Much Ado about Nothing

All you want to know about Much Ado about Nothing

"Benedick" redirects here. For the actor, see Benedick Bates.
  • Don Pedro, An important nobleman from Aragon, sometimes referred to as "Prince". Don Pedro is a longtime friend of Leonato and is also close to the soldiers who have been fighting under him—the younger Benedick and the very young Claudio. Don Pedro is generous, courteous, intelligent, and loving to his friends, but he is also quick to believe evil of others and hasty to take revenge. He is the most politically and socially powerful character in the play.
  • Benedick, Benedick is the willful lord of Padua, recently returned from fighting in the wars, who vows that he will never marry. He engages with Beatrice in a competition to outwit, outsmart, and out-insult the other, but to his observant friends, he seems to feel some deeper emotion below the surface. Upon hearing Claudio and Don Pedro discussing Beatrice’s desire for him, Benedick vows to be "horribly in love with her", in effect continuing the competition by outdoing her in love and courtship (II.iii.207). Benedick is one of the most attention-seeking characters in the play, as he constantly performs for the benefit of others. He is the entertainer, indulging in witty hyperbole to express his feelings. He delivers a perfect example of his inflated rhetoric when Beatrice enters during the masked ball. Turning to his companions, Benedick grossly exaggerates how Beatrice has misused him, bidding his friends to send him to the farthest corners of the earth rather than let him spend one more minute with his nemesis: "Will your grace command me any service to the world's end? I will go on the slightest errand now to the Antipodes that you can devise to send me on. I will fetch you a toothpicker from the furthest inch of Asia . . . do you any embassage to the pigmies, rather than hold three words’ conference with this harpy" (II.i.229–235). Of course, since Benedick is so invested in performing for the others, it is not easy for us to tell whether he has been in love with Beatrice all along or falls in love with her suddenly during the play. Benedick’s adamant refusal to marry does appear to change over the course of the play, once he decides to fall in love with Beatrice. He attempts to conceal this transformation from his friends but really might enjoy shocking them by shaving off his beard and professing undying love to Beatrice. This change in attitude seems most evident when Benedick challenges Claudio, previously his closest friend in the world, to duel to the death over Claudio's accusation as to Hero's unchaste behavior. There can be no doubt at this point that Benedick has switched his allegiances entirely over to Beatrice.
  • Claudio, He is the kind lord of Florence. A young soldier who has won great acclaim fighting under Don Pedro during the recent wars. Claudio falls in love with Hero upon his return to Messina. His unfortunately suspicious nature makes him quick to believe evil rumors and hasty to despair and take revenge. Claudio is in ways one of the most dynamic characters in the play. He changes from a timid, loving young man into a vengeful one rather quickly. He is quick to believe Don John's lies and slander Hero after being so in love with her (Leonato reacts in much the same way). Claudio's demeanor changes as the play goes on from playful to serious, from timid to outgoing, from kind to vengeful. Claudio and Benedick have a close friendship which is jeapordized due to Hero's supposed death. In the end, their frinedship remains intact as Claudio's engagment to Hero is renewed and Benedick proposes to Beatrice.
  • Balthasar, A waiting man in Leonato's household and a musician. Balthasar flirts with Margaret at the masked party and helps Leonato, Claudio, and Don Pedro trick Benedick into falling in love with Beatrice. Balthasar sings the song, "Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more" about accepting men's infidelity as natural.
  • Don John, The illegitimate brother of Don Pedro; sometimes called "the Bastard". Don John is melancholy and sullen by nature, and he creates a dark scheme to ruin the happiness of Hero and Claudio. He is the villain of the play; his evil actions are motivated by his envy of his brother’s social authority.
  • Borachio, An associate of Don John. Borachio is the lover of Margaret, Hero's serving woman. He conspires with Don John to trick Claudio and Don Pedro into thinking that Hero is unfaithful to Claudio. His name means "drunkard" in Italian, which might serve as a subtle direction to the actor playing him.
  • Conrade, One of Don John's more intimate associates, entirely devoted to Don John. Several recent productions have staged Conrade as Don John's potential male lover, possibly to intensify Don John's feelings of being a social outcast and therefore motivate his desire for revenge.
  • Leonato, A respected, well-to-do, elderly noble at whose home, in Messina, Italy, the action is set. Leonato is the father of Hero and the uncle of Beatrice. As governor of Messina, he is second in social power only to Don Pedro.
  • Hero, The beautiful young daughter of Leonato and the cousin of Beatrice. Hero is lovely, gentle, and kind. She falls in love with Claudio when he falls for her, but when Don John slanders her and Claudio rashly takes revenge, she suffers terribly.
  • Beatrice, Beatrice is the niece of Leonato, a wealthy governor of Messina. Though she is close friends with her cousin Hero, Leonato's daughter, the two could not be less alike. Whereas Hero is polite, quiet, respectful, and gentle, Beatrice is feisty, cynical, witty, and sharp. Beatrice keeps up a "merry war" of wits with Benedick, a lord and soldier from Padua. The play suggests that she was once in love with Benedick but that he led her on and their relationship ended. Now when they meet, the two constantly compete to outdo one another with clever insults. Although she appears hardened and sharp, Beatrice is really vulnerable. Once she overhears Hero describing that Benedick is in love with her (Beatrice), she opens herself to the sensitivities and weaknesses of love. Beatrice is a prime example of one of Shakespeare's strong female characters. She refuses to marry because she has not discovered the perfect, equal partner and because she is unwilling to eschew her liberty and submit to the will of a controlling husband. When Hero has been humiliated and accused of violating her chastity, Beatrice explodes with fury at Claudio for mistreating her cousin. In her frustration and rage about Hero's mistreatment, Beatrice rebels against the unequal status of women in Renaissance society. "O that I were a man for his sake! Or that I had any friend would be a man for my sake!" she passionately exclaims. "I cannot be a man with wishing, therefore I will die a woman with grieving" (IV.i.314-320).
  • Antonio, an old man, brother of Leonato. Hero and Beatrice's uncle.
  • Margaret, Hero's serving woman, who unwittingly helps Borachio and Don John deceive Claudio into thinking that Hero is unfaithful. Unlike Ursula, Hero's other lady-in-waiting, Margaret is lower class. Though she is honest, she does have some dealings with the villainous world of Don John: her lover is the mistrustful and easily bribed Borachio. Also unlike Ursula, Margaret loves to break decorum, especially with bawdy jokes and teases.
  • Ursula, waiting-gentlewoman, attendant of Hero.
  • Friar Francis, a priest who is at the wedding of Claudio and Hero and helps foil Don John's plan by making up his own.
  • Dogberry, The constable in charge of the Watch, or chief policeman, of Messina. Dogberry is very sincere and takes his job seriously, but he has a habit of using exactly the wrong word to convey his meaning. "Malapropism" is one of the best terms that may describe him. Dogberry is one of the few "middling sort", or middle-class characters, in the play, though his desire to speak formally and elaborately like the noblemen becomes an occasion for parody.
  • Verges, the Headborough, Dogberry's partner.
  • A Sexton, the judge of the trial of Borachio.
  • The Watch, watchmen of Messina.
  • A Boy, serving Benedick.
  • Attendants and messengers
  • Innogen, a ghost character included in early editions as Leonato's wife.

