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Much ADO about Nothing
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Much ADO about Nothing Mass market paperbound - 1988

by William Shakespeare; David Bevington (Editor); David Scott Kastan (Editor)

Summary

Shakespeare's comedy play Much Ado About Nothing pivots around the impediments to love for young betrothed Hero and Claudio when Hero is falsely accused of infidelity and the "lover's trap" set for the arrogant and assured Benedick who has sworn of marriage and his gentle adversary Beatrice. The merry war between Benedick and Beatrice with the promptings of their friends soon dissolves into farcical love, while Hero's supposed infidelity is shown to be little more than "much ado about nothing".

From the publisher

Set in a courtly world of masked revels and dances, this play turns on the archetypal story of a lady falsely accused of unfaithfulness, spurned by her bridegroom, and finally vindicated and reunited with him. Villainy, schemes, and deceits threaten to darken the brilliant humor and sparkling wordplay-but the hilarious counterplot of a warring couple, Beatrice and Benedick, steals the scene as the two are finally tricked into admitting their love for each other in Shakespeare's superb comedy of manners. Each Edition Includes:
- Comprehensive explanatory notes
- Vivid introductions and the most up-to-date scholarship
- Clear, modernized spelling and punctuation, enabling contemporary readers to understand the Elizabethan English
- Completely updated, detailed bibliographies and performance histories
- An interpretive essay on film adaptations of the play, along with an extensive filmography

From the rear cover

Set in a courtly world of masked revels and dances, this play turns on the archetypal story of a lady falsely accused of unfaithfulness, spurned by her bridegroom, and finally vindicated and reunited with him. Villainy, schemes, and deceits threaten to darken the brilliant humor and sparkling wordplay-but the hilarious counterplot of a warring couple, Beatrice and Benedick, steals the scene as the two are finally tricked into admitting their love for each other in Shakespeare's superb comedy of manners.
Each Edition Includes: - Comprehensive explanatory notes
- Vivid introductions and the most up-to-date scholarship - Clear, modernized spelling and punctuation, enabling contemporary readers to understand the Elizabethan English
- Completely updated, detailed bibliographies and performance histories - An interpretive essay on film adaptations of the play, along with an extensive filmography

From the jacket flap

Set in a courtly world of masked revels and dances, this play turns on the archetypal story of a lady falsely accused of unfaithfulness, spurned by her bridegroom, and finally vindicated and reunited with him. Villainy, schemes, and deceits threaten to darken the brilliant humor and sparkling wordplay-but the hilarious counterplot of a warring couple, Beatrice and Benedick, steals the scene as the two are finally tricked into admitting their love for each other in Shakespeare's superb comedy of manners.
Each Edition Includes: - Comprehensive explanatory notes
- Vivid introductions and the most up-to-date scholarship - Clear, modernized spelling and punctuation, enabling contemporary readers to understand the Elizabethan English
- Completely updated, detailed bibliographies and performance histories - An interpretive essay on film adaptations of the play, along with an extensive filmography

Details

  • Title Much ADO about Nothing
  • Author William Shakespeare; David Bevington (Editor); David Scott Kastan (Editor)
  • Binding Mass Market Paperbound
  • Edition [ Edition: first
  • Pages 240
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Bantam Classics, New York, New York, U.S.A.
  • Date 1988-01-01
  • ISBN 9780553213010 / 0553213016
  • Weight 0.26 lbs (0.12 kg)
  • Dimensions 6.82 x 4.32 x 0.68 in (17.32 x 10.97 x 1.73 cm)
  • Ages 11 to 14 years
  • Grade levels 6 - 9
  • Reading level 1020
  • Themes
    • Chronological Period: Ancient (To 499 A.D.)
    • Cultural Region: British
  • Library of Congress subjects Conspiracies, Courtship
  • Library of Congress Catalog Number 87023200
  • Dewey Decimal Code 822.33

Media reviews

Praise for William Shakespeare: Complete Works:

“A feast of literary and historical information.”
—The Wall Street Journal


From the Trade Paperback edition.

About the author

William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in April 1564, and his birth is traditionally celebrated on April 23. The facts of his life, known from surviving documents, are sparse. He was one of eight children born to John Shakespeare, a merchant of some standing in his community. William probably went to the King's New School in Stratford, but he had no university education. In November 1582, at the age of eighteen, he married Anne Hathaway, eight years his senior, who was pregnant with their first child, Susanna. She was born on May 26, 1583. Twins, a boy, Hamnet ( who would die at age eleven), and a girl, Judith, were born in 1585. By 1592 Shakespeare had gone to London working as an actor and already known as a playwright. A rival dramatist, Robert Greene, referred to him as "an upstart crow, beautified with our feathers." Shakespeare became a principal shareholder and playwright of the successful acting troupe, the Lord Chamberlain's Men (later under James I, called the King's Men). In 1599 the Lord Chamberlain's Men built and occupied the Globe Theater in Southwark near the Thames River. Here many of Shakespeare's plays were performed by the most famous actors of his time, including Richard Burbage, Will Kempe, and Robert Armin. In addition to his 37 plays, Shakespeare had a hand in others, including Sir Thomas More and The Two Noble Kinsmen, and he wrote poems, including Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece. His 154 sonnets were published, probably without his authorization, in 1609. In 1611 or 1612 he gave up his lodgings in London and devoted more and more time to retirement in Stratford, though he continued writing such plays as The Tempest and Henry VII until about 1613. He died on April 23 1616, and was buried in Holy Trinity Church, Stratford. No collected edition of his plays was published during his life-time, but in 1623 two members of his acting company, John Heminges and Henry Condell, put together the great collection now called the First Folio.
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Much Ado About Nothing

Much Ado About Nothing

by Shakespeare, William

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Much Ado About Nothing (Bantam Classics)
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Much Ado About Nothing (Bantam Classics)

by Shakespeare, William

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Much Ado About Nothing (Bantam Classics)
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Much Ado About Nothing (Bantam Classics)

by Shakespeare, William

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by William Shakespeare; Editor-David Bevington; Editor-David Scott Kastan

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Much Ado about Nothing

by William Shakespeare

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Much Ado about Nothing
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Much Ado about Nothing
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Much Ado about Nothing

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ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
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Much Ado about Nothing
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Much Ado about Nothing

by Shakespeare, William

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ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
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Much Ado About Nothing (Bantam Classic)
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Much Ado About Nothing (Bantam Classic)

by William Shakespeare, David Bevington (Editor), David Scott Kastan (Editor)

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