Much Ado About Nothing

Much Ado About Nothing boasts one of Shakespeare's most delightful heroines, most dancing wordplay, and the endearing spectacle of intellectual and social self-importance bested by the desire to love and be loved in return. It offers both the dancing wit of the "merry war" between the sexes, and a sobering vision of the costs of that combat for both men and women. Shakespeare dramatizes a social world in all of its vibrant particulars, in which characters are shaped by the relations between social convention and individual choice.

This edition of the play offers in its introduction and commentary an extensive discussion of the materials that informed Shakespeare's compositional choices, both those conventional sources and other contexts, from cuckold jokes to conduct books, which inform the ideas and identities of this play. Particular attention is devoted to Renaissance understandings of gender identity and social rank, as well as to the social valences of Shakespeare's stylistic choices. A treatment of staging possibilities offers illustrations drawn from the earliest and recent theatrical practices, and a critical history examines the fate of the play in the changing trends of academic scholarship.

From the Back Cover
The Arden Shakespeare is the established scholarly edition of Shakespeare's plays. Now in its third series, Arden offers the best in contemporary scholarship. Each volume guides you to a deeper understanding and appreciation of Shakespeare's work.

This edition of Much Ado About Nothing provides:

• A clear and authoritative text, edited to the highest standards of scholarship.
• Detailed notes and commentary on the same page as the text.
• A full, illustrated introduction to the play's historical, cultural and performance contexts.
• An in-depth survey of critical approaches to the play.
• A full index to the introduction and notes
• A select bibliography of references and further reading.

With a wealth of helpful and incisive commentary, The Arden Shakespeare is the finest edition of Shakespeare you can find.

About The Arden Shakespeare series
Arden Shakespeare is the most academically rigorous Shakespeare series in print, and the best-known English literature brand worldwide. In 1995 the Third Series of The Arden Shakespeare was launched. Now published under the imprint Arden Shakespeare, under the General Editorship of Richard Proudfoot, Ann Thompson, David Scott Kastan and Henry Woudhuysen, the Arden Shakespeare Third Series is nearing completion. Each new volume supersedes the corresponding Second Series text, being meticulously edited from the original sources by a contemporary scholar.

Contents

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List of Illustrations General Editors' Preface  The Text  Commentary and Textual Notes  Introduction Preface Introduction  Building a play: sources and contexts   The usual suspects: Ariosto and Bandello   Shakespeare's transformations of his sources: the creation of a social world   The maid   'How many gentlemen?'   The villain   The lover   Beyond the plot   Denouement   Dialogue and debate forms   Sexual stereotypes   Disdain   Modifications of type   Chaste, silent and obedient   Hero   Cuckolds  Structure and style   'The course of true love'   Two plots?   Style   Prose and the prosaic   Euphuism   Verbal handshakes   'The even road of a blank verse'   Image patterns   Songs  Staging Much Ado   Tonal choices   Social representations   Choice of place and time   Cultural moment   Afterlives   Origins  Criticism  Text   First impressions   Making a book   Who's in, who's out   Who gets to say what? Much Ado About Nothing Appendix: Casting chart Abbreviations and references Index