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The Mary Poppins Returns star gives a behind-the-scenes look at her new film. Much Ado About Nothing Accompanying Don Pedro are two of his officers: In the days leading up to the ceremony, Don Pedro, with the help of Leonato, Claudio and Hero, attempts to sport with Benedick and Beatrice in an effort to trick the two into falling in love. Meanwhile, the villainous Don John, with the help of his allies Conrade Riki Lindhome and Borachio Spencer Treat Clark , plots against the happy couple, using his own form of trickery to try to destroy the marriage before it begins.

A series of comic Which never works because there's never enough contrast. There is no Black, there is no White It's tedious Grey, start to finish. Comparing this to the 's version is completely unfair, as in spite of 20 years of technological upgrades, the "original" sounds, looks and just feels better. This is using a TV-actor cast, and it unfortunately shows, as it's just wooden. The charm, banter and wit of the original movie or story is completely lost because nobody looks like they are actually enjoying themselves - making for a very strange "comedy".

Visit Prime Video to explore more titles. Find showtimes, watch trailers, browse photos, track your Watchlist and rate your favorite movies and TV shows on your phone or tablet! Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. Full Cast and Crew. A modern retelling of Shakespeare's classic comedy about two pairs of lovers with different takes on romance and a way with words. Joss Whedon written for the screen by , William Shakespeare play.

Related News Justice League movie review: The Whedonverse Repertory Company. Our Most-Anticipated Releases. Shakespeare Adaptations From Best to Worst. The tricks have the desired effect: Meanwhile, Don Pedro's brother Don John, the "bastard prince", plots to stop the wedding, embarrass his brother and wreak misery on Leonato and Claudio.


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He informs Don Pedro and Claudio that Hero is unfaithful, and arranges for them to see John's associate Borachio enter her bedchamber where he has an amorous liaison actually with Margaret, Hero's chambermaid. Claudio and Don Pedro are taken in, and Claudio vows to humiliate Hero publicly. At the wedding the next day, Claudio denounces Hero before the stunned guests and storms off with Don Pedro.

Her humiliated father Leonato expresses the wish that she would die.

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The presiding friar intervenes, believing Hero to be innocent. He suggests the family must fake Hero's death in order to extract the truth and Claudio's remorse. Prompted by the day's harrowing events, Benedick and Beatrice confess their love for each other. Beatrice then asks Benedick to slay Claudio as proof of his devotion, since he has slandered her kinswoman. Benedick is horrified and at first denies her request.

Leonato and his brother Antonio blame Claudio for Hero's apparent death and challenge him to a duel.

Much Ado About Nothing | Royal Shakespeare Company

Benedick then does the same. Benedick is following the commands of Beatrice and is one of the few who believe Hero. Luckily, on the night of Don John's treachery, the local Watch apprehended Borachio and his ally Conrade. Despite the comic ineptness of the Watch headed by constable Dogberry , a master of malapropisms , they have overheard the duo discussing their evil plans.

The Watch arrest the villains and eventually obtain a confession, informing Leonato of Hero's innocence. Though Don John has fled the city, a force is sent to capture him. Claudio, stricken with remorse at Hero's supposed death, agrees to her father's demand that he marry Antonio's daughter, "almost the copy of my child that's dead" [3] and carry on the family name. At the wedding, the bride is revealed to be Hero, still living.

Beatrice and Benedick, prompted by their friends' interference, finally and publicly confess their love for each other. As the play draws to a close, a messenger arrives with news of Don John's capture — but Benedick proposes to postpone his punishment to another day so that the couples can enjoy their new-found happiness. Don Pedro is lonely because he hasn't found love. Thus Benedick gives him the advice "Get thee a wife. Stories of lovers deceived into believing each other false were common currency in northern Italy in the sixteenth century.

