Much Ado About Nothing – Study guide
Name:___________________________
Major Characters and their actors:
Kenneth Branagh
Benedick
...
Borrachio- One of Don John’s
sidekicks
(Sybil Trelawney from Harry Potter, Nanny
McPhee)
... Beatrice
Margaret- Hero’s maid (who
looks a lot like Hero…)
Richard Briers
... Signor Leonato
(Valkyrie, Professor Gilderoy Lockhart from
Harry Potter)
Emma Thompson
Keanu Reeves
(Speed, The Replacements, Bill and Ted’s
Excellent Adv)
Kate Beckinsale
(Click, The Aviator, Underworld, Pearl Harbor)
Robert Sean Leonard
(Wilson from House)
... Don John
At the beginning of the movie,
mark who lives at Signor
Leonato’s place and who is part
of the army that comes home
from war.
... Hero
... Claudio
Denzel Washington
(American Gangster, Training Day, Remember
the Titans)
Michael Keaton
(Batman, Beetlejuice)
... Don Pedro of Aragon
... Dogberry
Questions for the movie:
1. Who does Benedick bicker with at the beginning?
2. Who does Claudio fall in love with?
3. What does Don Pedro agree to do for Claudio (since Claudio is too chicken to do it himself)?
4. What do Don John and his sidekicks swear to do?
5. At Leonato’s party, we see two couples that believe in PDA. What are the names of the younger (second)
couple? Who does she look like?
6. At the party, Don Pedro does woo Hero for Claudio. However, while this is going on, what trick to Don John
play on Claudio (aka, what to they tell Claudio)?
7. But then, Don Pedro, Leonato, Claudio, Hero and the servants decide to trick what two characters into what?
8. In order to put this plan into action, Don Pedro, Claudio, and Leonardo, who know that Benedick is hiding in
the bushes start doing what?
9. They make him believe that, if Beatrice is mean to him, it means that she actually loves him. Knowing this,
why would they send Beatrice to get him for dinner?
10. When Benedick leaves, Hero and her serving maid do the same thing to what character?
11. What are Dogberry’s instructions to the watchmen?
12. What does Don John tell Don Pedro and Claudio about Hero?
13. How does Don John “prove” to Don Pedro and Claudio that this is “true”?
14. What do the watchmen overhear?
15. Dogberry and his weasel looking friend appear at Leonato’s house the morning of the wedding to get
Leonato to come here the testimony of Borrachio. However, how does Leonato respond?
16. “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” Despite the fact that Don John lied at the
party, and what happens at the wedding between Hero and Claudio?
17. What does everyone think has happened to Hero when she faints?
18. What does the friar suggest everyone say about Hero while they’re trying to figure out what’s going on?
(Oh…ps…it was the friar character that devised the plan for Romeo and Juliet…that worked out well)
19. What does Beatrice ask Benedick to do?
20. What does Benedick eventually do regarding Beatrice’s request (Gentlemen… would you do this for your
lover?)
21. What do Antonio and Leonato threaten (and try) to do when they see Claudio?
22. What does Borrachio do when he’s brought before Leonato and the others?
23. What three activities does Claudio agree to do in order to make peace with Leonato?
24. What happens when Claudio goes to marry Hero’s cousin?
25. How do Hero and Claudio finally stop Beatrice and Benedick from denying their love?
26. Devise “brave punishments” for Don John.