Much Ado aboutNothing - Study Guide

Act I

Scene 1

  1. The messenger tells Leonato, governor of Messina, that the men are returning form battle. What information does he give him about the following: Claudio, Benedick, and Don Pedro?
  2. How would you describe Beatrice based on your first impression?
  3. In the discussion between Beatrice and Benedick, what feelings about marriage do they both claim to share?
  4. What did Beatrice mean in call Benedick by the name Mountanto?
  5. What does Benedick say that shows he could be considered a braggart and a ladies man?
  6. What do we learn about Don John from Leonato’s words of welcome?
  7. When Claudio and Benedick are left alone, what does Claudio ask if Benedick notices? As you read the play, pay attention to other instances of “noting” or not “noting” someone.
  8. Why does Benedick seem opposed to marriage?
  9. When Benedick says he will stay a bachelor, what does Don Pedro predict?
  10. What does Don Pedro tell Claudio that he Don Pedro will do that night at the masked ball?

Scene 2

  1. What misinformationdoes Antonio give to Leonato?
  2. Where has he gotten his information?

Scene 3

  1. How does Don John explain his depression to Conrade, one of his followers?
  2. What does Conrade suggest he do?
  3. How does Don John describe himself?
  4. How did Borachio find out about Claudio and Don Pedro’s plan?
  5. How does Don John react to Borachio’s news?
  6. Explain Don John’s remark about Claudio, “That young start-up hath all the glory of my overthrow.”
  7. When a half-brother appears in a Shakespeare play, he usually is a resentful, angry villain. Explain how the law of primogeniture in the 16th century might have been a cause of this resentment? (Yes, use the Internet)
  8. How does Don John’s personality and behavior contrast with everyone else we have seen thus far?

Quotes – Speaker and Meaning

  1. "There is a kind of merry war betwixt Signior Benedick and her. They never meet but there's a skirmish of wit between them." (I, i, 50)
  2. "Because I will not do them the wrong to mistrust any, I will do myself the right to trust none; and the fine is (for the which I may go the finer), I will live a bachelor." (I, ii. 208-210)
  3. "It must not be denied but I am a plain-dealing villain." (I, iii, 25)

Act II

Scene 1

  1. What do Leonato and Antonio say to Beatrice to tease her?
  2. What does Beatrice have against marriage?
  3. As the people enter the ballroom, how do they pair off?
  4. How does Beatrice insult Benedick? A little latter, how does the reader know that Benedick is upset?
  5. Don John sees his brother speaking of love to Hero. Then he sees one man still wearing a mask, and he learns from Borachio that the masked man is Claudio. Why does Don John ask Claudio if he is Signior Benedick?
  6. When he is alone, what is Claudio’s response to the news that Don John has just given him?
  7. After Benedick enters and annoys Claudio so much that Claudio walks off, what is Benedick’s reaction to Beatrice’s earlier insult?
  8. To what does Benedick compare Claudio? What is being suggested about Claudio?
  9. For what reason does Benedick exit in such a hurry
  10. What is Don Pedro’s opinion of Beatrice?
  11. Who will work toward the match of Beatrice and Benedick?
  12. How is Beatrice also a foil for Benedick?

Scene ii

  1. Explain Borachio’s scheme to end the marriage plans of Claudio and Hero? What is Don John’s part in the plan?
  2. According to Borachio, why will Margaret cooperate in this?

Scene iii

  1. What is the point of Benedick’s soliloquy?
  2. What does Benedick do as Leonato, Claudio, and Don Pedro enter? Why does he do this?
  3. What does Don Pedro notice?
  4. In the conversation they hold for Benedick’s sake, how do Claudio and Leonato explain the fact that while Beatrice frequently insults Benedick, she claims to love him?
  5. Describe three reasons that convince Benedick that these men are telling the truth.
  6. Identify two reasons that Benedick decides to return Beatrice’s love.
  7. When Beatrice announces dinner to Benedick, what is his reaction to her comments?

Quotes – Speaker and Meaning

  1. “Happy are they that hear their detractions and can put them to mending.”
  2. “But doth not the appetite alter? A man loves the meat in his youth, that he cannot endure in his age.”
  3. “Shall quips and sentences, and these paper bullets of the brain, awe a man from the career of his humor?”

Act III Study Guide

Scene 1

  1. What does Hero tell Margaret to do? What does Hero tell Ursula to do?
  2. To what animal does Hero compare Beatrice?
  3. In the following lines Hero explains to Ursula why Benedick should not tell Beatrice his feelings. Explain them:

But nature never fram’d a woman’s heart

Of prouder stuff than that of Beatrice

Disdain and scorn ride sparkling in her eyes,

Misprising what they look on; and her wit

Values itself so highly, that to her

All matter else seems weak. She cannot love,

Nor take no shape nor project of affection,

She is so self-endeared.

  1. For what reasons does Beatrice decide to return Benedick’s love.

Scene 2

  1. Why does Don Pedro say he chose Benedick to accompany him to Arragon after Claudio’s wedding? What is Benedick’s reaction?
  2. Why does Benedick leave with Leonato?
  3. Describe how Claudio and Don Pedro respond to Don John’s accusations against Hero.
  4. What do Claudio and Don Pedro plan to do if what Don John says is true?

