Much Ado About Nothing

by William Shakespeare , Edited by F. H. Mares , With contributions by Angela Stock

• ISBN13: 9780521532501
• ISBN10: 0521532507
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-04-21
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Much Ado has always been popular on the stage. This edition pays especial attention to the history and range of theatrical interpretation, in which the most famous actors, from the time of Garrick to the present, have appeared as the sparring lovers Benedick and Beatrice. A full commentary includes annotation of the many sexual jokes in the play that have been obscured by the complexity of Elizabethan language. For this updated edition Angela Stock has added a new section to the Introduction in which she reviews the romantic and the darker, more cynical aspects of the play in the light of late twentieth-century stage, film and critical interpretations. She also tackles the interesting question of Beatrice's proper age and the critical fortunes of Hero and Claudio in terms of the play's interest in sexuality and misogyny, eavesdropping and deception.

Table of Contents

Introduction, with new section by Angela Stock on recent stage and critical interpretations

Note on the text

List of characters

The play

Supplementary notes

Textual analysis

Appendixes: The time-scheme of Much Ado About Nothing

Lewis Carroll's Letter to Ellen Terry

Benedick's song

Reading list.