Much Ado About Nothing
A sparkling comedy of wit, deception, and love, Much Ado About Nothing balances two sharply different love stories: the combative, witty relationship of Beatrice and Benedick versus the romantic but easily deceived pairing of Hero and Claudio.
At a Glance
- Genre: Comedy
- Approximate date: c. 1598–1599
- Setting: Messina, Sicily
- Source: Ariosto's Orlando Furioso; Bandello's Novelle
- Acts: 5
Dramatis Personæ
| Character | Description |
|---|---|
| DON PEDRO | Prince of Arragon; generous; matchmaker |
| DON JOHN | Don Pedro's illegitimate brother; malicious; plots Hero's downfall |
| CLAUDIO | Young lord of Florence; loves Hero; too credulous |
| BENEDICK | Young lord of Padua; witty; swears off love; secretly loves Beatrice |
| LEONATO | Governor of Messina; Hero's father |
| ANTONIO | Leonato's brother |
| BALTHASAR | Servant to Don Pedro; sings "Sigh no more, ladies" |
| BORACHIO | Don John's follower; devises the deception of Hero |
| CONRADE | Don John's follower |
| DOGBERRY | Constable; malapropism-spouting comic master |
| VERGES | A headborough; Dogberry's partner |
| FRIAR FRANCIS | Devises the plan to fake Hero's death |
| A SEXTON | Records Dogberry's examination |
| HERO | Daughter to Leonato; modest; wrongly shamed |
| BEATRICE | Niece to Leonato; witty; scorns love; loves Benedick |
| MARGARET | Hero's gentlewoman; inadvertently central to the plot |
| URSULA | Hero's gentlewoman |
Plot Summary
Act I: Don Pedro's army returns from the wars to Messina. Benedick and Beatrice exchange barbs; it's clear they are made for each other. Don Pedro proposes to woo Hero for Claudio. Don John, the villain, broods.
Act II: Don Pedro successfully woos Hero for Claudio; they are to marry in a week. Don Pedro, Claudio, and Leonato conspire to trick Beatrice and Benedick into falling in love: each overhears a staged conversation claiming the other is desperately in love with them. Don John decides to ruin Hero's wedding to spite his brother.
Act III: Beatrice has been tricked into thinking Benedick loves her; Benedick has been tricked into thinking Beatrice loves him — each begins to take the other seriously. Don John shows Claudio and Don Pedro what appears to be Hero being unfaithful the night before her wedding (Borachio courts Margaret, who is mistaken for Hero). Dogberry charges the Watch; Borachio is overheard boasting of the trick.
Act IV: At the wedding, Claudio publicly shames Hero, calling her unchaste. She collapses; Leonato almost believes Claudio. The Friar urges a plan: fake Hero's death and see if Claudio repents. Left alone, Beatrice commands Benedick to "Kill Claudio." After an agonized pause, he agrees. Dogberry's interrogation reveals Borachio's confession.
Act V: Benedick challenges Claudio. The truth comes out: Borachio confesses that Hero is innocent and Don John's villain. Claudio, in penance, agrees to marry Leonato's "niece." At the wedding, the "niece" is unmasked as Hero. Benedick and Beatrice, caught out by their own love poems, admit their love. Don John is captured.
Key Themes
- Wit and love — Beatrice and Benedick's combat of language is the finest example of comic courtship in Shakespeare
- Honor and shame — Hero's honor is entirely dependent on men's perception; her innocence is irrelevant to Claudio's public humiliation
- Noting/Nothing — the play's title puns on "nothing" and "noting" (overhearing); the whole plot turns on what people hear and see
- Deception and discovery — both the good trick (the overhearing plots) and the bad trick (Borachio's false show) drive the action
Notable Quotations
"Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more, / Men were deceivers ever." *(Balthasar's song, II.iii)*
"I love you with so much of my heart that none is left to protest." *(Beatrice, IV.i)*
"Kill Claudio." *(Beatrice to Benedick, IV.i)*
"For which of my bad parts didst thou first fall in love with me?" *(Benedick, V.ii)*
LibriVox Recording
Much Ado About Nothing audiobook on LibriVox — Free public domain recording.
Cross-references
- Comedies — genre context
- Love's Labour's Lost — Berowne and Rosaline as precursors to Benedick and Beatrice
- The Taming of the Shrew — another antagonistic courtship
- Othello — Don John's deception and Claudio's credulity prefigure Iago and Othello