- they start off violently against getting married and content to just lob insults at each other. And even after they fall in love, Shakespeare keeps their wit intact ("Thou and I are too wise to woo peaceably"). Don Pedro is a good supporting character, a wise and kind prince who enjoys meddling in other people's romantic affairs. The downsides: we never really get a REASON for Don John to be such a jerk. And Claudio comes across as a puffed up adolescent with a crush, especially since he deliberately humiliates Hero in public to salvage his ego... and for some reason, she doesn't hate him for the maliciousness. "Much Ado About Nothing" is one of Shakespeare's best comedies -- a tennis match of zingers and witticisms, wrapped around a solid plot about deception and lies.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Humorous, interesting, and not hard to comprehend,
By A Customer
This review is from: Much Ado About Nothing (Paperback)
I'm an 8th grade student and most books we get assigned to read in school are very boring and confusing classics but this book was enjoyable and funny, our assignment was to read only two scenes but I went ahead and read it all
4.0 out of 5 stars
A little ado about not much,
By JP VanderLinden (Waldorf, MD, "Naptown") - See all my reviews
This review is from: Much Ado About Nothing (Paperback)
I believe that the reading of this book/play shouls be encouraged for students across the country, because it shows a comical yet realistic view of love, and the effects it has on people.When Shakespeare wrote this play, I believe that his purpose was to show the two differing sides of love. He uses two examples, the first being Hero and Claudio, who embody the spirit of romantic, superficial love. The two of them never seem to talk, and as far as the reader knows, they don't have a whole lot in common. Claudio puts so much stock in his "love" for Hero that he overreacts too easily. For example, at a party where Don Pedro agrees to woo Hero for Claudio, Don Pedro's bastard brother Don John tricks Claudio into believing Pedro wants Hero for his own. WIth this fresh in his mind, Claudio stomps off in a huff, without even checking the facts. This kind of love is based on gazing wistfully at the one's partner across the room, and sunshine, lollipops and rainbows. The other kind of love that Shakespeare chooses to display in this play is the realistic kind of love that is displayed more often in society around us. This is shown in the couple of Benedick and Beatrice. These two quick wits are constantly bickering and at each other's throats, until they are tricked by their friends into each believing the otehr loves them. At this, all of their criticisms of love and claims to remain unmarried until death go right out the window. Suddenly, they are seized by a desire to be with each other, and their true feelings come out. It shows how love actually works in real lifeI would reccommend this play to anyone who enjoys a good comedy with just a twinge of love intrest in it.
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