Much Ado About Nothing Flashcards
When was the play written and performed
Scholars agree sometime between late 1598 and 1599
In Messina it appers there are only 2 ways of thinking about love, what are they
One is Benedick cynical view of thinking about marriage, love and cuckoldry
the other is the version of courtly idealistic love
What did King Charles 1 rename Much Ado about nothing
Beatrice and Benedict
What is Benedick view of love
love is a trap
marriage is a prison women are delivers and every husband an eventual cuckold
What did William G McCollum say of love in the play
’ much ado is very popular with audiences but less so with critics because it appeared to lack the serious exploration of love found in the other comedies
What did Dover Wilson say Of Beatrice
Beatrice is perhaps the first woman in our literature, perhaps in the literature of Europe who not only has a brain but delights in the constant employment of it.
what does no one in the play appear to be able to think beyond
the aristocratic code of honour
What does the metaphoric language of the play constantly figure speech as
phallic and capable of violent penetration
Examples of Phallic language
Leonato tells Claudio that his slander has gone ‘through and through’ the heart of Hero
‘Mr Swordthrust’- Benedick nicknamed
What does Ewan Farnie say of shame in the play
shame remains a largely male affair
Why does Friar Francis have no wish to challenge or subvert the plays system of patriarchal authority
the conspiracy to fake Hero’s death and construct her re birth leavers the male ideology that leaves the male ideology that created the entire crisis virtually intact
How might the pervasive masculinity that characterises the play be read pcyhoanalytically
as castration anxiety
What does Ewan Fernie say of shame in the play
it remains largely a male affair
In the play the charecters seem to be in love not with their partners but with what?
convenient and fickle images of them presented by others
