Summary Key Moments and Quote Analysis: OCR GCSE English Literature, Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing
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Course
English
Institution
GCSE
A document containing a detailed account of key moments/themes supported by the analysis of key quotes, from Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing. These notes helped me achieve a Grade 9 (GCSE).
Much Ado about Nothing Key Moments and Quotes
Bea and B meet for the First Time
1. ‘a merry war’
Oxymoron
This makes it seem like, although Bea and B seem to hate each other, they enjoy
arguing/insulting the other.
2. ‘I wonder that you will still be talking, Signor Benedick. Nobody marks you.’
Is this to show us that even if Bea tries to hide how she feels about B, she still
subconsciously pays attention to him?
This is the first thing she says to him after he has returned from the war, she doesn’t
even say hello, she just goes straight into insulting him.
3. ‘my dear Lady Disdain! Are you yet living?’
‘my dear’ – is this used to show affection/a connection.
4. ‘I am of your humour for that’
Beatrice acknowledges that they are similar, and possible view each other as a
kindred spirit.
Meeting Don John for the First Time
1. ‘I cannot hide what I am. I must be sad when I have cause and smile at no man’s
jests; eat when I have stomach, and wait for no man’s leisure; sleep when I am
drowsy, and tend on no man’s business; laugh when I am merry, and claw no man in
his humour’
Don John is actually one of the most truthful people in the play, as he never hides
how he feels (unlike Ben and Bea, because, let’s face it, they are ‘horribly in love’).
2. ‘I am a plain dealing villain’
We have only just met him, and this is one of the first things he says.
Why? Is it just the way that comedies are structured e.g., introduce the main
protagonists/love interests and the villain quickly to get the audience involved in the
story?
3. ‘I’d rather be a canker in a hedge than a rose in [Don Pedro’s] grace’
‘a canker’ = a wild, diseased rose.
Don John recognises that he is flawed/unwell.
This idea of him being wild is continued further on when he compares himself to a
dog.
4. ‘I am trusted with a muzzle’
This comparison of him to a dog makes him seem wild and unpredictable.
Does this feeling of being muzzled have something to do with why him and his
brother fell out.
Insults at the Masked Ball
1. ‘[Benedick] is the Prince’s jester, a very dull fool.’
2. ‘I stood like a man at a mark with a whole army shooting at me’
, From what we’ve seen of B so far, only Bea seems to be able to make him so
vulnerable and actually get through the walls B has built around himself.
3. ‘every word stabs’
This is the first time we’ve ever seen B so emotional.
4. ‘I would not marry her’
But no one said anything about marriage before, so why is he mentioning it now?
Perhaps to show that despite his claims, he does in fact feel something for her.
Also, foreshadowing (and dramatic irony, creating humour).
Ben’s Views on Love and Marriage before being Tricked
1. ‘thrust thy neck into a yoke’
B sees marriage as something similar to servitude, or a chore, where you have little
to no freedom.
2. ‘I will live a bachelor’
He is very definite, and doesn’t seem like he would consider marriage for a second.
Ironic to the audience, because we know of Leo, Hero, and DP’s plan to get them
together.
3. ‘may I be so converted and see with these eyes? I cannot tell. I think not.’
‘I think not’ – is this just him talking about how he feels he has no capacity for love,
or is he possibly hinting that he might be interested in someone (Bea?)?, as he says ‘I
think’ instead of I know?
Ben’s Views on Love and Marriage after being Tricked
1. ‘I never thought to marry’.
This suggests that he is now.
2. ‘I will be horribly in love with her’.
Oxymoron
Links to idea of ‘suffering love’ for somebody.
‘horribly’ is a really strange word to use in this context. Does B use it because his
current feelings go against his former views or is it to say that ‘I will be so overly in
love with her….’?
3. ‘when I said I would die a bachelor, I did not think I should live till I were married’.
He has jumped straight from disliking the idea of marriage, to hearing about Bea’s
‘feelings’, and being so enthusiastic that he’s acting as if they are about to get
married.
It shows us that Ben is very quick to change his thought and opinions on stuff, and
that they can change on a whim. Also, shows that he was bluffing before about not
liking Bea.
Bea’s Views on Love and Marriage before being Tricked
Bea’s views on marriage are completely the opposite how women were supposed to view
love and marriage at the time. Why has Shakespeare chosen to write a play where one of
the main characters is so controversial in Elizabethan society?
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