Much Ado about Nothing (Vol. 31) | B. K. Lewalski (essay date 1968)
B. K. Lewalski (essay date 1968)
SOURCE: "Love, Appearance and Reality: Much Ado about Something," in Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900, Vol. VIII, No. 1, Winter, 1968, pp. 235-51.
[In the essay below, Lewalski discusses the influence of Neoplatonic and Christian concepts on Shakespeare's treatment of appearance vs. reality in Much Ado about Nothing and the notion of love's ability to distinguish between the two.]
The titles Shakespeare gave to his great romantic comedies—Much Ado About Nothing, As You Like It, Twelfth Night, or What You Will—suggest that the works are mere divertissements, light entertainments. Naturally enough, Shakespeare's own unassuming pose has often been taken at face value. Critics have been quick to pay tribute to the charm and sheer delightfulness of these works—the witty, graceful, loveable heroines, the atmosphere charged with music and song, the wise humaneness of Shakespeare's...
[The entire page is 6705 words long]
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