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Home , Dogberry, Much Ado, Much Ado About Nothing

About Nothing s m a r t by SHARING MASTERWORKS OF ART November 2017 These study materials are produced by Bob Jones University for use AN EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH OF BOB JONES UNIVERSITY with the Classic Players production of .

“ If her breath were as terrible as her terminations, there were no living near her.” —Benedick

“ I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a man swear he loves me.” —Beatrice

Erin Naler as Beatrice and Paul Radford as Benedick, Classic Players 2017

More than 400 years after its first appearance in London, appropriately to the things we see and hear. Sometimes we make Much Ado About Nothing remains a popular stage play with mistakes because someone else has deliberately deceived us. both actors and audiences. Perhaps its success stems from At other times we err accidentally because of our own fallible Shakespeare’s compelling presentation of a number of themes nature, or worse, we deceive ourselves into misjudging another with universal appeal, especially those related to courtship and person or misconstruing a situation. marriage. In the plot of Much Ado young romantic love and All such serious considerations aside, Shakespeare makes us faith at first fail, but ultimately true love triumphs. laugh along the way as his passionate plot moves toward a con- In a broader sense, Much Ado About Nothing deals with the ways clusion that embraces penitence, reconciliation and harmony. human beings perceive one another. We often fail to respond Much Ado About Nothing: Title and Date

Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing prone to error and misinterpretation of consists of two interlocking plots that are people and events. tied together by the characters Claudio “Noting” can bring about both negative Don John and Benedick, two companions of Don and positive results. On the one hand, A Plain-Dealing Villain Pedro, the prince of Arragon. Although Hero’s suffering is brought about by what Don John is the illegitimate these two men are friends, they are polar other characters profess to have “noted” opposites in personality. Claudio is quiet about her. On the other, the Friar “notes” brother of Don Pedro, Prince and passive; Benedick, talkative and ener- certain qualities in Hero that convince of Arragon. Shakespeare getic. The women they fall in love with, him she is an innocent young woman. presents him in Much Hero and Beatrice, are also foils, or con- Beatrice and Benedick come together as Ado as a stereotypical trasting characters. a couple as a result of their friends’ secret character who needs no The action and theme of the plot featuring “notings.” But it is the “noting” performed motivation for his villainy. these four characters are summed up in by and the Watch that ulti- Before the action of the Shakespeare’s most intriguing title, Much mately shapes events and relationships for Ado About Nothing. All the “ado” in the good and brings about a festive ending to play begins, he has led a rebellion against his play—the hustle, bustle, fuss and flurry— Much Ado About Nothing. brother. Although an illegitimate son in the is based on the insubstantial nature, or Finally, the word “noting” was also used playwright’s day often was not afforded the “nothingness,” of the villain Don John’s in the late 16th century to refer to music- financial and social advantages his legitimate false report about Hero. Claudio rejects his making, or the singing and playing of siblings might enjoy, Shakespeare does not bride at the altar on the basis of hearsay “notes.” Shakespeare created the role of have Don John verbalize this or any other and misinterpretation of an event that was Balthasar in Much Ado for an actor who motive for his revolt. staged to deceive him. Other characters can sing and play a musical instrument to also blindly accept false information and intensify the drama of the script. Scholars As the plot of Much Ado unfolds, Don John slander without questioning the source. have conjectured that a well-known com- schemes to destroy the love of Claudio and Thus in the only truly serious part of the poser and singer from Shakespeare’s day, Hero, again for no apparent reason. He does, plot of Much Ado, Shakespeare explores Jack Wilson (c. 1585–c.1641), was an however, express resentment of Claudio, who the ways in which human relationships early, if not the first, Balthasar. can be destroyed by “nothing.” has won military honors in the recent war Just before singing “Sigh No More, to overthrow him. He refers to himself as a In a sense, much of the dialogue of Much Ladies” in Act 2, Balthasar to Don “plain-dealing villain,” one who makes no Ado is “nothing” because it has so little Pedro, “There’s not a note of mine that’s substance. The witty insults Beatrice and worth the noting.” Ultimately, however, excuses for himself or his general antipathy Benedick hurl at each other are airy and music signifies harmony and happiness in to love and faith. inconsequential. The two analyze each Much Ado. The play ends with Benedick’s Don John may be a prototype for the slander- other’s phrases and turn them on end resolve: “I do purpose to marry; I will ous in or Edmund in , as a kind of “merry war,” “a skirmish of think nothing to any purpose that the characters whom Shakespeare would create wit.” Their style is brilliant, polished and world can say against it, ... for man is a sophisticated, and their words are as sharp giddy thing, and this is my conclusion.” roughly six years later. But he does not worry as daggers. But when we examine their The final line of the play, also spoken by audience members in the way the villains of lines for substance, we find them to be no Benedick, is “Strike up, music.” the tragedies do because he is not capable of more than shallow, trifling talk. feigning that he is other than he is. We never The play dates from around 1598, a period “Let but Beatrice and really believe that Don John’s plotting will suc- in which the words “nothing” and “noting” ceed because he does not hide the truth about were pronounced alike. (Cf. Esther and Benedick be seen; his own destructive nature. Thames.) Shakespeare uses this word to refer to one person’s observing, eavesdrop- lo, in a trice, the His flight and apprehension are mentioned in ping on, or overhearing another person’s Cockpit, Galleries, a cursory way, but he does not appear onstage words. All the characters in Much Ado in Shakespeare’s festive finale. constantly engage in “noting” each other. Boxes are all full.” Their eavesdropping makes them more —Leonard Digges (1640)

