GCSE English Literature Much Ado About Nothing Revision Guide from a Grade 9 student: contains key quotes, analysis, themes and act and scene summaries
GCSE English Literature Revision
Much Ado About Nothing
Characters: Themes:
Leonato Love & Marriage
Hero Friendship & Loyalty
Claudio Honour & Reputation
Antonio Deception &
Beatrice Misunderstanding
Benedick Gender
Don Pedro
Don John
Dogberry
Context:
context - the social, political and historical circumstances surrounding a text
Considerations of a Play:
setting
props
audience
style
staging
aside - when a character speaks quietly to another character on stage, intended to be heard by
the audience but not by everyone on stage
soliloquy - the act of speaking one’s thoughts aloud when by oneself or regardless of any hearers
Title Analysis:
Much Ado About Nothing - 1600
‘ado’ ‘nothing’
- excitement - no thing
- fuss - Victorian slang for vagina
- emotional upset
Thus, it is about being overdramatic. It is a
dramatic comedy.
Structure of a Dramatic Comedy:
harmony
complication
disorder / chaos
resolution
restoration / celebration
Music and Dancing:
Music is a technique used in dramatic comedies, eg. Balthasar’s song before Benedick is tricked
into falling in love (A2, S3). This contrasts to his song in A5 S3 where Don Pedro and Claudio
mourn at Hero’s ‘tomb’.
In A2 S1, Beatrice compares the stages of romance to different dances to show that
relationships have a predictable pattern, eg. ‘wooing, wedding and repenting is as a Scotch jig,
a measure and a cinque pace.’
At the end of the play, dancing is also used to reflect the celebratory mood, symbolising the
comedy’s happy ending; ‘strike up pipers!'.
The Author:
Euphuism:
euphuism - an ornate style of writing marked by the excessive use of alliteration, antithesis and
mythological similes and metaphors
, This style comes from the works of John Lyle. He explored writing in a genre that was
deliberately mannered and elevated.
He was one of the central influences on Shakespeare’s own writing.
The word is taken from one of Lyle’s own characters, meaning ‘graceful’ and ‘witty’ in Greek.
The style is constructed using very particular rhetorical techniques including:
antithetical balance - sentences are comprised of two matched clauses with contrasting
meanings
aural ornateness - this in its antithetical balance gives rise to a certain tone in delivery
oppositions - the contrasts are often implied by phonological patterning (eg. alliteration) or
similar spelling or punctuation
conflicting meaning - generated by puns
Shakespearian Comedies:
comedy - a story of the rise in fortune of a sympathetic central character (Aristotle’s
definition)
Some features of a Shakespearian comedy include:
love and foolishness as a driving force
language, including clever wordplay, metaphors and insults
farcical behaviour, people laugh at what they would like to do, that society prevents them to
complex plots, often ridiculous, awkward or difficult scenarios - reflecting real life.
mistaken identities or misunderstandings, including disguises and the villain’s intentional
plans.
These are also shown in ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’.
It mustn’t be painful or destructive like the mental anguish of a tragedy.
Characterisation:
Duality of Characterisation:
There are many opposites of characters, known as the duality of characterisation. These
include:
Claudio highlighting Benedick’s cynicism
Hero’s passiveness emphasising Beatrice’s assertive nature
These paired characters are as foit to each other.
as foit - opposites
Beatrice:
Antonio’s daughter is witty, erudite, boisterous, confident, astute, piercing, belittling and
shrewd.
shrewd - sharp in practical manners
Hero:
Leonato’s daughter is passive, reserved and subservient.
subservience - serving or acting of less importance
Hero and Leander:
This was a legend where Hero killed herself dramatically after finding her lover had died.
The name Hero would have suggested faithfulness to love. This would have added to the shock
of Hero’s dishonour for the audience (A4 S1).
dishonour - shame and disgrace
Benedick:
Don Pedro’s friend is witty, cynical and possibly misogynistic to a modern audience, eg.
insulting Beatrice (A2, S1).
misogynist - a person who dislikes or hates women
Claudio:
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