Key Quotes ‘Much Ado About Nothing’
● Love And Marriage
● Deception/Appearance Vs Reality/Noting
● Reputation and Honour/Youth +Wisdom
● Transformation
● Conflict
Act 1 Scene 1
Messenger Tells Leonato About Don Pedro Coming To Messina. Benedick And Beatrice First Meet.
Benedick and Claudio discuss views on Hero and marriage. Don Pedro arrives and tells Claudio he can
marry Hero.
● ‘ Doing in the figure of a lamb the feats of a lion’ →Claudio is strong and brave but also
Young, Naive and Gullible, (Animal imagery). → Links to later in the play : ‘Sir Boy’ ‘My
Lord Lackbeard’ . → Claudio’s age is now mocked rather than celebrated as they are not at
war anymore so it doesn’t matter.
● ‘ How much better is it to weep at joy than to joy at weeping’ → Good Vs Bad
→Foreshadowing Don John’s attitude and deceptions → Links to later in the play (Act 4
Scene 1) where Claudio isn’t upset about Hero’s weeping, instead he finds it as an admission
of guilt.
● ‘ Is Signor Mountanto Returned from the wars or no ?’ → Beatrice is ironic as she doesn’t
want to show anyone that she cares about Benedick →this is the first thing she says, she
checks if he is alive whilst wrapping it up in an insult foreshadowing the ‘Merry War’. →
Also suggests Sexual innuendo → ‘mountanto’ means Upwards Thrust in fencing terms
suggesting she is ridiculing his soldering → Links to later in the play (Act 4 Scene 1) , ‘Signor
Benedick’. → the way Beatrice addresses him through the play transforms.
● Merry War … Skirmish Of Wit’
‘ → The Oxymoron suggests that unlike the serious war that
has just ended, this war is more playful and less deadly. → Links to later on in the play (Act
2 Scene 1) → ‘I’ll be revenged as I may’ where the‘Merry War’ becomes much less Merry.
● ‘He hath every month a new sworn brother’ → Beatrice suggests that Benedick is disloyal
and that his words mean nothing → foreshadows their previous relationship → Links to
later in the play (Act 4 Scene 1) → ‘do not swear it and eat it’ → she can no longer trust his
words because she knows him too well.
● ‘I wonder that you will still be talking Signor Benedick, Nobody marks you’ → Ironic →she’s
the only person who’s paying attention to him.
● My dear Lady Disdain, Are you yet Living’
‘ → Compliments her then insults her, he is also
surprised she’s still disdainful →foreshadows change in their relationship. ‘My lady Tongue’
‘This Harpy’ ‘Lady Beatrice’ the way Benedick addresses her develops with their relationship
● ‘Courtesy itself must convert … then is courtesy a turn-coat’ →foreshadows change and
transformation of their relationship over the course of the play.
● ‘I am loved of all ladies, only you excepted’ →Ironic - She is the only person who loves him,
he also sees this as a challenge
● ‘I know you of old' → foreshadows their previous relationship ‘ I know you of old’→ Links to
He lent it me a while’
later in the play (Act 2 Scene 1) ‘ → their relationship was temporary
and it started the Merry War and caused Beatrice not to be able to trust him.
● ‘Didst thou note the daughter of Signor Leonato’ → Noting/Nothing → Appearance Vs
Reality, Introducing difference between attitudes of Benedick and Claudio in regards to love
→ Links to courtly love (Elizabethan Context)
● ‘Thrust thy neck into a yoke’ → believes that marriage is a trap also suggests that marriage
is a weight on him → Links to later in the play → 'the savage bull doth bear the yoke'
, ● 'Can the world buy such a jewel' → Objectification of Hero, she is an object to be won →
Links to later in the play (Act 4 Scene 1) →'this rich and precious gift' → Claudio is still
objectifying Hero but here it is much more harsh and aggressive due to the plosives in the
phrase.
● 'You speak this to fetch me in my lord'→ Ironic - he lacks trust and he expects to be
deceived, he's later deceived twice and believes it instantly. → Links to later in the play (Act
3 Scene 2) ‘When you know what I know’ → Claudio has just been deceived by Don John and
yet still believes him instantly, shows that the people who are meant to be wise are often
fools and the fools are often wise when it counts the most.
● 'With anger,with sickness, or with hunger' → Links to marriage further on in the play → Also
Links to love sickness in Elizabethan Context
Act 1 Scene 2
Antonio thinks that Don Pedro is in love with Hero, There was Miscommunication and Misconception.