Plot

Facsimile of the first page of Much Ado About Nothing from the First Folio, published in 1623
Facsimile of the first page of Much Ado About Nothing from the First Folio, published in 1623

At Messina, Don Pedro, an Italian prince from Arragon and his deputies, Claudio and Benedick have just returned from a successful battle. Leonato, the governor of Messina, welcomes them for passing by the city and invites them to stay for a month and to have a masked party.

Leonato's niece, Beatrice, and Benedick, longtime adversaries, carry on their arguments. Claudio’s feelings for Hero, Leonato's young daughter, are rekindled on his seeing her, and Claudio soon announces to Benedick his intention to court her. Benedick tries to dissuade his friend, but is unsuccessful in the face of Don Pedro’s encouragement. While Benedick teases Claudio, Benedick swears that he will never get married.

Don Pedro laughs at him and tells him that when he has found the right person he shall get married.

A masquerade ball is planned in celebration, giving a disguised Don Pedro the opportunity to woo Hero on Claudio’s behalf. Don John uses this situation to get revenge on his brother Don Pedro by telling young Claudio that Don Pedro is actually wooing Hero for himself. Claudio then becomes furious at Don Pedro and confronts him. The misunderstanding is quickly resolved and Claudio wins Hero's hand in marriage.

Don Pedro and his men, bored at the prospect of waiting a week for the matrimonial ceremony to take place, harbor a plan to matchmake Beatrice and Benedick. The men, led by Don Pedro, proclaim Beatrice’s love for Benedick while knowing he is eavesdropping on their conversation. The women, led by Hero, do the same likewise to Beatrice. Struck by the fact that they are apparently thought to be too proud to love each other, Beatrice and Benedick, neither willing to bear the reputation of pride, each decides to requite the love of the other.

