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Much Ado About Nothing
One of the major themes in Much Ado About Nothing is cuckoldry. At the time Shakespeare wrote this play, cuckold jokes were extremely popular. Benedick suggests at one point that he's afraid of...
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Much Ado About Nothing
When the play begins, Benedick and Beatrice are already in love, but both of them are too proud to admit that they love one another. Benedick hides his feelings by pretending to be a ladies' man...
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Much Ado About Nothing
It's Act II Scene I in Much Ado About Nothing and Leonato and Beatrice are engaging in another round of witty bantering. During their verbal sparring Beatrice refers to the old proverb "God sends a...
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Much Ado About Nothing
In Act 1, Scene 1 of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, we learn a few things about Beatrice: she has an adversarial relationship with Benedick, she is clever and witty, she doesn't fully accept...
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Much Ado About Nothing
The relationship between Hero and Leonato is a close one. Hero is Leonato's only child; not surprisingly, she is his pride and joy. As with any father of the time, Leonato is very much a creature...
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Much Ado About Nothing
I am going to go out on a limb here and say something that might be unpopular. No, I do not think that Claudio deserves Hero. If she were my friend in real life, I would absolutely tell her to dump...
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Much Ado About Nothing
Borachio and Margaret have an affair in Much Ado About Nothing. Borachio purposely times having sex with Margaret in view of a window as a part of Don John's plan to trick Claudio and Don Pedro...
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Much Ado About Nothing
Don John is the illegitimate brother of Don Pedro. He is seen by other characters as sad and is criticized for not being talkative. His social status as “the Bastard” relegates him to the...
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Much Ado About Nothing
Don Pedro, the Prince of Arragon, and Leonato, Governor of Messina, plot to make Beatrice and Benedick fall in love. Don Pedro tells his friend Benedick, “I shall see thee, ere I die, look pale...
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Much Ado About Nothing
Leonardo describes the relationship between Benedict and Beatrice thusly, There is a kind of merry war betwixt Signior Benedict and her. They never meet but there's a skirmish of wit between...
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Much Ado About Nothing
Beatrice and Benedick’s relationship changes throughout the play. Before we even meet Benedick, Beatrice asks pointed questions about him. Leonato reveals that “There is a kind of merry war...
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Much Ado About Nothing
If you are referring to Antonio's advice to Leonato in Act 5, Scene 1, Antonio advises Leonato to be patient and to make sure that the ones who have offended him suffer too. Act 5, Scene 1 begins...
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Much Ado About Nothing
In Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, one major difference between Claudio and Benedick is that Claudio is depicted as a much more typical hero. He is characterized as valiant, handsome, and as...
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Much Ado About Nothing
In Act 1 of Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare begins setting up the two central conflicts. The first conflict is between Prince Don Pedro and his illegitimate brother Don John. As an illegitimate...
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Much Ado About Nothing
Don John spoiled the wedding because he was bitter and wanted to make his brother look bad. He was the illegitimate brother, you see. Don Pedro was the legitimate brother. Don John wanted to make...
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Much Ado About Nothing
You're right on the money. Benedick is convinced that any woman he married would cheat on him. This would make him a cuckold, and cuckolds were indeed depicted as having horns. (Incidentally, there...
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Much Ado About Nothing
In William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, we find a handful of characters who become entangled in the complexities of romantic love. Beatrice and Benedick are two sides of the same coin--...
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Macbeth
Shakespeare presents his female characters in a variety of ways in both tragedies and comedies. It is easier to specifically compare Macbeth to Much Ado About Nothing than to make generalizations....
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Much Ado About Nothing
Foils are characters that contrast with one another so that the author can highlight important details or traits of each person. In Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare implements many different...
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Much Ado About Nothing
One lesson learned from the theme of identity is that too much of a woman’s identity is tied up in her chastity. In the seventeenth century, women had no rights. When Hero is denounced on her...
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Much Ado About Nothing
The play is entertaining because it is a comedy about love with an element of drama. Most of the entertainment value from the play comes from the squabbles of the lovers Benedick and Beatrice....
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Much Ado About Nothing
As with all Shakespeare's plays, the intended audience is the English community flooding his playhouse The Globe in the late 1500's. Most of these comprised in the groundlings, spots available...
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Macbeth
Lady Macbeth is a somewhat more complex villain than Don John for several reasons. Macbeth is a tragedy and Much Ado About Nothing is not. Much Ado is a comedy, and it does not require...
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Much Ado About Nothing
Claudio represents a male-dominated society where women were expected to remain chaste before marriage. There is a definite double-standard represented in the play. Shakespeare’s play involves...
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Much Ado About Nothing
Dogberry is used for comic relief in the play. As the constable he is supposed to be investigating the case of Don John, who viciously set up Hero and Claudio, but actually he is fairly...
