Cambridge Student Guide to Much Ado About Nothing

by Mike Clamp

• ISBN13: 9780521008242
• ISBN10: 0521008247
• Edition: Study Gui.
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-09-16
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

What is Much Ado About Nothing about? This Cambridge Student Guide will help students to evaluate the historical, social and cultural contexts for a broader understanding of Shakespeare's play. Contents include an introduction; detailed running commentary on the text; insight into historical, social and cultural contexts; analysis of the language; an overview of critical approaches and different interpretations; essay-writing tips and lists of recommended resources.

Table of Contents

Introduction	4	(1)
Commentary	5	(56)
Contexts	61	(16)
What did Shakespeare write?	61	(1)
What did Shakespeare read?	62	(2)
What was Shakespeare's England like?	64	(13)
The place of women in a patriarchal world	67	(2)
The Elizabethan social order	69	(1)
War, politics and male honour	70	(1)
The Elizabethan household	71	(1)
An age of ostentation	72	(1)
Law and order	73	(2)
Attitudes to love and marriage in Elizabethan England	75	(2)
Language	77	(11)
Imagery	77	(3)
Antithesis	80	(1)
Repetition	81	(1)
Lists	82	(1)
Malapropisms	83	(1)
Verse and prose	84	(3)
Songs	87	(1)
Critical approaches	88	(16)
Traditional criticism	88	(4)
Modern criticism	92	(11)
Feminist and political criticism	94	(4)
Performance criticism	98	(4)
Psychoanalytic criticism	102	(1)
Postmodern criticism	102	(1)
Conclusion	103	(1)
Organising your responses	104	(21)
Writing about an extract	104	(8)
Writing an essay	112	(6)
Writing about character	118	(6)
A note on examiners	124	(1)
Resources	125	(3)
Books	125	(3)
Films and audio books	128	(1)
Much Ado About Nothing on the Web	128