Social Conventions in Much Ado About Nothing
Annotated Bibliography
Berger Jr., Harry. “Against the Sink-a-Pace: Sexual and Family Politics in Much Ado About Nothing.”
Shakespeare Quarterly 33 (1982): 302-313.
Published in the prestigious, peer-reviewed Shakespeare Quarterly, this piece offers a well-rounded
analysis of the female and male gender roles relating to the context of Much Ado About Nothing.
Berger consistently supports his points with textual evidence, making arguments linking character
motives to gender and familial conventions. He addresses the perspectives of both female and male
characters, offering multiple explanations for their behaviors throughout the play. Berger, a
professor emeritus of University of California, Santa Cruz, is an expert on Renaissance culture and
literature. In 2006, Berger was selected as a fellow for the American Academy of Arts and Sciences,
a highly prestigious honor. He has written over twelve books and eighty articles.
Dennis, Carl. “Wit and Wisdom in Much Ado about Nothing.” Studies in English Literature 13 (1973):
223-237.
Carl Dennis, winner of the 2002 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry and an English professor at State University
of New York, Buffalo, analyzes Much Ado About Nothing to determine the rationality of characters’
actions in the play in this piece. Dennis, providing conflicting perspectives in his thorough
investigation, argues that the characters’ actions in Much Ado About Nothing are often rooted in
illogical beliefs and pure faith rather than evidence. Dennis refers to specific lines from the text that
emphasize his point that wit in the play indicates lack of insight and experience. Published by Rice
University, Studies in English Literature is a peer-reviewed scholarly journal.
Garner, Shirley Nelson. “Male Bonding and the Myth of Women’s Deception in Shakespeare’s
Plays.” Shakespeare’s Personality. Ed. Norman N. Holland, Sidney Homan, and Bernard J.
Paris. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989. 135-150.
Published by the University of California Press, a highly respected publisher of scholarly works, this
book is an anthology of emotional issues relating to Shakespeare’s writing. Garner analyzes the
significance surrounding the repeated appearances of females’ betrayal in Shakespeare’s plays. This
essay explores the emotional causes of male characters’ tendencies to believe that women are
deceitful, drawing comparisons among Othello, Much Ado About Nothing, Troilus and Cressida,
Cymbeline, and The Winter’s Tale. Garner is an English professor at the University of Minnesota. She
has authored five books and many articles studying Shakespeare and feminism in literature.
Leggatt, Alexander. “Much Ado About Nothing.” Shakespeare’s Comedy of Love. London: Methuen
& Co., 1974. 151-183.
Leggatt focuses on the staging of Much Ado About Nothing in this chapter of his book about
Shakespeare’s comedies. Rather than focusing on how the text alone influences the interpretations
of the play, Leggatt explores theatrical elements such as setting, tone, rhythm, and delivery. He
presents comprehensive analysis of how the formality of the staging functions in the play’s two
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main plots, particularly how the change in dramatic tone reflects the emotional changes of the play.
Leggatt, a retired professor at the University of Toronto, has published multiple books about
theater in the Renaissance era, specializing in Shakespeare studies.
McCollom, William G. “The Role of Wit in Much Ado About Nothing.” Twentieth Century
Interpretations of Much Ado About Nothing. Ed. Walter R. Davis. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.:
Prentice-Hall, 1969. 67-79.
McCollom explores the depth of the wit in Much Ado About Nothing, analyzing not just its function
of comedy in the play but also how wit supports the overlying themes within the play. This essay
does not push the reader toward a specific reading or view of the play; instead, it offers insightful
perspectives on the importance of wit and its multiple functions in the greater context of the
production. McCollom also provides a vast analysis of possible audience interpretations, going
beyond the textual evidence. This essay was originally published in the highly respected scholarly
journal Shakespeare Quarterly.
Prouty, Charles T. The Sources of Much Ado About Nothing. New Haven: Yale UP, 1950.
This book provides a comprehensive investigation of Shakespeare’s possible influences for Much
Ado about Nothing. Unlike the other consulted works, the criticism in this book focuses less on the
text of the play. Instead, Charles Prouty, who has edited and written multiple works about
Renaissance drama, presents thorough research on links between the play and works preceding it.
He also carefully analyzes the functions of specific plots and characters in the play, separating
Shakespeare’s possible original ideas from those originating elsewhere. This book, published by the
prestigious Yale University Press, offers valuable in-depth contextual knowledge regarding Much
Ado About Nothing.
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