2 Much Ado About Nothing: The Short of It The prince of Arragon, Don Pedro, marry even though their friends surmise denounces and refuses to marry Hero, returns from war with his victorious that the two are falling in love. who faints and is presumed to be dead. troops and his malicious half-brother, Don Pedro makes arrangements for At Beatrice’s urging, Benedick challenges Don John, who provoked the war but Claudio to marry Hero, but on the eve- Claudio to a duel over the honor of Hero. for the time being seems reconciled to ning before the wedding, Don John tricks Before the combat can begin, however, Don Pedro. The governor of , Claudio into believing that Hero has Don Pedro uncovers the truth about Don Leonato, invites the royal brothers and been unfaithful to him. Soon thereafter John’s plot to disgrace Hero. their followers, most notably Benedick the bungling local constables Dogberry Believing that Hero is dead, Claudio and Claudio, to be guests in his home. and Verges stumble upon the truth con- agrees to make amends for his false accu- There Claudio quickly falls in love with cerning Don John’s villainous slander. sations against his bride by marrying Leonato’s daughter and only child, Hero. The two police officers are unable, how- her cousin. When his unknown bride is At the same time Benedick exchanges ever, to communicate their vital discov- unveiled at the wedding, all the romantic witty barbs with Beatrice, the niece of ery to Leonato, who is making last-min- conflicts of the plot are quickly resolved, Leonato. Both Benedick and Beatrice, ute preparations for Hero and Claudio’s and the play ends with a joyful celebra- however, swear that they will never wedding. At the altar Claudio harshly tion of love.

Past Productions Nina Jean Lester as Beatrice, 1941

Beneth Jones as Beatrice and Bob Jones III as Benedick, 1963 Katie Meadows as Beatrice and Lonnie Polson as Benedick, 1994

“Man is a giddy thing, Don Ryerson as Benedick and Sharon Woodruff as and this is my Beatrice, 1975 conclusion.”

