Language and Dramatic Techniques in Much Ado About Nothing

Genre

The play is a comedy and contains elements that are typical of a Shakespearean comedy, as detailed below:

Comedy convention	How it features in Much Ado About Nothing
Witty wordplay	Beatrice and Benedick engage in a lot of witty wordplay in their exchanges. Their clever retorts and imaginative insults provide much of the play’s humour.
Young lovers kept apart by obstacles	Hero and Claudio are kept apart due to Don John’s meddling. For Beatrice and Benedick, their pride means they don’t want to admit to being in love.
A villain	Don John is the clear villain in the play. He feels wronged by Don Pedro and Claudio and seeks revenge.
Disguise	At the masked ball, Don Pedro disguises himself as Claudio to woo Hero. Margaret is also disguised (without her realising) as Hero to fool Claudio into thinking his fiancée has been unfaithful.
Misunderstanding	In the first act, Antonio mistakenly believes that Don Pedro loves Hero and informs Leonato. There are also misunderstandings due to malign (destructive) deception from Don John and benign (positive) deception from Beatrice and Benedick’s friends.
Happy ending with no deaths	Don John’s deception is exposed, and Hero’s name is cleared. Despite rumours of Hero’s death, no one dies, and no permanent damage is done to anyone.
Marriage	Claudio and Hero marry after the surprise reveal that Hero is still alive. Benedick and Beatrice discover their friends’ tricks but also marry.

Language Devices

Prose and verse

Shakespeare uses both prose and verse in Much Ado About Nothing.

• Prose is a form of language similar to everyday speech. It has no specific structure or rhythmic pattern.

• Verse in Shakespeare often follows a specific rhythm and meter known as iambic pentameter, which consists of five pairs of unstressed and stressed beats in each line (usually resulting in ten syllables). Shakespeare’s use of iambic pentameter is prevalent in his plays and sonnets. It is a common structure used in English poetry and can be found in both rhymed and unrhymed forms.

When characters speak in verse, this could indicate:

• The high status of the characters
• The formality or seriousness of the situation
• Romance

Shakespeare uses prose to show that either:

• The character speaking has a low status
• The characters are speaking informally and with humour

Here are some moments in the play when verse and prose are used:

Verse	Prose
• In Act I Scene 1, Claudio and Don Pedro discuss wooing Hero. • In Act II Scene 1, Claudio speaks sadly about the apparent loss of Hero to Don Pedro. • In Act II, Scene 3, Claudio and Don Pedro plan for Benedick to overhear them, saying that Beatrice is in love with him.	• In Act 1 Scene 1, Benedick and Claudio discuss Claudio’s love for Hero. • All conversations between Benedick and Beatrice, except for their final serious conversation before marriage. • In Act 3 Scene 3, the conversation between the watchmen before they overhear Borachio’s confession.

Wit and puns

Puns are words or phrases with double meanings, and Shakespeare uses many of them in Much Ado About Nothing. Even the title of the play contains a pun, as in Elizabethan times, “nothing” was pronounced similarly to “noting”, which also meant eavesdropping.

Beatrice and Benedick frequently use puns and double meanings in their conversations. For example, Beatrice refers to Benedick as “Signor Montanto”. “Montanto” is an Italian term used in fencing, referring to an upward thrust. However, Beatrice uses it as a playful innuendo, implying that Benedick is a ladies’ man.

Malapropisms

A Malapropism is when a character mistakenly uses a word instead of a similar-sounding word. It is often used for comedic effect, to portray a character trying to seem more intelligent than they are.

The watchman Dogberry is known for his malapropisms. He declares:

“Our watch, sir, have indeed comprehended two auspicious persons,”

In this statement, he mistakenly says “comprehended” instead of “apprehended”, and “auspicious” instead of “suspicious”. This creates humour and portrays Dogberry as unintentionally comical and somewhat unintelligent.

Comedic Devices and Dramatic Techniques

Mistaken identity

Mistaken identity plays a significant role in the plot. First, Don Pedro pretends to be Claudio when he woos Hero, saying:

“I will assume thy part in some disguise
And tell fair Hero I am Claudio”

Later, Hero is mistakenly identified as being unfaithful with Borachio, when in reality it is her maid, Margaret, who is involved with him. Therefore, mistaken identity is used both in bringing Claudio and Hero together and in the near-ruin of their relationship.

Eavesdropping and gossip

Antonio’s servant overhears Claudio and Don Pedro’s plan to woo Hero and mistakenly reports this to Antonio, who then reports it to Leonato. This sets in motion a series of misunderstandings.

Similarly, Beatrice and Benedick are tricked into falling in love with each other through eavesdropping and gossip. Their friends intentionally gossip near each of them, knowing they will eavesdrop.

The watchmen overhear Borachio boasting about his part in deceiving Claudio into thinking Hero has been unfaithful. This eavesdropping is crucial in exposing Don John and clearing Hero’s name.

Dramatic irony

Dramatic irony occurs when the audience is aware of information that the characters are not.

For example, when Benedick overhears that Beatrice loves him, he begins to act flirtatiously towards her. Beatrice, confused by his behaviour, creates humour, as the audience knows why Benedick is acting this way, while she does not.

During the wedding scene, the audience knows Hero is innocent, while Claudio and other characters believe her to be guilty. Claudio’s accusation of Hero “Knowing the heat of a luxurious battle” is ironic, as the audience is aware of her innocence.

Also, the audience is aware that Hero is alive, while the characters believe she has died of shame. This sets up the anticipation for the moment when Claudio discovers he is marrying Hero, not Leonato’s mysterious niece.