Meanwhile Don John, Don Pedro's bastard brother, is a malcontent who plots to ruin Claudio and Hero’s wedding plans by casting aspersions upon Hero’s character. His follower Borachio courts Margaret, Hero's chambermaid, calling her “Hero”, at Hero’s open bedroom window while Don John leads Don Pedro and Claudio to spy below. The latter two, mistaking Margaret for Hero, are convinced by what is evidence of Hero's infidelity.

The next day, during the wedding at the church, Claudio climactically refuses to marry Hero. He and Don Pedro humiliate Hero publicly before a stunned congregation. The two leave, leaving the rest in shock. Hero, who has fainted from shock, revives after Don Pedro and Claudio leave, only to be reprimanded by her father. The presiding Friar interrupts, believing Hero to be innocent, and he convinces the family to fake Hero's death in order to extract the truth and Claudio’s remorse.

Leonato and Antonio, Hero's uncle, subsequently blame Don Pedro and Claudio for Hero’s death, and both challenge Claudio to duels. Benedick, forcefully prompted by Beatrice, does the same.

Astonishingly, however, on the night of Don John's treachery, the local Watch has apprehended Borachio and his ally Conrade. Despite the Watch's comic ineptness (headed by constable Dogberry, a master of malapropisms), they have overheard the duo discussing their evil plans. The Watch arrest them and eventually obtain the villains' confession, whilst informing Leonato of Hero's innocence. Though Don John has meanwhile fled the city, a force is sent to capture him. Claudio, though maintaining he made an honest mistake, is repentant; he agrees to not only post a proper epitaph for Hero, but to marry a substitute, Hero's cousin, in her place.

During Claudio’s second wedding, however, as the dancers enter, the "cousin" is unmasked as Hero herself, to a most surprised and gratified Claudio. An impromptu dance is announced. Beatrice and Benedick, prompted by their friends’ interference, finally confess their love for each other. As the play draws to a close, a messenger arrives with news of Don John’s capture – but his punishment is postponed another day so that the couples can enjoy their new found happiness.

Themes, motifs, and symbolism

Infidelity

A theme common to Much Ado about Nothing and many other of Shakespeare’s works is cuckoldry, or infidelity of a wife. Several of the characters seem to be obsessed by the idea that a man has no way to know if his wife is unfaithful, and therefore women can take full advantage of that fact. Don John plays upon Claudio’s pride and fear of cuckoldry, which leads to the disastrous first wedding scene. Because of their mistrust of women’s sexuality, many of the males easily believe that Hero is impure, and even her father readily condemns her with very little proof. This motif runs through the play, most often in references to horns, which were a well-known symbol of cuckoldry.

Noting

Another motif occurring throughout the work is the play on the words nothing and noting, which, in Shakespeare’s day, were homophones (that is, pronounced the same way).[3] Taken literally, the title implies that a great fuss (“much ado”) is made of something which is insignificant (“nothing”), such as the unfounded claims of Hero’s infidelity. However, the title could also be understood as “Much Ado about Noting.” Indeed, much of the action of the play revolves around interest in and critique of others, written messages, spying, and eavesdropping. This is a theme throughout the play, and is mentioned multiple times particularly concerning "seeming," "fashion" and immediate outward impressions. Additionally, nothing is a double-entendre; An "O-thing" (or 'n othing) was Elizabethan slang for vagina. [4]

Examples of noting as noticing occur in the following instances: (1.1.131-132)

Claudio: Benedick, didst thou note the daughter of Signor Leonato?

Benedick: I noted her not, but I looked on her.

and (4.1.154-157).

Friar: Hear me a little,

For I have only been silent so long

And given way unto this course of fortune

By noting of the lady.

At (3.3.102-104), Borachio indicates that a man’s clothing doesn’t indicate his character:

Borachio: Thou knowest that the fashion of a doublet, or a hat, or a

cloak is nothing to

a man.

A triple play on words in which noting signifies noticing, musical notes, and nothing occurs at (2.3.47-52):

Don Pedro: Nay pray thee, come;

Or if thou wilt hold longer argument,

Do it in notes.

Balthasar: Note this before my notes:

There’s not a note of mine that’s worth the noting.

Don Pedro: Why, these are very crotchets that he speaks —

Note notes, forsooth, and nothing!

Don Pedro’s last line can be understood to mean, “Pay attention to your music and nothing else!”

