Much Ado About Nothing
1603
Much Ado About Nothing
1603
The most barbed and brilliant romantic comedy in the English language. Benedick and Beatrice trade insults like swords, each denying any feeling for the other until a well-meaning conspiracy forces them to overhear their friends discuss their secret love. Meanwhile, Claudio's swift engagement to Hero takes a deadly turn when the villainous Don John convinces him that his bride-to-be is unfaithful. What follows is a public humiliation so cruel it borders on tragedy, until the truth emerges and the lovers reunite. Shakespeare's gift here is showing us how easily we mistake pride for dislike, how we need others to witness our feelings before we dare believe them ourselves. Four centuries later, Much Ado About Nothing still cuts too close: we all know what it is to hide behind wit, to fear being made fools, to deny the very thing we want most.
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“Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more. Men were deceivers ever, One foot in sea, and one on shore, To one thing constant never. Then sigh not so, but let them go, And be you blithe and bonny, Converting all your sounds of woe Into hey nonny, nonny. Sing no more ditties, sing no more Of dumps so dull and heavy. The fraud of men was ever so Since summer first was leafy. Then sigh not so, but let them go, And be you blithe and bonny, Converting all your sounds of woe Into hey, nonny, nonny.””
— William Shakespeare
“I can see he's not in your good books,' said the messenger.'No, and if he were I would burn my library.””
— William Shakespeare
“I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow, than a man swear he loves me.””
— William Shakespeare
“Let me be that I am and seek not to alter me.””
— William Shakespeare
“I do love nothing in the world so well as you- is not that strange?””
— William Shakespeare
“Some Cupid kills with arrows, some with traps.””
— William Shakespeare
“For which of my bad parts didst thou first fall in love with me?””
— William Shakespeare
“I love you with so much of my heart that none is left to protest.””
— William Shakespeare
“He that hath a beard is more than a youth, and he that hath no beard is less than a man. He that is more than a youth is not for me, and he that is less than a man, I am not for him.””
— William Shakespeare
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Shakespeare, William. Much Ado About Nothing. Lex, lex-books.com/book/much-ado-about-nothing-c6900d87-a84b-48f5-99da-3cee10bc06d5.Shakespeare, W. (1603). Much Ado About Nothing. Lex. https://lex-books.com/book/much-ado-about-nothing-c6900d87-a84b-48f5-99da-3cee10bc06d5Shakespeare, William. Much Ado About Nothing. Lex. https://lex-books.com/book/much-ado-about-nothing-c6900d87-a84b-48f5-99da-3cee10bc06d5.