Scene 3

  1. What is the job of the watch?
  2. What does Dogberry tell them to do if they have trouble?
  3. After Dogberry leaves, what do the members of the watch conclude?
  4. Borachio starts to relate why he got 1000 ducats from Don John. Why does he digress?
  5. Why were Claudio and Don Pedro so easily fooled in the garden?
  6. Of what crime does the watch accuse Conrade and Borachio?

Scene 4 - none

Scene 5

  1. Why does Leonato become impatient with Dogberry and Verges?
  2. An number of times in this scene, Dogberry misuses words in his attempts to use impressive language. What words should he have used instead of the words “confidence,” “decerns,” “comprehended,” “auspicious,” and “suffignance?”
  3. When Leonato says, “Neighbours, you are tedious,” how does Dogberry interpret this comment?
  4. What information does the messenger give Leonato?

Quotes – Speaker and Meaning

  1. “Well, every one can master a grief, but he that has it.” (scene ii)
  2. “Leonato’s Hero, your Hero, everyman’s Hero?” (scene ii)

Act IV Study Guide

Scene 1

  1. After making a number of short comments, Claudio finally gets to the point. What does he say about both the appearance and the reality of Hero? His statement is one of the man examples of irony in the play regarding the confusion of appearance and reality.
  2. Once Leonato understand what Claudio means, what does he initially suppose caused Claudio to condemn Hero?
  3. When Leonato turns to Don Pedro for help, what is the prince’s response?
  4. What proof does Don Pedro give to support this low opinion of Hero?
  5. Claudio tells us that he shall “lock up all the gates of love.” Why will he do this?
  6. Once Leonato believes all this of Hero, what is his reaction when she faints?
  7. What is the friar’s opinion, and what is his suggestion?
  8. What is the friar’s object in doing this? What does the friar represent?
  9. What does Leonato mean when he says, “Being that I flow in grief/ The smallest twine may lead me.”
  10. What is Benedick’s reaction to all this, and what is Beatrice’s reaction?
  11. How does Beatrice get Benedick to agree to be her instrument of revenge?
  12. Describe Leonato’s reaction to Claudio’s accusation in this scene and summarize the events that follow.

Scene 2

  1. How does Dogberry’s limited knowledge of language add to the humor of this scene?
  2. In the examination of the witnesses, what does Dogberry think is very important?
  3. What do you suppose there is about Dogberry that makes him a typical comic figure in a Shakespearean comedy?
  4. How had Conrade wounded Dogberry and what is her response?

Quotes – Speaker and Meaning

  1. "You seem to me as Dian in her orb, As chaste as is the bud ere it be blown;
    But you are more intemperate in your blood
    Than Venus, or those pamp'red animals
    That rage in savage sensuality." (IV, i, 56-60)
  1. "I love you with so much of my heart that none is left to protest." (IV, i, 284-285)
  2. "I cannot be a man with wishing; therefore I will die a woman with grieving." (IV, i, 320-321]

Act V Study Guide

Scene 1:

  1. How do the dynamics between Leonato and Antonio change in the course of this scene?
  2. Do Claudio and Don Pedro display any remorse for the death of Hero in the first 200 lines of this scene?
  3. When Benedick challenges Claudio, what is Claudio’s reaction?

Scene 2:

  1. Who does Benedick meet at the opening of the scene?
  2. Why has Benedick had trouble writing a love poem for Beatrice?
  3. Does Beatrice come when she is called by Benedick?
  4. What news did Beatrice want to find out?
  5. What does Benedick tell Beatrice about Claudio?
  6. For which of Benedick's bad parts did Beatrice first fall in love with him?
  7. Why does Benedick suffer love for Beatrice?
  8. Why can't Benedick and Beatrice woo peaceably?
  9. Who is Don Worm?

Scene 3:

  1. What is the happening and where does the action take place?
  2. After reading the epitaph, what does Claudio do with the scroll?
  3. Who sings the hymn to Hero?
  4. Who is the goddess of the night?
  5. How often does Claudio vow to perform this rite?
  6. At what time of day do they end their rite?
  7. Who dismisses the mourning company?
  8. What will Claudio and Don Pedro do next?

Scene 4:

  1. Given all that has happened to her, why would Hero go ahead and marry Claudio?
  2. What reasons do Beatrice and Benedick give in the end for marrying each other

Who said the following?

  1. "I say thou has belied mine innocent child; / Thy slander hath gone through and through her heart, / And she lies buried with her ancestors - / O! in a tomb where never scandal slept, / Save this of hers, fram'd by thy villainy!" Act 5, Scene 1, lines 67-71
  2. "I have deceived even your very eyes: what your wisdoms could not discover, these shallow fools have brought to light, who in the night overheard me confessing to this man, how Don John your brother incensed me to slander the Lady Hero." Act 5, Scene 1, lines 243-248
  3. "I have drunk poison while he utter'd it." Act 5, Scene 1, line 258
  4. "Though you and I are too wise to woo peaceably." Act 5, Scene 2, line 76
  5. "And when I liv'd I was your other wife; / And when you lov'd, you were my other husband...One Hero died defil'd, but I do live, / And surely as I live, I am a maid." Act 5, Scene 4, lines 60-64
  6. "In brief, since I do purpose to marry, I will think nothing to any purpose that the world can say against it; and therefore never flout at me for what I have said against it; for man is a giddy thing, and this is my conclusion." Act 5, Scene 4, lines 106-110