Much Ado about Nothing is a comedy by William Shakespeare. It is set in Messina, Sicily (which is in Italy) and is a comedy/love story about two pairs of lovers, Hero and Claudio and Benedick and Beatrice. This story is one of William Shakespeare's more popular plays.
The villain in this story is called Don John and he convinces Claudio that Hero is cheating on him and then he refuses to marry her whilst Benedick and Beatrice are tricked into confessing their true love for each other. In the end the Constable accidentally sorts everything out and everyone celebrates both marriages.
Don John (the villain) can't bear anyone else to be happy. He is an illegitimate child meaning his upbringing has been rocky and he is insecure, leading to his selfish behaviour getting the better of him throughout the play.
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| Plays | | Tragedies | |
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| Comedies | |
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| Histories | |
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| See also |
- Problem plays
- Late romances
- Characters
- Chronology
- Performances
- Settings
- Scenes
- Quarto publications
- First Folio
- Second Folio
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| Poems | |
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| Apocrypha | | Plays |
- Arden of Faversham
- The Birth of Merlin
- Cardenio*†
- Double Falsehood
- Edmund Ironside
- Fair Em
- Locrine
- The London Prodigal
- Love's Labour's Won†
- The Merry Devil of Edmonton
- Mucedorus
- The Puritan
- The Second Maiden's Tragedy
- Sejanus His Fall
- Sir John Oldcastle
- Sir Thomas More*
- The Spanish Tragedy
- Thomas Lord Cromwell
- Thomas of Woodstock
- Vortigern and Rowena
- A Yorkshire Tragedy
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| Poems |
- The Passionate Pilgrim
- To the Queen
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Life and works | |
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| Legacy |
- Attribution studies
- Authorship question
- Bardolatry
- Festivals
- Gardens
- Influence
- Memorials
- Screen adaptations
- Titles of works taken from Shakespeare
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| Family |
- Anne Hathaway (wife)
- Susanna Hall (daughter)
- Hamnet Shakespeare (son)
- Judith Quiney (daughter)
- Elizabeth Barnard (granddaughter)
- John Shakespeare (father)
- Mary Arden (mother)
- Gilbert Shakespeare (brother)
- Joan Shakespeare (sister)
- Edmund Shakespeare (brother)
- Richard Shakespeare (grandfather)
- John Hall (son-in-law)
- Thomas Quiney (son-in-law)
- Thomas Nash (grandson-in-law)
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- * Shakespeare and other authors
- † Lost
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