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Much Ado About Nothing
Claudio and Leonato turn against Hero, even with little proof that she has done something wrong. Hero’s fiance and father both turned against her, and no one but Beatrice came to her defense....
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Much Ado About Nothing
Antonio is a minor but amusing character in Much Ado About Nothing. He comes across as hastier and more playful than his brother Leonato. He is the one who first reports Claudio’s interest in...
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Much Ado About Nothing
Don John is the prince Don Pedro’s illegitimate brother. The two have only recently become reconciled, but Don John still deeply resents Don Pedro. He feels trapped: “I had rather be a canker...
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Much Ado About Nothing
Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing is fraught with attention to language, word play, and the act of communicating (or not communicating!). The title itself is a lighthearted play on words:...
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Much Ado About Nothing
At the beginning of the play, Beatrice is strongly opposed to marrying. Her uncle Leonato laments that she will never marry because she is too picky and harsh, and she cheerfully agrees. First, she...
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Much Ado About Nothing
Don John wants to hurt his brother’s reputation by causing a scandal, so he interferes with Claudio and Hero’s wedding. Don John does not like his brother. He is illegitimate, and he resents...
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Much Ado About Nothing
First let's begin by recalling that, in the context of literature, a foil is a character that serves as the antithesis to another character, the point being to contrast and thus underscore certain...
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Rebecca
In Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House, Nora suffers due to oppression in the sense that her husband does not treat her as a real human being and attempts to control her. Nora finds ways out of her...
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Much Ado About Nothing
A research question for a piece of literature must be a question that you have to research to find the answer to; in other words, not a question that requires personal reflection, evaluation, or...
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Much Ado About Nothing
Don John, Borachio, and Conrade reverse the merrymaking at the beginning of Much Ado About Nothing. Don John asserts that he is “a plain-dealing villain” who wants to hurt his half-brother Don...
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Much Ado About Nothing
Hero and Claudio seem to have a simple love, especially in comparison to the complicated romance between Beatrice and Benedick. The two are archetypal lovers, young, bashful, and innocent. Claudio...
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Much Ado About Nothing
Beatrice does not defend Hero because she is a woman, so she asks Benedick to do it. Beatrice does defend her cousin, but not in the way you are thinking. She does not jump up and shout during the...
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Much Ado About Nothing
In the very first scene of Much Ado About Nothing, Beatrice asks about Benedick, making fun of him to a messenger: MESSENGER: I see, lady, the gentleman is not in your books. BEATRICE: No; an he...
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Much Ado About Nothing
Part of your answer can be found in eNotes's discussion of themes for this play, found here. Disguise and with it deception are used in Much Ado for both good and bad ends. Shakespeare shows us...
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Much Ado About Nothing
Claudio and Hero are particularly young. Benedick refers to Claudio as “Lord Lackbeard,” possibly referring to his youth. Claudio was attracted to Hero before he went to war, looking “upon...
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Much Ado About Nothing
Beatrice's characterization in Much Ado's Act IV scene i is quite conflicted. Her cousin Hero is about to marry Claudio when instead of marrying her, Claudio accuses Hero of sleeping with another...
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Much Ado About Nothing
Benedick makes a very sexist speech, but he is not really as bad as he seems. He is just in love. Benedick is in love with Beatrice (and she with him), but neither will admit it. He likes to play...
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Much Ado About Nothing
Love in Much Ado About Nothing is both precarious and enduring. On the one hand, significant events upset the romantic relationships. The lovers almost do not end up together. On the other hand,...
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Much Ado About Nothing
Don John is the villain of Much Ado About Nothing. By all appearances, he is sullen and quiet. When Leonato welcomes him into his home, Don John says that he is “not of many words.” Beatrice...
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Much Ado About Nothing
Everyone enjoys a good love story, or at least most people do. Even if one's name is Benedick or Beatrice, one might eventually conclude that all sexual bravado, drenched in barbed innuendo, is a...
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Much Ado About Nothing
Don Pedro is a character in Much Ado About Nothing, one of William Shakespeare's many popular plays. Pedro was a member of the Aragonian nobility, and he is often referred to as "Prince" in the...
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Much Ado About Nothing
As is frequent in Shakespeare's work, many of the characters are easily fooled in this play. Deception is neither good nor bad in every case; sometimes it is destructive, while sometimes it is...
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Much Ado About Nothing
If you are talking about romantic pairings, Much Ado About Nothing has a number of obvious couples as well as a few who could be interpreted as having subtle romantic tension. Beatrice and Benedick...
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Much Ado About Nothing
Leonato is speaking to his niece Beatrice in act II, scene 1. The scene begins with Beatrice commenting on Count John’s tart looks, noting that a mixture of the taciturn John and the talkative...
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Much Ado About Nothing
In Much Ado About Nothing, Hero is an innocent young woman. Claudio describes her as “a modest young lady,” and Beatrice notes her obedience: “it is my cousin's duty to make curtsy and say...
