Shakespeare

1
Shakespeares Much Ado About Nothing
2
Dramatis Personae

• Don Pedro, Prince of Arragon
• Don John, his bastard brother
• Claudio, young lord of Florence
• Benedick, young lord of Padua
• Leonato, Governor of Messina
• Antonio, his brother
• Balthasar, attendant on Don Pedro
• Borachio, follower of Don John
• Conrade, follower of John
• Friar Francis
• Dogberry, a constable
• Verges, a kind of village mayor (headborough)
• A Sexton
• A Boy
• Hero, daughter of Leonato
• Beatrice, niece to Leonato
• Margaret and Ursula, attendants to Hero
• Messengers, Watch, Attendants, c.

3
Setting

• The city of Sicily in Messina

4
Plot Lines in the Play

• Beatrice Benedick

Claudio Hero
Don Pedro Don John
5
The Plays Title

• Think about the title for a moment.  To
  Shakespeare's audience, "Nothing" would have been
  pronounced "noting" and meant more than just 
  "nothing." 

The word also meant "to note" as to take notice
of something, or "noting" as in musical
notation.   
While reading, consider the following questions
1. Is the play just a little romance about
"nothing" that is truly important?  2.
What are we to think about the mis-use of
"noticing" (eavesdropping, gossip, slander,
mistaken views)? 
6
The Play

• Date Written Probably 1598.
• First Performance Probably December 1598 or
  early in 1599.
• First Printing 1600
• Probable Main Sources A short tale by Matteo
  Bandello (1485-1561), an Italian writer who
  became a bishop in France Orlando Furioso, a
  great epic poem, by Ludovico Ariosto
  (1474-1535). 
• Type of Play Much Ado About Nothing is a comedy
  centering on the activities of two war heroes and
  the women they love. Shakespeare shifts back and
  forth between the stories of the couplesBenedick
  and Beatrice, Claudio and Herointerweaving them
  into a unified whole.

7
Structure of the Play (Act I II)

• Act I
• Scene 1 Introduction of Beatrice Benedick
  Conflict
• Scene 2 Antonio Relays Heresay to Leonato
• Scene 3 Introduction of Don John Don Pedro
  Conflict

Act II Scene 1 The Masquarade Scene 2 Don
Johns Plot Scene 3 The Gulling of Benedick
8
Structure of the Play (Act III IV)

• Act III
• Scene 1 The Gulling of Beatrice
• Scene 2 Don John Lays The Trap for Claudio
  Don Pedro
• Scene 3 Dogberry The Watch
• Scene 4 Hero Preparing for Her Wedding Day
• Scene 5 Dogberry at Leonatos Door

Act IV Scene 1 The Shaming of Hero
Benedick/Beatrice Confessions of Love Scene 2
Dogberrys Examination of Barochio Conrade
9
Structure of the Play (Act V)

• Act V
• Scene 1 Benedick Confronts Claudio Leonatos
  Requirement
• Scene 2 Benedick Tries to Write a Poem For
  Beatrice
• Scene 3 The Death Rebirth of Hero
• Scene 4 Two Marriages

10
The Three Unities

• The story observes the three unities place,
  time, and action established by ancient Greek and
  Renaissance writers

Plutarch

1. It takes place in one locale,

(2) It lasts about a single day
Aristotle
(3) It has one main story although some view one
or the other of the two love stories as a subplot
Machiavelli