Much Ado About Nothing: William Shakespeare - Softcover

Shakespeare, William

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0141396598 ISBN 13: 9780141396590

Publisher: Penguin Classics, 2015

Synopsis

'We go to Shakespeare to find out about ourselves' Jeanette Winterson

Beatrice and Benedick both claim they are determined never to marry. But when their friends trick them into believing that each harbours secret feelings for the other, the pair begin to question whether their witty banter and verbal sparring conceal something deeper. Schemes abound, dangerous misunderstandings proliferate and
matches are eventually made in this dazzling, dark-edged comedy of mature love and second chances.

Used and Recommended by the National Theatre

General Editor Stanley Wells
Edited by R. A. Foakes
Introduction by Janette Dillon

About this title

Review:

Like Love's Labour's Lost, Much Ado about Nothing shows Shakespeare moving into a more complex and darker terrain through his exploration of an apparently harmless comical romance. The play revolves around the adventures of the two gallants Claudio and Benedick at the court of Sicily. Claudio falls in love with the governor's daughter Hero, and is eager for his more misanthropic friend Benedick to also find love. Benedick is introduced to the fiery, independent Beatrice, and sparks soon fly as they banter with each other in a more wittier version of Kate and Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew. Beatrice has some wonderful ripostes to marriage asking why should a woman marry "a clod of wayward marl", whilst Benedick grumbles that "She speaks poniards and every word stabs". Meanwhile, the jealous Don John convinces Claudio that Hero has in fact been unfaithful to him. When Claudio rejects Hero on their wedding day, she faints and is taken for dead. In the hectic final scenes the play moves towards reconciliation between Claudio and Hero, and the tentative admission of the love between Benedick and Beatrice. Famously filmed by Kenneth Branagh in the Tuscan countryside with a cast that included Keanu Reeves, Much Ado about Nothing remains one of Shakespeare's most successful comedies. --Jerry Brotton.

Review:

Praise for "William Shakespeare: Complete Works: " A feast of literary and historical information. " The Wall Street Journal""

Praise for William Shakespeare: Complete Works: "A feast of literary and historical information." --The Wall Street Journal

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Classics
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 0141396598
• ISBN 13: 9780141396590
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 224