● 'We will hold it as a dream till it appear itself' → Appearance Vs Reality
Act 1 Scene 3
Don John talking to Conrade about his hatred of his brother. Barachio tells him about Claudio's
marriage to Hero.
● 'I cannot hide what I am' → can't hide his true self, he accepts that he is a villain → Links to
'I am A Plain-Dealing Villain'
● 'What is he for a fool who betroths himself to unquietness' → Sees women and marriage as
bad
● 'That young upstart hath all the glory of my overthrow' → Don John is jealous of Claudio as
Claudio gained reputation and appreciation from Don Pedro in the light of Don John's Defeat.
Act 2 Scene 1
Masked Ball Scene, Beatrice presents her views on men and marriage,Beatrice and Benedick Argue,
Claudio is deceived for the first time.
● ‘If a could get her good will’ →Beatrice still shows that the woman has a choice on who she
marries → Links to later in the play (Act 5 Scene 4) → ‘If you like of me’ Claudio takes on
Beatrice’s ideals and respects the women, he takes away power from itself and gives it to
Hero
● ‘He shows me where the bachelors sit, and there we live merry as the day is long’ →Beatrice
sees being equal to men as her idea of heaven, she has the power to make her own choices in
live despite what society tells her
● ‘It is my cousin's duty to make curtsy and say, father as it please you’→ Beatrice is aware
of the way society works and she knows that Leonato has total control over Hero due to their
reputations and status in society.
● ‘Make another curtsy and say,father as it please me’ → Beatrice encourages Hero to make
her own decisions as she knows that Hero could say no but wont as she is the typical
Elizabethan woman.
● ‘Would it not grieve a woman to be overmastered with a piece of valiant dust’ → Grieve at a
funeral → Beatrice believes that she would die if she married a man. All surface metaphor
valuing the woman → ‘Overmastered’ → she would lose all power if she married a man →
Links to later in the play (Act 5 Scene 4) → ’Peace I will stop your mouth’→ After Beatrice
Marries Benedick she doesn’t have the same freedoms and speaks no more in the play.
● ‘Wooing,Wedding and Repenting’ → Wooing is exciting, Weddings are official, you will
regret men. Benedick also shares this view. → Links to Later in the play (Act 5 Scene 3), this
● Love And Marriage
● Deception/Appearance Vs Reality/Noting
● Reputation and Honour/Youth +Wisdom
● Transformation
● Conflict
Act 1 Scene 1
Messenger Tells Leonato About Don Pedro Coming To Messina. Benedick And Beatrice First Meet.
Benedick and Claudio discuss views on Hero and marriage. Don Pedro arrives and tells Claudio he can
marry Hero.
● ‘ Doing in the figure of a lamb the feats of a lion’ →Claudio is strong and brave but also
Young, Naive and Gullible, (Animal imagery). → Links to later in the play : ‘Sir Boy’ ‘My
Lord Lackbeard’ . → Claudio’s age is now mocked rather than celebrated as they are not at
war anymore so it doesn’t matter.
● ‘ How much better is it to weep at joy than to joy at weeping’ → Good Vs Bad
→Foreshadowing Don John’s attitude and deceptions → Links to later in the play (Act 4
Scene 1) where Claudio isn’t upset about Hero’s weeping, instead he finds it as an admission
of guilt.
● ‘ Is Signor Mountanto Returned from the wars or no ?’ → Beatrice is ironic as she doesn’t
want to show anyone that she cares about Benedick →this is the first thing she says, she
checks if he is alive whilst wrapping it up in an insult foreshadowing the ‘Merry War’. →
Also suggests Sexual innuendo → ‘mountanto’ means Upwards Thrust in fencing terms
suggesting she is ridiculing his soldering → Links to later in the play (Act 4 Scene 1) , ‘Signor
Benedick’. → the way Beatrice addresses him through the play transforms.
● Merry War … Skirmish Of Wit’
‘ → The Oxymoron suggests that unlike the serious war that
has just ended, this war is more playful and less deadly. → Links to later on in the play (Act
2 Scene 1) → ‘I’ll be revenged as I may’ where the‘Merry War’ becomes much less Merry.
● ‘He hath every month a new sworn brother’ → Beatrice suggests that Benedick is disloyal
and that his words mean nothing → foreshadows their previous relationship → Links to
later in the play (Act 4 Scene 1) → ‘do not swear it and eat it’ → she can no longer trust his
words because she knows him too well.
