About this title: This is the first edition of Much Ado About Nothing to focus wholly on the play in performance. John Cox investigates major issues and trends in the production of this popular work, analysing successive reinterpretations of the play in relation to their cultural and ideological contexts. Gender issues are central to the study, which highlights in striking ways the changing constructions of womanhood in performances from Shakespeare's time to the present. A commentary alongside the New Cambridge Shakespeare edition of the text recreates in lively detail interpretations of each passage in a ...
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Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Penguin
Date Published: 1999
Description: Fine in fine dust jacket. Like New, Unread, not previously owned. May show signs of wear including remainder marks or stickers on book or cover., In like new dust jacket. 174p., 19 cm. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Yale university press, New Haven
Date Published: 1956
Description: Very Good. 138 p. 17cm. Contains facsimile reproduction of t. -p. of the Elizabethan club copy of the only early quarto edition. read more
Edition: Illustrated.
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Washington Square Press
Date Published: 1995
ISBN-13:9780671722807ISBN:0671722808
Description: Fine. No dust jacket as issued. Near flawless condition. Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. 304 p. Contains: Illustrations. New Folger Library Shakespeare (Paperback). Audience: General/trade. Ships by First Class Mail read more
Edition: [New ed., edited by Louis B. Wright and Virginia A. LaMar].
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Washington Square Press, New York
Date Published: 1964
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Light edgewear. Some minor discoloration from age. No spine creases. Pages~slight yellowing. Pages tight. xlii, 101, 101 p. illus. 17 cm. The Folger Library general reader's Shakespeare. Includes Illustrations. "W-129. " Opposite pages numbered in duplicate. Bibliography: p. xxxv-xlii. SHIPS FROM MICHIGAN read more
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Washington Square Press
Date Published: 1995
ISBN-13:9780671722807ISBN:0671722808
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. clean pages, no marks or tears, tanning on outside of pg edges, creases on spine, corners/edges bumped, corners turned up, tight binding, solid. Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. 304 p. Contains: Illustrations. New Folger Library Shakespeare (Paperback). Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Signet Book
Date Published: 1979
ISBN-13:9780451517388ISBN:0451517385
Description: Good. Spine is smooth. Covers show some wear at the edges and corners. Good reading copy. Binding is Mass Market Paperback. Pages tanning. Used books may have price stickers. Most orders ship on the next business day. read more
"I'm studying this in theater class. I read it several years ago, but I remembered almost nothing except Dogberry's speech to the new recruits. (This was the year I bulldozed through all of Shakespeare's plays first to last, so it's not surprising I forgot a lot.)
After re-reading it, I remain fairly unimpressed. The schemes and counter-schemes are fun to watch, but there's nothing in this play that grabs me the way there is in Twelfth Night or Midsummer Night's Dream.
One thing I did pick up o this time is how militaristic the soldiers' language is throughout the play. Almost every metaphor they use has something to do with battle or weaponry. That's a neat bit of hidden cleverness."
"As per my method, my star rating refers only to Shakespeare's works so don't get in an uproar if say, an Elric book gets more stars. That only means I liked Elric better than most other fantasy stuff.
As for the play: I admit a lack of familiarity with Shakespeare comedies, so I'm not sure how it stacks up with the rest. The main story (Cladio and Hero) is a bit silly (at least the ending), and the meat seems to be with Benedick and Beatrice. The wordplay just zips right along and it's pretty darned funny here and there, though I have to admit there may be a bit too much cultural distance to appreciate a good cuckold zing fully. Sexual innuendo, however, never goes out of style."
"I am quite wary of ever talking about the works of Shakespeare. It is undisputed that he was a genius, well beyond his time, and his works are well-loved, tremendously admired by the masses, and agreed classics.
I appreciate the works of Shakespeare. I know that they are well written, have made a lot of people happy. There I am in utter agreement with everyone else. And yet--though when I tell people this, they crow, "Oh, you are young. Wait till you're older"--I do not find his plays enjoyable to read. I'm not sure what it is - the characters, who have no resemblance to anybody I have known, or the plots, which always end much too conveniently, or the witticisms, which can be analysed and critiqued till the cows come home, but which shall never, in me, raise a smile. This play--"Much Ado..."--is a comedy. Oh for the time it is brilliant. For now, for me, it means nothing. And yet we are all meant to laugh, and be in awe, and if not, at least pretend to be. We must always claim, in our defence, that we'll like it "one day". Thing is, I don't think I shall."
"Should I give this book the "benefit of the doubt?" The harsh critic in me says three, but for the time being, I'll keep the rating at four stars.
Much Ado About Nothing has lavish characterization, indelible wit, and is rich in Elizabethan culture. Shakepeare's use of the proverbs and legends of his day make this play seem more genuine, and his incredibly accurate portrayal of human nature creates characters with universal and timeless appeal. I love the fact that so much of the story depends upon how it is directed upon the stage, and feel that Shakespeare's decision to blur the ending in order to allow for various interpretations of it actually added to the creativity and worth of the plotline.
However, some aspects of the play are lacking in the quality most of this work exhibits. For example, many of the acts committed seem ridiculous and childish, such as the Prince's offer to Claudio to woo Hero for him or even his spontaneous decision to pair Beatrice and Benedick. I also do not understand the significance of the several misperceptions within the first act or so; unless they serve to further demonstrate the qualities of characters, in which case I wonder whether any traits are really developed by the misunderstandings, or to reinforce the double meaning behind the title, I see no point in their use within the work. Finally, perhaps my biggest concern lies in how one-sided Hero and Claudio's relationship is. The reader never really receives insight into how Hero feels about Claudio, but must assume that she loves him based upon her actions. It is understood that Hero and her cousin, Beatrice, are foils of each other, yet I wonder at Hero's emotions upon first "noting" Claudio.
Nevertheless, Much Ado embodies a mastery of human nature, the essence of comedy, a magnificent sense of wit, and the command over the English language which few but Shakespeare can offer."
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