MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING

ENGL 263

A report on the research findings on Shakespeare’s stance on love in the play and
how gossip, conversation and overhearing advanced the plot in the play. Presented by
Visual Communication class of Communication Design Department.
 MUCH ADO ABOUT
NOTHING
ENGL
SHAKESPEARE’S STANCE ON LOVE

Shakespeare’s stance on love in this drama is influenced by three key factors

namely:

 Infidelity
 Deception
 The funniness of Love

Here is a breakdown of these factors in the play and how they affect
Shakespeare’s stance on love.

Infidelity; Infidelity is a constant presence in the play; it is through infidelity

that the 'ado' occurs and many characters seem obsessed with the idea that a
man cannot tell if his wife has been unfaithful, and it is a trap of this kind that
breaks up Claudio and Hero. Though this naturally turns out to be a mistake;
the connection between love and faithfulness is of great importance, as is seen
in scene 2 of act 3; where due to the inability of Claudio to tell whether Don
John’s accusations of Hero being unfaithful are true or not, he foolishly
believes it and ends up destroying their wedding ceremony in Scene 1 of Act 4.

Deception: Deception is essential to the ebb and flow of romance, Beatrice

and Benedick get together because of it and Claudio and Hero are broken up
by it; deception and trickery is used to expose true feelings throughout the play
and it is only when tested by these artificial means that such things come to
the fore. In Act 2 Scene 3 Benedick is duped by Don Pedro, Claudio and
Leonato as he eavesdrops on their conversation about Beatrice’s
immeasurable love for him and how she cannot openly express it for fear of his
rejection. A similar incident occurs in Scene 1 of Act 3 where Beatrice
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overhears Hero and Ursula discussing Benedick’s love for her and how she’s too
scornful to reciprocate.

Love is funny: A source of much of the plays comedy is in the humour; the
arguing between Benedick and Beatrice is funny because one understands that
they are in love. Ultimately the play asks the question "Is love worth all this?" the
title asks that question, we think Shakespeare answers "yes" but it is as all things
in this discipline (that is, drama) are; open to interpretation.

How Do Gossip, Conversation and Overhearing Advance the Plot in

the Play?

Much of the plot is moved along by characters eavesdropping on a conversation

and either misunderstanding what they overhear or being deceived by gossip or
by a trick. Hero, Claudio, Don Pedro and the rest trick Benedick and Beatrice by
setting them up to overhear conversations in which their friends deliberately
mislead them in Scene 3 of Act 2 and Scene 1 of Act 3 respectively. Don
John’s spiteful gossip makes Claudio and Don Pedro suspicious that Hero is
disloyal. The window trick, in which Borachio and the disguised Margaret make
love at Hero’s window in Act 3 Scene 2, is itself a sort of overhearing. In this
case, two people spying on the scene, Claudio and Don Pedro, misunderstand
what they see, because Don John has set it up to deceive them. The window
scene recreates the trick played upon Beatrice and Benedick, but with the
opposite effect. Instead of causing two people to fall in love, it causes Claudio to
abandon Hero in Scene 1 of Act 4.

In this same act, in the conversation between the Friar and Leonato, he makes it
known that he believes in Hero’s innocence and proposes that Leonato
announce that she has died. This dialogue helps Leonato to regain his
composure and reason like a sane man instead of doing something rash which
he might have later regretted.

Finally, at the end of the play, overhearing restores order. The men of the Watch,
upon hearing Borachio brag about his crime to Conrad, arrest him and bring him
to justice in Scene 3 Act 3.
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