Much Ado About Nothing

ByWilliam Shakespeare

The backdrop to this slide is the official National Theatre poster

Much Ado About Nothing

• Was written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1596-1599

• It is a comedy. What does this mean? Discuss with a partner…

• In dramatic terms: a comedy is a play with a happy ending in which things could possibly turn tragically wrong but don’t. There will be some humour in a comedy

In fact Much Ado About Nothing is a Romantic Comedy• Romantic comedies are very popular films

today, here are a few examples of Romantic Comedies:

• Just Like Heaven• 10 Things I Hate About You• Four Weddings and a Funeral• Notting Hill

• Can you think of any more similar films which you would call a Romantic Comedy?

Pre-reading Speaking and Listening activity…

• In groups of roughly 4 persons, write a brief play script. The scenario is: a group of friends meet. Two of the friends used to ‘go out with’ each other, the girl is called Beatrice and the boy is called Benedick. They actually still have feelings for each other but try to pretend that they hate each other. They are rude and insulting to each other and try to get the better of each other all of the time…

• How do we lay out a play script??????

The SATs Shakespeare Paper

The paper is 45 minutes long. It assesses your reading.

You will have one task to respond to which will be on one or both of your set extracts from your set scenes: Act 1, Scene 1 – lines 1-123 and Act 2, Scene 1 – lines 183-end.

You will need to know the scenes well and to plan your answer. The question could focus on the following:

text in performancecharacter and motivationlanguage of the textideas, themes and issues

Watching the Film of Much Ado About Nothing

The Characters…• Benedick and Beatrice

Fill in the gaps plot summary based on watching the film

Complete attached worksheet

Women in the 1500’s

Women had very few rights during this time. Society in both England and Italy was very patriarchal – this means that society was dominated by men: girls had to obey their fathers and then their husbands. For daughters of noblemen (such as Leonato) their marriages were often arranged. Most importantly, a woman MUST be a virgin when she is married.

The fact that Claudio believed (wrongly) that Hero was not a virgin; A belief which caused him to publicly humiliate Hero on her wedding day; was, during the 1500’s a perfectly acceptable reaction. The fact that Leonato was so angry and violent towards Hero when she was declared a ‘loose’ woman was, again, a perfectly acceptable reaction in the 1500’s.

This is why Don John’s evil plan was such a good one!

Sample Introduction

Much Ado About Nothing is a comedy written by William Shakespeare. It is set in Messina, Italy in the sixteenth century. In lines 1-24 (Act 1, Scene 1) the audience learn that the Prince of Aragon is coming to Messina and that Claudio fought well in the recent battle.

Sample Paragraph

In the first twenty four lines of Much Ado About Nothing, the audience learn that Leonato is a wise man who has fought in wars,

‘A victory is twice itself when the achiever brings home full numbers.’

This quote suggests that Leonato knows what a war is and knows how wonderful it is not to lose too many soldiers. It also suggests that he knows exactly what it is like to lose many men in fighting.

P E E

Beatrice clearly has little faith in Benedick’s ability to fight like a brave man and a strong soldier. (This is the point.)

‘But how many hat he killed? Forindeed I Promised to eat all of his killing.’ (This is the

evidence.)This quote clearly reveals that Beatrice does not think very

highly of Benedick as it shows her doubting the number of men he could kill and it shows her being sarcastic. For if she offered to eat all of the men that he killed she cannot think he would kill very many. Hence, it clearly shows the audience that Beatrice does not hold Signior Benedick in very high esteem. (This is the evidence explained, clearly it links with the point.)

Worksheets

• Act 4, Scene 1• Act 5, Scene 4• Connectives• Romantic comedies• Sample introduction• Sample responses • SATs Practice Questions• National curriculum levels• The people• The set scenes