Much Ado about Nothing

--Try to relate the student paper entitled "Much Ado About Nothing"

(SCS, p. 45) to your own observations about the use of masks as metaphors in the play.

Focal questions:

--(1) Beatrice is related to other Shakespeare heroines we will be studying throughout the semester. How would you describe her distinctive personality traits?

--(2) How does Benedick describe the ideal woman for him? How well is Beatrice suited to him, after all?

--(3) Why do both Beatrice and Benedick profess an intention to remain celebate?

--(4) As in The Taming of the Shrew, Shakespeare employs two pairs of lovers and plays them off against each other. How do the two pairs of lovers in this play compare to the two pairs of lovers in Shakespeare's earlier comedy?

--(5) What motivates Don John to bring trouble to the lovers?

--(6) Why does Don John succeed in making Claudio believe that Hero has been unfaithful to him?

--(7) What is the function of the Dogberry plot in relation to the entire play? How is it related to the other plots, and how do these characters affect the action in the other plots?

--(8) What makes people susceptible to deception practiced upon them by others in this play?

--(9) What elements of the miraculous appear in the play? How believable are they?

--(10) How close does this play, a comedy, come to turning into a tragedy? At what point in the play does this near-tragic turn occur? Did you expect this to happen when you began reading the play?

--(11) What or who is responsible for bringing about the happy ending in the play? What method is employed to do this?

--(12) Think about the theme of friendship vs. love in this play. Which loyalty seems to be stronger for the main characters, and why?

--(13) Is it significant that the play ends with a dance rather than with two marriages?

--(14) Consider the props and staging for this play in performance. Masks appear many times in the play, and there are many scenes that must be staged so that one person overhears a conversation of a person who is unaware that he or she is being heard. How are these theatrical devices related to the themes of the play?

--(15) Roughly, what is the percentage of prose to poetry occurring in this play? Can you see any reason for the predominance of one over the other?

--(16) There is also much wordplay in the characters' speeches. How is this playing with language related to themes in the play? (As a clue, consider the number of times words like "copy," "image," and "appearance" occur, and their relationship to the play's themes.)

Potential reaction paper topics:

Beatrice is often mentioned as one of Shakepeare's most "typical" female heroines. How would you describe and analyze her character?

How does Beatrice's relationship to Hero compare to Rosalind's relationship to Celia in As You Like It ? to Kate's relationship to Bianca in The Taming of the Shrew?

You may wish to read one of the following articles on the play before writing a reaction paper:

--David Ormerod, "Faith and Fashion in 'Much Ado About Nothing,'" Shakespeare Survey, 25 (1972), 93-105 [PR 2888 .C3].

--Elliot Krieger, "Social Relations and the Social Order in 'Much Ado,'" Shakespeare Survey, 32 (19790, pp. 49-62 [PR 2888 .C3].