Comedy or Tragicomedy?
BoyMeets-Girl
Boy
Romances
Girl
Boy Gets
Girl
Girl Loses
Boy
Boy and
Girl find
each other
again
Key Facts
• Much Ado About Nothing
AUTHOR
• William Shakespeare
GENRE
• Comedy
1600
• DATE OF FIRST PUBLICATION
1598, England
• TIME AND PLACE WRITTEN
Messina, a city on the
island of Sicily in southern
Italy, sometime in the
16th century
The men returning from
battle with Don Pedro
would likely view Messina
as a welcome respite from
the battlefield.
The whole point of the
soldiers coming to Messina
is that they’re in an idyllic
setting, away from the
action of the war.
High born lady.
• She is cousins and good friends with Hero,
Leonato’s daughter.
• She is the niece of Leonato, a wealthy governor of
Mesina.
Feisty, cynical, witty, and sharp.
• She loves to participate in a “merry war” of wits
with Benedick. “I had rather hear my dog bark at a
crow, than a man swear he loves me.”
Single by choice.
• Her comments suggest that she and Benedick may
have tried to have a relationship in the past but
Benedick may have “led her on.” Now she is wary
of him.
Beatrice as comic relief.
• Beatrice has a relentless and brilliant wit that
could easily be mistaken as the role of a jester
in the play, but her barbs are laced with
insightful commentary and often inspired by
penetrating understanding.
She sees the absurdity of the world.
• Instead of being melancholy or sad, she
chooses to laugh at it, which is a sure sign of
wisdom.
• “He that hath a beard is more than a youth, and he that
hath no beard is less than a man. He that is more than a
youth is not for me, and he that is less than a man, I am not
for him.”
“Shall I never see a bachelor of three-score
again?”
He is young lord of Padua.
• Benedick Mountanto is in the service of Don Pedro, Prince of
Aragon.
He is a good friend of Count Claudio.
• He is a good soldier, but a bit unprincipled.
He vows that he will never marry.
• While Beatrice thinks no man will ever be good enough for
her, Benedick seems to be more hung up on not being tied
down. “When I said I would die a bachelor, I did not think I
should live till I were married.”
He is a young
Count from
Florence.
Passionate
Claudio has distinguished himself as a
soldier under Don Pedro, Prince of Aragon.
He’s a friend of Benedick , and the groom, of Hero. When
Claudio loves Hero, he loves her to distraction. When he hates
her, he hates her with fury.
Claudio’s actions throughout the play reveal that
He is a little
immature.
he has quite a bit of growing up to do – he quickly
falls in love with Hero and can’t even court her on
his own.
Don Pedro
• Don Pedro most
often uses his
power and
authority toward
positive ends.
But like his halfbrother, Don
Pedro
manipulates
other characters
as much as he
likes.
He is the Prince
of Aragon
• He is the noblest
character in the
social hierarchy
of the play, and
his friends
Benedick and
Claudio, though
equals in wit,
must always
defer to him
because their
positions depend
upon his favor.
Hero
• Hero is Leonato’s daughter.
• She is Beatrice’s cousin.
A gentle,
loving girl.
• The beloved (and slandered)
fiancé of Claudio.
• She gives many of her big
decisions over to other
people.
Female
lead?
• Though she is supposed to
be the female lead of the
play, Hero has the fewest
lines of the four primary
characters.
Don John
• The illegitimate brother of Don Pedro; sometimes
called “the Bastard.”
• Don John operates as a plot-device more than a
fully fleshed out character.
The Dispossessed Son
• He does give us a little speech about how he’s a
bad guy – and likes being a bad guy – but there’s
not much that we say about him because we
never really know his motivations, or even his
reaction to all of the chaos he’s caused.
Second Best
• He is second to his older brother.
• He is recently back in his good graces but doesn’t
like the burden of “behaving” properly.
Villains
Leonato
• A respected, well-to-do, elderly
noble at whose home, in
Messina, Italy the play 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.
Margaret
Balthasar
Antonio
Hero’s serving woman, who
unwittingly helps Borachio
and Don John deceive
Claudio into thinking that
Hero is unfaithful.
A waiting man in Leonato’s
household and a musician.
Balthasar sings the song, “Sigh
no more, ladies, sigh no more”
about accepting men’s infidelity
as natural.
Leonato’s elderly brother and
Hero's uncle. He is
Beatrice’s father.
Borachio
He is a “henchman” 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.
Conrad
One of Don John’s more intimate
associates, entirely devoted to Don John.
“Marry, sir, they have committed
false report; moreover, they have
spoken untruths; secondarily, they
are slanders; sixth and lastly, they
have
belied a lady; thirdly, they have
Dogberry
• He is he constable in
charge of the Watch.
• He is chief policeman, of
Messina.
• Dogberry is very sincere
and takes his job
seriously.
• He has a habit of using
exactly the wrong word
to convey his meaning.
Verges
• The deputy to Dogberry
• Chief policeman of
Messina.
Themes, Motifs & Symbols
• Themes are the fundamental and often
universal ideas explored in a literary work.
• Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts,
and literary devices that can help to develop
and inform the text’s major themes.
• Symbols are objects, characters, figures,
and colors used to represent abstract ideas
or concepts.
The Ideal of Social Grace
Themes
• The play pokes fun at the fanciful
language of love that courtiers used.
Language of Love
• When Claudio falls in love, he tries to be
the perfect courtier by using intricate
language. As Benedick notes: “His words
are a very fantastical banquet, just so
many strange dishes.”
Deception
Themes
• Deception is used as a means to an end.
The Importance of Honor for Women
• In Shakespeare’s time, a woman’s honor was based
upon her virginity and chaste behavior. For a woman to
lose her honor by having sexual relations before
marriage meant that she would lose all social standing, a
disaster from which she could never recover.
The Importance of Honor for Men
• For men, on the other hand, honor depended on male
friendship alliances and was more military in nature.
Public Shaming
• Hero’s public shaming at the wedding ceremony
is too terrible to be ignored.
• Shame is also what Don John hopes will cause
Claudio to lose his place as Don Pedro’s favorite.
Noting
• In Shakespeare’s time, the “Nothing” of the title
would have been pronounced “Noting.” Thus,
the play’s title could read: “Much Ado About
Noting.”
• Many of the players participate in the actions of
observing, listening, and writing, or noting what
others do and say.
Motifs
Entertainment
Motifs
• The characters of Much Ado About Nothing spend much of their
time engaging in elaborate spectacles and entertainments.
• Beatrice compares courtship and marriage to delightful court
dances. “There was a star danced, and under that was I born.”
Counterfeiting
• The idea of counterfeiting, in the sense of presenting a false face
to the world, appears frequently throughout the play.
• After Claudio thinks he is betrayed, he says of Hero:
• She’s but the sign and semblance of her honour.
Behold how like a maid she blushes here!
O, what authority and show of truth
Can cunning sin cover itself withal (IV.i.31–34)
Symbols
Taming of Wild Animals
• In the case of the courtship between Beatrice and Benedick, the
symbol of a tamed savage animal represents the social taming that
must occur for both wild souls to be ready to submit themselves to the
shackles of love and marriage.
• “In time the savage bull doth bear the yoke.”
War
• Leonato relates to the other characters that there is a “merry war”
between Beatrice and Benedick: “They never meet but there’s a
skirmish of wit between them.”
Hero’s Death
• She must symbolically die and be reborn pure again in order for
Claudio to marry her a second time.