Erin Jones as Beatrice and Stephen Jones as Benedick, 2007 Richard Rupp as Dogberry, 1975

3 Don Pedro Don John

Benedick

Leonato Claudio

Beatrice

Hero

Dogberry “Coming to the Ark”: Couples in Much Ado different in others. Both plots feature a own “pride and scorn” and, in her wittiest male character who renounces his potential manner, bids it “adieu.” Similarly, female partner because of his pride. Benedick is caught in “Cupid’s trap” and Claudio’s pride stems from his shallow immediately changes, declaring, “I will be sense of honor—Benedick’s from his selfish horribly in love with [Beatrice].” desire to remain independent. Similarly, In most productions Benedick and Hero and Beatrice are opposites in person- Beatrice hold audience interest to a great- ality, but their destiny is the same, for in the er degree than Claudio and Hero do. In end true love prevails for both. the early years after its appearance in Shakespeare brilliantly melds the two London, Much Ado About Nothing was plots together and brings both of them performed several times at the court of to a climax at Act 4, Scene 1, the scene King James I. In 1613 Shakespeare’s of Claudio and Hero’s disrupted wed- troupe, the King’s Men, performed the Like several other Shakespearean come- ding. The crisis for the bride and groom comedy as part of the festive celebration dies, Much Ado About Nothing culminates becomes the turning point in Benedick for the marriage of James’ daughter, in betrothal for more than one couple. In and Beatrice’s relationship. Claudio’s Princess Elizabeth, to the Elector Palatine. the cases of Claudio and Hero and unjust accusation that Hero is an impure Later King Charles I, who owned a Benedick and Beatrice, both pairs are well young woman ignites a new sense of unity of Shakespeare’s work on their way to being man and wife at the and trust between Benedick and Beatrice. (1632), wrote on the Much Ado title page, close of the play. In terms of dramatic They join forces to exonerate their friend. “Bennedik and Betrice.” When in 1861 structure the story of Claudio and Hero Interestingly, Shakespeare wrote the the French composer would appear to be the main plot of the Claudio/Hero plot largely in poetry— wrote an opera based on Much Ado, he play. It is complete with a villain who his unrhymed iambic pentameter—and named his work Béatrice et Bénédict. would destroy the love of two beautiful the Benedick/Beatrice plot in prose. This Granted, Claudio and Hero are a bland young people. distinction is appropriate to his character- couple compared to Benedick and The story of Benedick and Beatrice is, in ization, for Claudio and Hero have a Beatrice. But Shakespeare has constructed turn, generally regarded as the play’s sec- formal, traditional courtship. Marriage is Much Ado in such a way that without ondary plot, a sequence of events that a socio-economic arrangement for them, Don John’s slander and Hero’s subsequent simultaneously parallels and contrasts made by Don Pedro and Leonato. They “death,” there could be no meeting of the with the plot of Claudio and Hero. It also do not communicate directly until after minds and no confession of mutual love serves to add interest and suspense to the they are betrothed. Then after Don John for Benedick and Beatrice. The villainy main plot. Instead of clashing with a vil- persuades Claudio that Hero is a “rotten that temporarily separates Claudio and lain who creates an impediment to their orange” who has been foisted off on him Hero brings Benedick and Beatrice love, Benedick and Beatrice themselves through an arranged marriage, he together. create the gulf of words that separates repudiates her publicly. Thus good comes from ill, and them as lovers. Benedick is a confirmed But Benedick and Beatrice are not a con- Shakespeare once again demonstrates his bachelor, and Beatrice preaches against ventional pair. They do not subscribe to skill at weaving together multiple plots in marriage. But while both of them scoff at the romantic norms that their more docile such a way that they become inseparable. the very idea of romance, audience mem- friends take for granted. Instead they are bers see through this appearance to the plain-spoken, disdaining romantic conven- reality of their attempts to hide their true tion and responding to each other with attraction to each other. brilliant wit, intoned with cool detach- As part of the play’s exposition, ment. The one exception to this distinc- Shakespeare creates a prior relationship for tion is that after Beatrice “overhears” her Benedick and Beatrice. The lines suggest friends speak of Benedick’s love for her, that in the