The earliest printed text states that Much Ado About Nothing was "sundry times publicly acted" prior to and it is likely that the play made its debut in the autumn or winter of — The play was published in quarto in by the stationers Andrew Wise and William Aspley. This was the only edition prior to the First Folio in The play is one of the few in the Shakespeare canon where the majority of the text is written in prose.

Sicily was ruled by Aragon at the time the play was set. Benedick and Beatrice quickly became the main interest of the play, to the point where they are today considered the leading roles, even though their relationship is given equal or lesser weight in the script than Claudio and Hero's situation. While this was reflected and emphasized in certain plays of the period, it was also challenged.


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  • Much Ado About Nothing: Entire Play!

It seems that comic drama could be a means of calming such anxieties. Ironically, we can see through the play's popularity that this only increased people's interest in such behavior. Benedick wittily gives voice to male anxieties about women's "sharp tongues and proneness to sexual lightness". This stereotype is turned on its head in Balthazar's song "Sigh No More," which presents men as the deceitful and inconstant sex that women must suffer.

A theme in Shakespeare is cuckoldry or the infidelity of a wife. Several of the characters seem to be obsessed by the idea that a man has no way to know if his wife is faithful and therefore women can take full advantage of that fact. Don John plays upon Claudio's pride and fear of cuckoldry, which leads to the disastrous first wedding. Many of the males easily believe that Hero is impure and even her father readily condemns her with very little proof.

This motif runs through the play, often in references to horns, a symbol of cuckoldry. In contrast, Balthasar's song " Sigh No More " tells women to accept men's infidelity and continue to live joyfully. Some interpretations say that Balthasar sings poorly, undercutting the message.

This is supported by Benedick's cynical comments about the song, where he compares it to a howling dog. However, in the Branagh film Balthasar sings beautifully, the song is also given a prominent role in both the opening and finale and the message appears to be embraced by the women in the film.

In Much Ado About Nothing , there are many examples of deception and self-deception. The games and tricks played on people often have the best intentions—to make people fall in love, to help someone get what they want, or to lead someone to realize their mistake. However, not all are meant well, such as when Don John convinces Claudio that Don Pedro wants Hero for himself, or when Borachio meets 'Hero' who is actually Margaret, pretending to be Hero in Hero's bedroom window.

These modes of deceit play into a complementary theme of emotional manipulation and the ease with which the characters' sentiments are redirected and their propensities exploited as a means to an end. The characters' feelings for each other are played as vehicles to reach an ultimate goal of engagement rather than seen as an end in themselves.

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People are constantly pretending to be others or being mistaken for other people. An example of this is Margaret who is mistaken for Hero, which leads to Hero's public disgrace at her wedding with Claudio. However, during a masked ball in which everyone must wear a mask, Beatrice rants about Benedick to a masked man who turns out to be Benedick himself but she acts unaware of this at the time. During the same celebration, Don Pedro, masked, pretends to be Claudio and courts Hero for him.

After Hero is announced "dead," Leonato orders Claudio to marry his "niece," who is actually Hero in disguise. Another motif is the play on the words nothing and noting , which in Shakespeare's day were near- homophones. The title could also be understood as Much Ado About Noting.

Much Ado About Nothing

Much of the action is in interest in and critique of others, written messages, spying , and eavesdropping. This is mentioned several times, particularly concerning "seeming," "fashion," and outward impressions. Nothing is a double entendre ; "an O-thing" or "n othing" or "no thing" was Elizabethan slang for " vagina ", evidently derived from the pun of a woman having "nothing" between her legs.

For I have only been silent so long And given way unto this course of fortune By noting of the lady. Thou knowest that the fashion of a doublet, or a hat, or a cloak is nothing to a man. A triple play on words in which noting signifies noticing, musical notes and nothing occurs at 2. Or if thou wilt hold longer argument, Do it in notes. Note this before my notes: There's not a note of mine that's worth the noting.

Why, these are very crotchets that he speaks — Note notes, forsooth, and nothing!