Scan barcode
A review by outcolder
Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare
5.0
The text here is from the quarto and extensive notes explain not only the archaic words, Elizabethan puns and renaissance fashions, but also which bits are most often cut or changed and why. The 140-plus page introduction does even more, including an overview of interpretations and illustrations of stagings throughout history.
I was struck by the role of fake news in the play. We approve of the fake news that brings Beatrice and Benedick together: it inspires love, and those two deserve to be tricked because they both think they are so clever. The fake news that slanders Hero though breaks up a love, nearly leads to death and duels and is therefore wrong. Also the people who tricked Beatrice and Benedick confess voluntarily whereas the bad guys have to be arrested. It’s an interesting kind of information ethics in this play.
Shakespeare is fun, and it ain’t that hard to understand, even Dogberry who keeps saying the opposite of what he means and is too cunning to be understood.
I was struck by the role of fake news in the play. We approve of the fake news that brings Beatrice and Benedick together: it inspires love, and those two deserve to be tricked because they both think they are so clever. The fake news that slanders Hero though breaks up a love, nearly leads to death and duels and is therefore wrong. Also the people who tricked Beatrice and Benedick confess voluntarily whereas the bad guys have to be arrested. It’s an interesting kind of information ethics in this play.
Shakespeare is fun, and it ain’t that hard to understand, even Dogberry who keeps saying the opposite of what he means and is too cunning to be understood.