past the two have had an unsuc- she bursts out into poetry, decrying her cessful attempt at romance or at least a sig- own pride and vowing to tame her wild nificant quarrel, but this is not a well- heart to Benedick’s “loving hand.” developed part of the play’s exposition. Thus the mistress of words finally suc- The Claudio/Hero and Benedick/Beatrice cumbs to words herself. She dismisses the plots are similar in some respects and “much ado” she has created through her 6 Love affairs that are Dogberry: “Enter Will Kemp.” fostered by talk roles of Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Costard in Love’s Labour’s Lost, “And I have also seen a woman fall pas- Launce in The Two Gentlemen of Verona sionately in love with someone for whom and Launcelot Gobbo in The Merchant of to begin with she felt not the slightest Venice. Kemp’s athleticism and ad lib lines affection, and this only from hearing that endeared him to theater audiences. many persons believed the two were in Armin succeeded Kemp and changed the image of the chief company clown by his love with each other. And this, I think, approach to such roles as Touchstone in was because she took what everyone and in . thought as sufficient proof that the man In the words of Charles Boyce, “Armin concerned was worthy of her love; and it was a small man whose skills were verbal almost seemed that what was common and musical, in contrast to the physical humor of Kemp, and he was accordingly opinion served to bring from her lover better cast as a clever fool than a messages that were truer and more cred- We can gain valuable insight into bumbling clown.” Shakespeare’s characters in the few ible than his own letters or words, or any Like Beatrice and Benedick, the constable instances in which the playwright or his Dogberry likes to hear himself talk. But go-between, could have communicated. scribe, presumably inadvertently, recorded rather than displaying a dazzling wit like in a speech prefix the name of the actor Thus if something is generally known theirs, he slaughters words. He aims to who played a certain role in the play’s and talked about, far from doing harm, employ a vocabulary that is far beyond his debut performance instead of the name facility to comprehend. For this character this may prove advantageous.” of the character who speaks the lines. Shakespeare created a large number of , Throughout Act 4, Scene 2 of Much Ado malapropisms. In other words, Dogberry The Book of the Courtier (1528) About Nothing—the scene in which the often mistakenly uses a word that is Sexton examines Borachio and Conrade similar in sound to the word he intends after their arrest by the Watch—the pre- but completely different in meaning. For fixes for the character Dogberry indicate example, he uses the word “humility” that the lines were spoken by Will Kemp. instead of “vanity” and even confuses “Shakespeare Rather than “Enter Dogberry,” the stage “damnation” with “salvation.” Coming directions read, “Enter Will Kemp.” represents a from his mouth, words are not components We know from sources outside Much Ado of but rather impediments to facts. world … in which that Will Kemp was the chief company Dogberry’s absurd logic and linguistic clown for Shakespeare’s acting troupe until confusion make him one of the most only the most 1599, when he was replaced by Robert amusing characters Shakespeare ever Armin. After the change in company per- created. He has been called the play- accidental of sonnel, Shakespeare changed the essence wright’s “first great comic creation.” of the characters he created for his chief Dogberry serves as head of the local night clown, creating a new kind of fool who, providences can watch, a crew of simple, incompetent rather than an ignorant fellow, is aware of policemen charged with keeping the peace. his folly and intends to sound foolish. save an innocent As their leader, Dogberry is tediously Shakespeare wrote the last role for Kemp, devoted to details and procedures, yet woman from the i.e., Dogberry, in late 1598 or early 1599. he entirely misses the spirit and intent of Later in 1599 he wrote the first role for the law. With his bumbling manner and effects of slander Armin, Touchstone in As You Like It. incomprehensible speech, he unintention- There are no fools in the other two plays ally confuses Verges, the second in com- and a man from Shakespeare wrote in 1599, and mand, and the other watchmen. . Like many of the other characters in Much death by combat.” In addition to the Dogberry speech pre- Ado, Dogberry possesses a notable degree fixes, Kemp’s name appears in a speech of pride. He sees himself as far