The following are puns on notes as messages: (2.1.174-176),

Claudio: I pray you leave me.

Benedick: Ho, now you strike like the blind man — ‘twas the boy

that stole your meat, and you’ll beat the post.

in which Benedick plays on the word post as a pole and as mail delivery in a joke reminiscent of Shakespeare’s earlier advice “Don’t shoot the messenger”; and (2.3.138-142)

Claudio: Now you talk of a sheet of paper, I remember a pretty

jest your daughter told us of.

Leonato: O, when she had writ it and was reading it over, she

found Benedick and Beatrice between the sheet.

in which Leonato makes a sexual innuendo concerning sheet as a sheet of paper (on which Beatrice’s love note to Benedick is to have been written) and a bedsheet.

Significance of character names

Don Pedro: Pedro is the Spanish form of the Biblical name Peter, which means "stone." The significance of the name is that it immediately identifies him as Spanish — the Italian variant of the name is Pietro.

Benedick: Benedick means "blessed"; the root bene means "good." Note that Benedick and Beatrice have similar meanings. The name can also be interpreted as the two words bene (Latin for "good") and dicere (Latin for "to speak"). This is a reference to his unusual eloquence.

Claudio: Claudio is derived from claudus, meaning "lame" or "crippled." Claudio is both the Spanish and Italian variant.

Don John: The name John is reminiscent of King John of England (known as Prince John), who had a reputation for treachery and usurpation of the throne. The Spanish variant is properly Juan, which would likely have been pronounced "djoo-en" in Shakespeare’s day. Also, see Don John, the illegitimate son of Charles I of Spain.

Borachio: Borachio is similar to the Spanish word "Borracho," which means "drunkard." Borachio is a type of beer bottle

Leonato: Leonato is derived from the Greek word for lion.

Hero: In Greek mythology, Hero was the lover of Leander. Each night Leander swam across the Hellespont to meet her. When he accidentally drowned while crossing, she threw herself in the water and drowned as well.

Beatrice: Beatrice means "the one that blesses." Note that Benedick and Beatrice have similar meanings.

Dogberry: The name Dogberry reflects Shakespeare’s common practise of giving fools ridiculous-sounding names. Dogberry is also the name of a type of North American wild gooseberry.

Verges: Verges is derived from the word verge, a wand or staff of office.

Noteworthy performances

On stage

Adaptations

There have been several notable adaptations of Much Ado About Nothing.

Television

There have been several screen adaptations of Much Ado About Nothing, and almost all of them have been made for television. In 2005 the BBC adapted the story by setting it in the modern-day studios of Wessex Tonight, a fictional regional news programme, as part of the ShakespeaRe-Told season, with Damian Lewis, Sarah Parish, and Billie Piper.

In 2006 the American Music Theatre Project produced The Boys Are Coming Home, a musical adaptation by Berni Stapleton and Leslie Arden that sets Much Ado about Nothing in World War II America.

On film

The first cinematic version in English may have been the 1913 silent film directed by Phillips Smalley. The first major non-silent cinematic version in English was the highly acclaimed 1993 film by Kenneth Branagh.

Other

Very recently, the Klingon Language Institute translated Much Ado About Nothing into Klingon, similar to the Klingon Hamlet.

Another important adaptation is the 1973 New York Shakespeare Festival production, by Joseph Papp, shot on videotape and released on VHS and DVD, that presents more of the text than Kenneth Branagh's version. The Papp production stars Sam Waterston, Kathleen Widdoes, and Barnard Hughes.

United Kingdom National Curriculum Tests

The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority use Much Ado About Nothing regularly as the set play for the Shakespeare section of the Year 9 National Curriculum assessment in the United Kingdom.

References

  1. ^ See textual notes to Much Ado about Nothing in The Norton Shakespeare (W. W. Norton & Company, 1997 ISBN 0-393-97087-6) p. 1387
  2. ^ F. E. Halliday, A Shakespeare Companion 1564-1964, Baltimore, Penguin, 1964; pp. 326-7.
  3. ^ See Stephen Greenblatt’s introduction to Much Ado about Nothing in The Norton Shakespeare (W. W. Norton & Company, 1997 ISBN 0-393-97087-6) at p. 1383
  4. ^ See Gordon Williams "A Glossary of Shakespeare's Sexual Language" (Althone Press, 1997 ISBN 0-485-12130-1) at p.219: "As Shakespeare's title ironically acknowledges, both vagina and virginity are a nothing causing Much Ado."

External links

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