Much Ado About Nothing

by William Shakespeare , Edited by Mary Berry , Michael Clamp

• ISBN13: 9780521426107
• ISBN10: 0521426103
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1992-10-30
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Great pains have been taken to follow Shakespeare's intentions with regard to the act and scene division and the exact form of speech. The editing has been done from the quarto or folio texts, depending on which is considered more authoritative, and the ideal has been to reproduce the chosen texts with as few alterations as possible. In order to help the reader and student, the annotations have been arranged on the relevant pages, providing an easily accessible and indispensable source of information.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
General Introduction	p. 1
Much Ado About Nothing and the Romantic Comedies	p. 1
Date	p. 5
Sources	p. 6
The Title	p. 14
Place and Setting	p. 16
Organizing the Dramatis Personae	p. 18
Lovers	p. 19
Brothers	p. 38
Gentlewomen, Conspirators, and Others	p. 42
Plot Construction	p. 48
Act, Scene, and Pace	p. 50
Contrasts and Links between Scenes	p. 52
Local Effects	p. 56
Stage History	p. 58
From Text to Prompt-Book	p. 70
Some Problems of Staging	p. 72
Some Recent Directions	p. 75
Textual Introduction	p. 79
'Staying' and Publication	p. 79
Setting the Text	p. 80
'Ghosts'	p. 81
Speech-Prefixes	p. 82
Entrances and Exits	p. 85
The Play in Folio	p. 86
Editorial Procedures	p. 88
Abbreviations and References	p. 90
Much Ado About Nothing	p. 93
Appendix: Music, Song, and Dance	p. 203
Index	p. 207
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