● ‘I wonder that you will still be talking Signor Benedick, Nobody marks you’ → Ironic →she’s
the only person who’s paying attention to him.
● My dear Lady Disdain, Are you yet Living’
‘ → Compliments her then insults her, he is also
surprised she’s still disdainful →foreshadows change in their relationship. ‘My lady Tongue’
‘This Harpy’ ‘Lady Beatrice’ the way Benedick addresses her develops with their relationship
● ‘Courtesy itself must convert … then is courtesy a turn-coat’ →foreshadows change and
transformation of their relationship over the course of the play.
● ‘I am loved of all ladies, only you excepted’ →Ironic - She is the only person who loves him,
he also sees this as a challenge
● ‘I know you of old' → foreshadows their previous relationship ‘ I know you of old’→ Links to
He lent it me a while’
later in the play (Act 2 Scene 1) ‘ → their relationship was temporary
and it started the Merry War and caused Beatrice not to be able to trust him.
● ‘Didst thou note the daughter of Signor Leonato’ → Noting/Nothing → Appearance Vs
Reality, Introducing difference between attitudes of Benedick and Claudio in regards to love
→ Links to courtly love (Elizabethan Context)
● ‘Thrust thy neck into a yoke’ → believes that marriage is a trap also suggests that marriage
is a weight on him → Links to later in the play → 'the savage bull doth bear the yoke'
, ● 'Can the world buy such a jewel' → Objectification of Hero, she is an object to be won →
Links to later in the play (Act 4 Scene 1) →'this rich and precious gift' → Claudio is still
objectifying Hero but here it is much more harsh and aggressive due to the plosives in the
phrase.
● 'You speak this to fetch me in my lord'→ Ironic - he lacks trust and he expects to be
deceived, he's later deceived twice and believes it instantly. → Links to later in the play (Act
3 Scene 2) ‘When you know what I know’ → Claudio has just been deceived by Don John and
yet still believes him instantly, shows that the people who are meant to be wise are often
fools and the fools are often wise when it counts the most.
● 'With anger,with sickness, or with hunger' → Links to marriage further on in the play → Also
Links to love sickness in Elizabethan Context
Act 1 Scene 2
Antonio thinks that Don Pedro is in love with Hero, There was Miscommunication and Misconception.
● 'We will hold it as a dream till it appear itself' → Appearance Vs Reality
Act 1 Scene 3
Don John talking to Conrade about his hatred of his brother. Barachio tells him about Claudio's
marriage to Hero.
● 'I cannot hide what I am' → can't hide his true self, he accepts that he is a villain → Links to
'I am A Plain-Dealing Villain'
● 'What is he for a fool who betroths himself to unquietness' → Sees women and marriage as
bad
● 'That young upstart hath all the glory of my overthrow' → Don John is jealous of Claudio as
Claudio gained reputation and appreciation from Don Pedro in the light of Don John's Defeat.
Act 2 Scene 1
Masked Ball Scene, Beatrice presents her views on men and marriage,Beatrice and Benedick Argue,
Claudio is deceived for the first time.
● ‘If a could get her good will’ →Beatrice still shows that the woman has a choice on who she
marries → Links to later in the play (Act 5 Scene 4) → ‘If you like of me’ Claudio takes on
Beatrice’s ideals and respects the women, he takes away power from itself and gives it to
Hero
● ‘He shows me where the bachelors sit, and there we live merry as the day is long’ →Beatrice
sees being equal to men as her idea of heaven, she has the power to make her own choices in
live despite what society tells her
● ‘It is my cousin's duty to make curtsy and say, father as it please you’→ Beatrice is aware
of the way society works and she knows that Leonato has total control over Hero due to their
reputations and status in society.
● ‘Make another curtsy and say,father as it please me’ → Beatrice encourages Hero to make
her own decisions as she knows that Hero could say no but wont as she is the typical
Elizabethan woman.
● ‘Would it not grieve a woman to be overmastered with a piece of valiant dust’ → Grieve at a
funeral → Beatrice believes that she would die if she married a man. All surface metaphor
valuing the woman → ‘Overmastered’ → she would lose all power if she married a man →
Links to later in the play (Act 5 Scene 4) → ’Peace I will stop your mouth’→ After Beatrice
Marries Benedick she doesn’t have the same freedoms and speaks no more in the play.
● ‘Wooing,Wedding and Repenting’ → Wooing is exciting, Weddings are official, you will
regret men. Benedick also shares this view. → Links to Later in the play (Act 5 Scene 3), this