superior —Claire McEachern prefix for Peter in . Scholars conjecture that he also took the continued on next page 7 continued from page 7 in position and wealth to his partners. However, because he has difficulty comprehending words, Duties of the Night Watch he is not easily insulted. When Leonato calls him Verges. If you hear a child cry in the night, you must call to the Nurse and “tedious,” he takes the remark as a compliment. bid her still it. But when Conrade calls Dogberry an “ass”—a 2nd Watch. How if the Nurse be asleep and will not hear us? term derived from a donkey, or domestic ass, Dogberry. Why then depart in peace, and let the child wake her with crying, and used in Shakespeare’s day to denote a vain, for the ewe that will not hear her lamb when it baes will never hear a calf self-important, stupid person—his pride is deeply when he bleats. wounded. He remains fixated on this insult until —Much Ado About Nothing, 3.3.65–72 his final exit. But even though Dogberry and the Watch are “No man shall, after the hour of nine at night, keep any rule whereby any inept, it is they who expose Don John’s slander of such sudden outcry be made in the still of the night, as making any affray Hero. In the words of Harold C. Goddard, “These or beating his wife or servant or singing or reveling in his house, to the plain watchmen in the routine performance of disturbance of his neighbors.” their duty uncover the truth that has evaded the clever and sophisticated.” —The Statutes of the Street (1595) Ironically, even before the wedding, the Watch unwittingly exposes Don John’s villainous plan to “As breaches of the peace commonly occur by blasphemy, it follows that deceive Claudio into publicly renouncing Hero as one who fears God must ‘necessarily keep the peace.’ And the fact men- promiscuous. Accordingly, they arrest Borachio tioned that ‘one who keeps the peace ought to enter into a quarrel with and Conrade. Then Dogberry seeks out Leonato, fear and trembling’ applies, no doubt, to the legal attitude such a person father of the bride, even in the midst of the last- would occupy, for in law one who is not in the peace himself cannot have minute wedding preparations. But he is so long- his peace disturbed.” winded and imprecise that Leonato fails to get the point and sends Dogberry off to interrogate his “That the thief should be let go or even the crying child abandoned if the prisoners and prepare a written report of Nurse could not be found is, indeed, an extreme criticism of such officers’ their offenses. duties, and the ignorance of such officer is presented by the fact that it was Had Leonato comprehended the information not known that a lamb bleats, while a calf baes.” Dogberry proffers, the entire complication of the —Edward Joseph White plot would have been averted. We know, however, Commentaries on the Law in Shakespeare (1913) that in the scenes that pass between the arrest of Don John’s two agents of villainy and the final festive ending, the young couples learn valuable lessons about love and faith. And during the time they are developing toward maturity, Dogberry Shakespeare’s Sources and his fellows keep the audience well entertained. The story of a bridegroom who is tricked into renouncing his bride as The comic relief he and the Watch provide helps unfaithful exists in many variant forms, beginning with ancient Greek to maintain the comic tone of Much Ado even as literature. But Shakespeare’s main source for the Claudio-Hero plot was Hero’s potentially tragic plight unfolds. Then, in most likely Ariosto’s long poem titled (1516). In keeping the words of Charles Boyce, Dogberry’s “arrival as with his usual practice of blending various sources, the playwright also a comical deus ex machina resolves the plot on a employed some details from a novella by Bandello, another 16th-century note of hilarity.” Italian writer. In addition, he may well have been familiar with the version of the tale in ’s Faerie Queene (Book 2, Canto 4) and/or other English works derived from Ariosto. On the other hand, the Benedick-Beatrice plot is Shakespeare’s own creation. So is the plot involving the comic arresting officers Dogberry, Verges and the Watch. The incompetent constable was a type character on the English stage. Some five years before writing Much Ado, Shakespeare created a prototype of Dogberry, Constable Dull in Love’s Labour’s Lost.

These materials are original and ©2017, Bob Jones University, Dr. Janie Caves McCauley, writer. All rights reserved. No part of this study guide may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

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