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A. R. Humphreys (essay date 1981)

SOURCE: Humphreys, A. R., ed. Introduction to The Arden Shakespeare: Much Ado about Nothing, by William Shakespeare, pp. 1-84. London: Methuen, 1981.

[In the following excerpt, Humphreys surveys the principal literary sources for Shakespeare's Much Ado about Nothing.]

(I) CLAUDIO AND HERO

GENERAL SURVEY

Stories of the lover deceived by a rival or enemy into believing his beloved false are widespread and of great antiquity. An analogue of the Claudio-Hero plot has been traced back to a fifth-century Greek romance by Chariton, Chaereas and Kallirrhoe. Seventeen Renaissance versions, narrative or dramatic, are recorded before Shakespeare's, in Spanish, Italian, French, German, and English. They include the fifteenth-century Spanish Tirant lo Blanch (Tirant the White) by Juan Martorell, which probably lies behind Ariosto's version in the fifth canto of Orlando...

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1. Introduction
2. Criticism: Overviews And General Studies
   1. A. R. Humphreys (essay date 1981)
3. Criticism: Character Studies
   1. Charles T. Prouty (essay date 1950)
   2. Richard A. Levin (essay date 1985)
   3. David Weil Baker (essay date 1998)
4. Criticism: Production Reviews
   1. Patrick Carnegy (review date 18 May 2002)
   2. Sarah Hemming (review date 8 August 2002)
   3. Gabriella Boston (review date 16 November 2002)
   4. Freddi Lipstein (review date spring-summer 2003)
   5. Russell Jackson (review date summer 2003)
   6. Martha Tuck Rozett (review date fall 2003)
5. Criticism: Themes
   1. Philip Traci (essay date fall 1982)
   2. John Drakakis (essay date 1987)
   3. Morriss Henry Partee (essay date 1992)
6. Further Reading
7. Copyright